Cleaning House

With the start of 2018, many of us are still recovering from the hustle and bustle of the Holidays. This takes a while as we're dealing with settling down from the parties, putting away our presents, making some returns etc... We then tend to hibernate until the spring when something magically wakes us up and we start our Spring Cleaning. We clean the house, the outside of the house, we may paint, or do some renovations. We even start running or "rejoin" a gym. Most people believe gyms are hot in January but honestly, the cold usually trumps people's good intentions. They may inquire or even sign up to a gym but after a few visits they chose to sit by the fire with a drink instead. 

Internally though, we have reflective though of the previous year and set goals for the current one, trying to do better then last year. Like I said our intentions are always good, to simply do better. But seldom do we see solid follow through. So what's holding us back? We are. It's always you vs. you. Does this mean that you're simply not strong enough and as a weak person fail to accomplish what you set to do? Heck no. What we need to do is set ourselves up for success. Here's how to clean house now:

Mental:
Set a time for your mental health as this is the number one driving factor for all other health. Spend 5 min a day and meditate on what you're going to accomplish today. Most of us live in yesterday and even more of us tend to live in tomorrow. Let's deal with today because we're all strong enough to take care of today. I like closing my eyes, breathing deeply and setting a timer for 5 min. If my thoughts take me away, I bring myself right back to my breath. I don't care that my mind wonders because that's what the mind does. As long as i'm aware of my thought's i'm good. I also tell myself, "I Love Myself, I Love Myself, I Love Myself" I inhale. In his book "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It" Kamal Ravikant talks about this positive meditation. It may sound silly to some but this really works. Think about all of the things that go on around us. Our personal lives, social lives, work lives, and social media can put a damper on things and if we're truly honest with ourselves, we can all love ourselves more. Many of us give, and give, failing to focus on what's truly important, ourselves. This is not selfish talk. We've all heard the analogy of the crashing airline, and putting your oxygen on first, even before you put it on your kids. Without self love, we make it very difficult, even impossible to truly love others and allow others to love us. 

Physical:
I bet some of you think I'll say something like workout 4 days a week, which is not a bad suggestions. However, this is lofty for some and we're better off setting a simple task. Add something positive, to replace an unhealthy habit. Here's what I mean. If you stay up late watching TV. read a good book in bed and sleep earlier. You'll stop thinking about tomorrow, your Sympathetic Nervous System will have a chance to wind down, and you will get better sleep. You will wake up refreshed, and able to take on the day. Add some good nutrition to your diet. We all need proper energy to function, so focus on one good meal a day. We can all have one good meal. If lunch is your problem, plan to have a nice and well balanced lunch everyday. 

These are simple approaches we can all take to making our lives better. It's not about making massive change, as we all tend to do, especially if you CrossFit. Let's face it, our personalities are all in or nothing. But if we just try and make a 1% change in all aspects of life, over time we'll make considerable change and truly be "Better Than Yesterday". 

James Clear writes about the British Cycling team that struggled greatly but simply implementing this 1% rule of change, made them champs.

Here's the story:

In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job.

No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional cycling team), Brailsford was asked to change that.

His approach was simple.

Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains.” He explained it as “the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.” His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

They started by optimizing the things you might expect: the nutrition of riders, their weekly training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat, and the weight of the tires.

But Brailsford and his team didn’t stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent improvements everywhere.

Brailsford believed that if they could successfully execute this strategy, then Team Sky would be in a position to win the Tour de France in five years time.

He was wrong. They won it in three years.

In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. That same year, Brailsford coached the British cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games and dominated the competition by winning 70 percent of the gold medals available.

In 2013, Team Sky repeated their feat by winning the Tour de France again, this time with rider Chris Froome. Many have referred to the British cycling feats in the Olympics and the Tour de France over the past 10 years as the most successful run in modern cycling history. -James Clear

Love,

Coach SIl