I’ve read many blog posts and articles about mindset for running, for pursuing goals, for gratitude, for everyday life. Most are really good and provide some good information about how to push through and stay on the path toward your goals. For some people, however, getting into a positive, collaborative, growth, or conquering mindset is not that easy. It’s great to talk about how being in that mindset will help you run those last few miles or stay up late working on a project. I want to talk about how to get to that point to begin with.
For many people, depression and anxiety, past experiences, and the weight of everyday tasks can make feeling optimistic or positive really difficult. How do you get into a “growth mindset” if you feel like you can barely make it through the day with the dirty dishes piled up and trying to manage getting kids fed and groceries bought and all of the other things that are overwhelming you? These are very real things that hold you back. These aren’t excuses; they are legitimate reasons for feeling like you can’t take on one more thing in your life.
I believe that changing your mindset starts with changing your behavior. You don’t have to have this huge self-confidence to do something for 5 minutes. Most of us can find 5 minutes in our day to do one small thing. Take a walk. Do you ever spend 5 minutes on your phone needlessly scrolling social media or going down some rabbit hole of stories and information? When you find yourself doing that, set the phone down and walk. It can be inside or outside. (Of course, I will always recommend outside.) In whatever you have on. If you are at work, it may be taking a couple of extra minutes during a bathroom break to walk down the hall. It doesn’t take a lot of confidence or effort to walk for 5 minutes. Now, I will always have people who have an illness or disability tell me that they actually can’t walk for 5 minutes to which I will ask “What can you do?” What small bit of activity—arm circles, stretching from your seat—can you do? Do that. Make it smaller. Walk for one minute.
When you start physically doing something, it sends signals to your brain to release endorphins. Endorphins make you feel good. After you do the physical thing that you do, really focus on how your body feels. Does your body feel a little more energized? Do you feel more alert? Do you feel even a small fraction calmer than before the activity? How do you feel about having done it? Are you proud? Satisfied? Feeling guilty? First, of all, no guilt. Do NOT feel guilty for taking 5 minutes to move your body and reset your mind. There are very few things so important that taking 5 minutes away is going to be tragic.
How does this lead to mindset? Now that you have done this thing one day, do it the next day. And the next day. Make a chart to track your progress. Maybe you don’t get it in every day, but you get it in 50% of the time. Heck even 10% of the time! That is still more than you were doing before! Recognize that. Think about what kind of person does that? What kind of a person does 5 minutes of physical activity 2 days a week? A person who is committed. A person who values themself. You are that person. Now do it again the next week. Start carving out specific time to do it each day and each week. You have now become that committed person. You are a person who walks or moves their body regularly and consistently.
With that realization, your mindset starts to change from “I can’t do that” to “I can do this small thing.” Now imagine what else you can do. Can you do 2 more minutes? Can you be a person who walks for 5 minutes AND does 1 pushup or 1 squat or 1 other small thing?
Another big key is to not let yourself say no. This part is hard because “No” may be your default. I want you to really, really think about why you want this. Why you want to change your mindset. What would life be like for you if your mindset was different? How would you look at yourself? What kind of person would you be? What kind of things would that person do?
I know that this seems hard. You may be thinking that you can never be one of those super motivated people who accomplish a bunch of things in their day plus run 6 miles and do 10 pull ups every morning. You don’t have to be. Honestly, that may never be you because not everyone is the same. Don’t compare yourself to that person. That may not be your path. What you can do is ask yourself how you can be just a little bit better today than you were yesterday.
Example: If all you see is my social media for Julia on the Edge, you might think I have a lot of motivation to workout and run. The truth is that I do. Sometimes. As this Julia on the Edge journey continues, you will also start to see that sometimes it is really hard for me to get up the energy to do those things. Other times, I honestly just make myself even though I may say the whole time I am getting ready to do it that I don’t want to. Once I go, it all changes. If you know me personally, you may also know that I am kind of—ok, maybe a lot—snarky. I swear a lot. My kids swear. If you are not an Iowa Hawkeye fan, I have probably trashed talked your college team with a vengeance. To your face. That doesn’t mean that my mindset is negative and crabby all the time. I am positive and encouraging and pushing you and myself to be the best we can be. Mindset doesn’t have to be all one or the other.
Over time, over repeated behaviors, you will see your mindset start to change. You will look at some situation without always seeing the worst outcome. You will find 10 minutes to walk instead of 5. You will choose the steamed veggies at lunch instead of the fries. You will start to recognize a positive, growth-focused mindset that you might not have had before. You will find a reason to start and a reason to keep going.
As with all things, start small.
Peace from The Edge,
Julia
