1-2-3 Sundays: Monday Mornings, Challenges & Aldi

1 Theme

Accountability

The most underlooked aspect of working towards any goal.

Having someone or a group there to keep you accountable makes you more likely to stick to the process of achieving your goal.

I've been learning a lot about how other people think and act.

One of the main aspects that stop people from accomplishing their aspirations is that there's no one to be accountable to.

That person should tell you what you need to hear, not what you want. Often you'll know yourself what it is you need to hear but only hearing it from someone else will resonate.

When you losing momentum, they're there to pull you up and keep you on track.

Keeping an accountability journal is another method of this. Being able to tick off items each day generates a dopamine.

2 Positive Outcomes

Monday Morning At The Bar

It's been 2 months since I last squatted.

In the time in between my main leg movement has been the hack squat.

It humbled me.

You don't need lots of weight added on to feel it's working your quads.

Improving my leg strength this way, meant that last Monday's leg session wasn't as difficult as I initially thought it was going to be. My warm-up sets felt smooth and the weight wasn't feeling too heavy.

I felt it the next day though and during my run the day after.

Squats are probably my favourite exercise and have been since I started lifting. Unusual yes, but it's always been my strongest lift.

Having it in my program makes me look forward to Mondays!

Working Out With Friends

One of the most rewarding feelings.

Having other people there to push you and get you through that last extra rep makes you dig deep in the uncomfortable feeling. You leave nothing on the table.

Working out alone has its benefit in terms of time and being able to narrow your focus to your workout. Getting into the gym with friends every so often give you a boost to have a great workout.

3 Things I've Learned

What To Look For In A Challenge

If you haven't listened to Nick Bare on the Bare Performance podcast then I know how you feel.

Until a month ago, I had no idea who he was.

His podcast is full of insights into his insights from his time in the US military, running a supplement company and, more recently, becoming a dad. There are also fantastic guests too!

In a recent episode, Nick explained 3 things that were present throughout some of his biggest and most rewarding challenges in life:

Discipline, Inexperience & Unknown

When I think about it, all of these have been a big part of the challenges and events I've done this year.

Discipline - turning up for every workout, for every newsletter each Sunday, planning and organising my day and weeks.
Inexperience - how do you go from a 10k to a marathon in 3 months?
Unknown - "holy f*ck, I'm actually running a marathon".

These have now become criteria in my decision-making criteria for choosing my next event/challenge.

Go To Aldi When It Opens

Sounds simple, right?

You're finished you're shopping early with the full day ahead.
The shelves are full.
You get the pick of the protein yoghurts and puddings.

The chocolate ones are the best.

Values & Actions

Most people don't know what their values are.

Or they hold a very loose version of them.

For a long time, I didn't either. Your actions come from what you think is right but rarely do you stop to ask yourself this:

Do my actions align with my values?

I began this week this by writing down my values in my journal. Each day, I put an action I was taking and what value it aligned with.