All or Nothing Complex

This can apply to every single aspect of life---we often can get hyper focused on what we have planned and when a bump comes we often have to ask ourselves, is it even worth it?

A lot of people either want it all or nothing at all. I can't recall a time that this type of thinking can be beneficial, it is extremely detrimental mindset to keep going with. Like I’ve said before life is not perfect and if expect it to be will be sorely disappointed. It’s especially true for parents. We spend most of our day doing things for other people: kids, spouse, employer, etc. For a lot of us our exercise is something we do for ourselves, something that brings us joy but that doesn't mean that it's exempt from the same struggles.

As parents we’ve been there before: your best intentions are to get your workout in early but then you oversleep, or your kid was up all night, or you just plain don’t have it in you. It’s taking me a long time to reconcile my thoughts between having it all or nothing at all. Don’t get me wrong I still get discouraged sometimes when I have to cut my run short due to other obligations and not because I’m tired or just not into it. Most of the time it’s to get A,B or C done.

Especially after becoming a parent I’ve had to adapt and not always expect things to go as planned or to get all of my miles in.

Yesterday morning I set out did my strength training and figured I’d be able to get in about 20 minutes of cross training on my bike only to get five minutes in and the monitor start going off with my little one ready to be awake for the day. Mind you my kid is not one to sit there while I finish up, it’s eyes open, awake, LET'S GO! I had to be OK with those five minutes and say "Hey, at least I got something in versus being discouraged that I didn’t get the full 20"

I could’ve been a defeatist and said why bother for you only five minutes but those five minutes will eventually pay off and another day I’ll be able to get the whole 20 minutes

I’ve talked before about getting what you need, not always what you want HERE

But I feel like these are 2 completely different ideas. With one your body is telling you and guiding you. The other is born out of factors often out of your control like being short on time, kid waking up, life just being a shit show, etc. While I am not a fan of the “push past your excuse” phrase that is touted a lot by a program that shall remain nameless, I do believe that any little bit of time no matter how small can make a huge impact. Today you may only get 5 min, tomorrow it may be 2min and then all the sudden you're able to squeeze in a full workout. It doesn’t have to be the whole enchilada, it can be a side dish a still be rewarding.

Will 5 sporadic minutes make the insane amount of difference physically as a full workout? No, it won’t. BUT mentally those 5 min can make an enormous difference. You will feel proud, like a badass human and probably a bit sweaty to be honest. But it makes it that much easier to try again the next day and keep moving forward towards your goals.

It doesn’t have to be intense, include heavy weights or even leaving your living room. Turn on a song that makes you groove and dance like an idiot, go outside and walk up and down your street a few times before getting the mail, do some stretching before bed. Whatever feels right, doable or the least intimidating. Would you rather go “Aww man I didn’t get to finish but I got in______ minutes/miles” or “Ugh I didn’t get to do anything today and just feel so discouraged”?

Time isn’t the only way to feel accomplished, effort alone can do wonderful things mentally and physically that will carry over day after day after day.

I will never make someone feel bad for not finishing a workout or a run. I’ve had many days when I say “F... it” and don’t even wanna do the 5 min. It’s not easy, but more times than not it is worth it. Even yesterday I hoped on for my 5 min then got another 5 min later in the day. Just like that I got 10 mins in the bank and I felt good to get that much in.

If someone hands me a winning lottery ticket for $100 or nothing. I’m taking the $100. If it’s between 1 day off or no days off I’m taking the 1 day. So why wouldn’t I take the 5 min? Even if I only get 5 min for 5 days it adds up and all the sudden I have 25 min I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s all perception and I what you decide to do with yours.

And if you take those 5 min and just bitch to your best friend while power walking to the grocery store. IT COUNTS!!!