AS 2021 rolled around, what went through your mind? Did you reflect on the collective challenges you overcame in 2020 or sigh a relief at the coming of a new dawn? Perhaps, you thought of setting some new year resolutions, like starting a home gym?
For me, it was setting new goals. If you’re like me, Type 1 on the Enneagram personality test, you’ve set them throughout your life; from career goals and health goals to family goals, we’ve got them down to a tee.
As a certified Pilates instructor who works in the fitness industry, goals are a huge part of our clients’ journeys. I recently asked my community on social media to set a daily step goal after I came across Kelly McGonigal’s book, ‘The Joy of Movement’.
In the book, she shares a study, which concluded that ‘the average daily step count required to induce feelings of anxiety and depression and decrease satisfaction with life is 5,649’.
After discovering this study, I was compelled to make this my daily goal ─ I wanted to walk the talk.
The first few days were great: my morning walks had me refreshed and ready to take on the day. But by the fifth day, I started to notice a lack of motivation.
My walks weren’t as exciting, and I was constantly checking my pedometer app every few minutes to see if I had clocked in enough steps to stop.
I had lost the pizazz that initially sparked my journey and instead, was fulfilling a criteria because it proved beneficial.
I’ve often perceived goals as a precursor to success and used to live by the motto, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’, but after this instance (and many others), I wondered if my goal setting had become counter-productive.
Enter my eureka moment.
While I’m on my walks, I listen to podcasts because I’m fulfilling two sides of me: the one that finds an audio track keeps me occupied, and the other ‘let’s-be-efficient’ side that believes in killing two birds with one stone.
On one of my walks last week, I listened to ‘Fight Hurry, End Hustle’, a podcast series by Jefferson Bethke and John Mark Comer. In Episode 3, they discuss the concept of goals and the culture of overwhelm that can come when setting goals.
In exchange, they propose setting formations or rules of life by first asking oneself: ‘Who am I becoming by the things that I’m doing?’.
The idea is this overarching question will then determine what formations or habits need to be made versus focusing on task-based goals. For example, instead of saying, ‘I need to run a 5K race’, say instead, ‘I want to become a runner’, to encourage a long-term behavioural shift rather than a short-term goal.
The point in all of this is to encourage you, my fellow mover, to see that these small shifts in perspective and creating an overarching structure in your life will propel you forward.
Whether it’s raining outside or if the Pilates studio you frequent is closed (again), you’ll remain consistent with your movement practice, and if you’re the type who only does reformer Pilates (but now you’re without one), all hope is not lost.
Grab a towel and move with me in the video below where I’ll lead you through a reformer Pilates lunge sequence that you can practice right where you are, from home. ─ The Vibes, 27 January, 2021
Check out Joanna Koleth’s previous article, Elevate Your Plank Game, which introduces the Pilates basics to this week’s intermediate/advanced level workout sequence, and if you’re not sure what reformer Pilates is, check out Joanna’s previous article here
