Progress, Not Perfection

Sometimes, a topic seems to keep appearing in my life – demanding attention. Today, it was the idea of progress over perfection. I was listening to a podcast today, and the guest speaker was sharing how he had always been hard on himself. He always seemed to think that he didn’t know enough, or wasn’t smart enough. It resonated with me, because not even an hour before that, I had been talking to my business coach and said something very similar! 

I am so busy striving to learn more, and then once I do, I feel the need to keep going to learn even more. It is only when I attend an event or workshop where there are new trainers or Pilates teachers that I realize how far I have actually come. I know a lot more than I realize, and I need to give myself credit for all the years I have continued to learn. 

How to Recognize Your Own Successes

The podcast speaker talked about his vision board and goals, and how he realized that he needed to make himself an “accomplishment board” as well. I love this idea! How amazing would it be to have a visual of all of those goals you have achieved? The trick here, of course, is to start writing down your goals. Talking about your goals regularly with an accountability-buddy is a great alternative, too. 

Writing down your goals has so many benefits over just keeping them in your head:

• Writing goals down makes them feel more “real”
• It’s a visual reminder of what you are working towards
• Crossing off your goal when you hit it is SO satisfying!
• You can go back and see how far you have come! 

It can be so easy to hit your goal and immediately look to the next one, especially in fitness. “I just want to run 2km without stopping” turns into 5km, 10km, or more. We are trained to keep looking forward, and to keep getting better. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do more, but forgetting to reflect on how far you’ve come can make you feel like you are chasing something without ever reaching it. 

Funny enough, I am always telling my clients that it is about progress, not perfection. (I should listen to my own advice!) So many of them do not realize how far they’ve come with their Pilates practice or fitness level. I often say that I should video my client’s first session, and then show them the video six months later. Anyone who shows up and practices what I teach will see a difference – and often much more dramatic than they realize!

A Story of Accomplishment

One of my dear clients passed on last year, and he is my go-to story of great accomplishments.  When I met him, he’d had three strokes only a year earlier. I know he had already come a long way, from dragging one leg and not being able to speak at all, to stuttering and having a very obvious imbalance between his left and right sides.     

I’m certified in Hard Style Kettlebell Training and DVRT Ultimate Sandbag training. In addition to Pilates, I started him with the basics with sandbags and kettlebells. He would see videos online, or people doing things at the gym that he wanted to do, and getting him to understand that we were working to build him up to those things created some frustration for him. I’ll never forget him trying his first sandbag clean and smoking himself in the face, or that kettlebell swing where he smoked himself somewhere else… 

But we adjusted, and plugged on, and we got him there! Eventually, he was doing exercises (well) that I never thought he’d be able to. He was doing intermediate to advanced Pilates and complex strength training moves. He is proof that by hitting small goal after small goal, you can reach the big ones. 

Yet, like so many others, he tended to focus on what he couldn’t do YET. I’d tell him how well he was doing, and remind him of where he had started. Yet if he stumbled or messed up, he’d be disappointed in himself. He needed that “Accomplishment Board”. 

Like Aerosmith sang in Amazing, “Life’s a journey, not a destination.” Looking back on your fitness journey, do you realize how much you have learned and accomplished? Stop and honour your progress (not perfection) once in a while. You are awesome.