WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT YOU DO, THAT HELPS YOU BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE?
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
This is a quote from a George Harrison song. It comes to mind when I am off track and floundering a bit in my daily routine or in reaching a particular goal. For me, it is important to know not only where I am going but also have a clear path of how I am going to get there.
With that said, perhaps the one thing I do to help me be the best I can be is, I plan. I plan my goals. I plan my week. I plan my nutrition, workouts, days and tasks. I write these things down. I use a planner, a calendar, and I also make to-do lists. As a drug-free professional bodybuilder, fitness and nutrition are my passion. In order to be my best when I compete, I hold myself accountable in the kitchen and gym when no one is looking and, to be honest, no one cares. I schedule my workouts for days and times that I know I can be there and not just hope for the best that day that I make it to the gym. I block those times off so nothing else interferes for that hour or hour and a half I am at the gym. This is important, not just for workouts, but for any activity or aspect of life we pursue. If we don’t make something a priority, even if it is 15 minutes a day, then it will never happen because we will allow other things to fill that time and our true desire to get pushed aside.
Fail to plan, then plan to fail.
is another quote that comes to mind that fits this mindset. I have made planning for success a habit. I have a list or schedule the night before of what my next day will entail. If I need to pack meals, clothes, or other necessities for that day, I do so the night before because I know that if I wait to the morning and get pressed for time, things may not get done and that becomes the excuse not to follow through with my plan. “I couldn’t go to the gym because I didn’t pack my gym bag/clothes, etc.” “I had to buy dinner at the drive through because I didn’t have x, y, z ingredients to make that healthy meal I was going to make.” We allow ourselves these to accept these excuses as absolutes, when really it was poor planning on our part and almost self-sabotage to accomplish what we truly desire.
Planning is a mindset and a habit. It takes practice. It also takes a mindset shift to know that we can do anything we want to do and accomplish and that we have the power to do so. In preparing ahead of time we are giving ourselves the best chance for success and the opportunity to do and become more than we sometimes settle for. It becomes a matter of doing what it takes, rather than being satisfied with lip service and complacent excuses. I have found preparation is the foundation to achieving our greatest successes.
There is definitely more than one single thing to point to as important for achieving goals, but having a plan, and being prepared is an important aspect in which many other strategies I employ is built upon.
FRANK GIGANTE
professional natural bodybuilder
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