Grow and Develop
Good morning and happy Saturday from Sam! We hope you are all doing well today – especially if you came to SMASH yesterday (it was a hard one!!).
We have been talking this month a lot about building foundations… mostly in relation to fitness – starting new routines or shaking up old ones in order to grow and develop them into something strong and sturdy. Foundations are not always "new"... Existing ones can also do with being strengthened. Maybe you have already achieved a goal which you want to improve on a little. Maybe you are in a work or relationship situation that was built on unsteady ground and needs reinforcing.
My fitness foundations were built when I attended gyms and classes, getting myself fit and interested in exercise… I dropped from a size 20 to a size 8 in the space of a year, however my training was unsustainable and it was subconsciously my way of escaping from the relationship I was in. After moving out I developed a much healthier relationship with food and exercise, revisiting the foundations that I had built. Fast forward a few years later and I decided to use my experiences to become a trainer. I needed qualifications, experience in the industry along with advice and support from colleagues and peers… all in all this got me to be where I am now. However, to become more successful I’ve strengthened my foundations by doing research into specific training; more deeply into the technical points of running; into exercises I didn’t already know; I gained additional qualifications in order to teach spin or to train ante and post natal clients. Although my job as a whole hasn’t changed much, my foundations are getting stronger and stronger and will be more beneficial for me and my clients in the long run.
Is there something in your life that you can add to in order to make it stronger? Can you gain additional qualifications? Should you reading more? Maybe you have run 10 marathons but this year you want a personal best… going back to basics and following a good training plan will reinforce your existing foundations.
My commute to work can be anything up to an hour each way. I use the opportunity to read – last week mostly Harry Potter - but usually books on self improvement. You do tend to see reoccurring themes in many of these books but somehow re-reading stuff you are familiar with expressed in a slightly different way helps to reinforce the message! Maybe there is a subject that you already feel you are clued up about that you can revisit just to cover up any cracks in that base knowledge? No time for reading? There are so many podcasts and YouTube videos out there that there is so much opportunity to grow and develop yourself!
If one of your goals is to work on your mindfulness, this video from Calm is a nice introduction to becoming more present... https://youtu.be/ZToicYcHIOU Enjoy your weekend and see you all next week.
Sam & Ashley
