“It’s not about perfection, it’s about learning from mistakes and doing better the next time.”
Michelle Muellner
I have a sort of journal I write in each morning- the High Performance Planner from Brendon Burchard. I really love writing in it because there are so many good prompts that help me start my day right and get my plan to execute in order so that I can get the most out of each day. This is never more important than when trying to train for IronMan. Time becomes a really precious commodity.
Anyway, some of the prompts include:
“Today’s Message To Myself”
“Tasks That Absolutely Must Be Done Today”
and “A Moment That I Really Appreciated Today Was…”
There are many more prompts that help you plan your day as well as evaluate the ways in which you can become the best version of yourself. I try to do the morning mindset prompts, then plan my to do list as well as when I want to do those tasks. Then in the evening there is the reflection section where you can look back on your day and highlight the best parts as well as something you may want to improve on.
So I was feeling badly about not being 100% on my game this week with it being Christmas and having so many get togethers, shopping and presents to wrap. I just simply could not get to everything on my list – and yes there were a couple of days that I let my workouts slide.
When I came to the prompt “If I was a high performance coach looking at my life from a high level, I would to tell myself to remember that…” it occurred to me that it’s not about perfection, it’s about learning from mistakes and doing better the next time. I know there will be other days where I fall short, but I’m not going to let those slips derail me from my greater goal. I will pick myself up and start again.
So often we set a goal and when we don’t do whatever it is perfectly, we just totally give up. I think the biggest lesson I will have to keep in mind this year as I strive for my IronMan AZ goal is to realize I will have some very imperfect weeks and that I will have to keep going no matter what if I want to cross that finish line.
And that is what I did for the rest of the week! I kept going…I finished strong doing early workouts and even getting up in the dark to do my long run at South Mountain – and it was cold and windy. It’s those days when I push through that I feel the most proud. IronWoman doesn’t give up.
Onward!
