We underestimate what we can do in 10 years and overestimate what we will do in 1 year. The same can be applied to your movement goals and habits on a shorter timeline. For instance, a 3-month fitness goal is often too small, and our 1-week goal is too large.
This happens because goals are theory, and the habits needed to achieve them are reality. Yet habits are the driving force to your goals. They compound on themselves to accelerate your success — but building the habits is more complicated than you realize. Things start to click together, and you find yourself reaching your long-term goal faster, or that the goal you set for 6 months was something you could almost do now.
As an example, we help people prepare to run races. Imagine you want to run a half marathon in 6 months. That’s very doable with a lightly intense running plan and a lengthy time frame. Part of that plan includes evaluating your running ability with gait analysis to find dysfunctions or deficiencies that might derail your training. A home exercise program is prescribed to reduce setbacks and promote healthy movements they incorporate into your day. Because the home exercise program addresses root causes and compensations in your form, your running baseline is higher than you imagined. The first two weeks feel slow because we’re working on small elements. They are tedious and repetitive. Low-volume running combined with simple exercises when you want to run further is frustrating. Setting the right volume to prevent injuries allows your body to acclimate.
Because you’re running with less pain and more efficiency after a few weeks, it makes you want to eat better and fuel your body correctly. This promotes weight loss and reduces the strain on your joints as you run. Carrying less weight and having less joint pain gives you more energy, which you can reinvest into your training and home exercise program. Your good habits continue to stack and create a compounding effect that accelerates your ability and willingness to run more. Soon, you realize you’re a high-volume runner, and your half-marathon distance is no longer challenging. Now, you’ve reached your goal faster than anticipated — perhaps even cutting down your timeline to 3-4 months, depending on how aggressive your plan is designed to be.
So, what goal are you trying to achieve regarding your fitness? What plan are you thinking about, and how can you do something about it today?
Building habits is the hardest part. We overestimate the energy and time needed to do it. We don’t know where to start, so we make theoretical plans instead of creating realistic habits.
That’s where Proactive Kinetics can help. We help you build movement habits that are based on reality. These habits compound to accelerate the success of your movement goals. Schedule a 30-minute discovery call with Dr. Samantha to discuss your movement goals and how we can help you achieve them safely and ahead of your timeline.
