Sustainability of fitness

One essential factor in Life Balance is to keep fitness at peak levels throughout the Life Enrichment Matrix© process.

Sustainability is defined as a course of action that can be maintained at specific levels for any required amount of time.

The imbalance in one section of your life could impede another quadrant of your life, according to the Life Enrichment Matrix©. It is like building muscles during strength training; should one just concentrate on the left side of your body, wouldn’t you look quite peculiar walking and emphasise leaning towards one side more than the other?

One could argue that your entire life is based on that same principle.

Should you concentrate more on your financial and career fitness and neglect your relational fitness, you might have a healthy bank account and successful work environment, but you will probably be lonely and have no one to share that wealth with. Furthermore your lack of relational connection could cause alienation between you and your family, spouse, loved ones, friends or partner and weaken your support system. Imbalance in any of the quadrants of Life Balance is often the greatest cause of individuals’ not experiencing fulfilment in life, but rather fleeting happiness.

Furthermore, generally people do not sustain life fitness because they don’t want to be held accountable, but rather because they feel captured when they have to account for what they have committed to, initiated or promised. In other words, a rebellious sense of “do not tell me what to do.” Much of it can be ascribed to being lazy, indecisive or lethargic. Recently someone told me why he has difficulty to commit - he attained the tendency to not commit as “not disciplining yourself for delayed gratification.” Some people want immediate affirmation and reward for a commitment they have made, which in reality is not always plausible.

In the same way bad habits and bad behaviour is learned, the brain can be trained and shaped into good habits. Due to human nature people refrain from sustaining what they initially committed to. Some people become bored. Other’s merely lose interest, which could also be biological – because of the response of the brain’s “feel good hormones” which were triggered at the start of the novel activity, and wore off.

People need to commit to new and better behaviour once chosen. Once the novelty wears off it normally becomes more difficult to see the new process through, but it is this endurance that promotes good habits, behaviour, stamina and energy.

In order to keep on moving forward – YOU NEED ENERGY! To maintain satisfactory fitness levels on all quadrants of your life, you need a sound mind. Sustainability will follow as a result of a good mind-set, which is to decide and commit to a positive course of action. Most people don’t commit to or account for their own progress if they don’t make a definitive decision to do what they say they are going to do.

You do have control over your mind, and since you are the custodian of your decisions – you can make a decision to be fit, and to do whatever it takes to get you there!

FITNESS (SUSTAINABILITY) = ENERGY + MIND-SET + COMMITMENT + ACCOUNTABILITY

Being accountable puts you in a position to sustain whatever you put your mind to!

In order to effectively work at fitness levels in all dimensions of your life, you have to start somewhere. Often it is just starting to move forward, no matter how slow!

A move towards sustainability:

Physical fitness

Initiating physical fitness should commence by taking small steps. If you are not a member at a gym, commit to walking 2km, three times per week, and step it up a notch each week. There are many high and low intensity training programs available online, in addition to running and walking. Set a specific time, and commit to it! Promote accountability by printing a monthly calendar and tick off every day that you have exercised. Even if there is sacrifice at play - be it an impromptu coffee-date, rain or snow, keep to your self-disciplined committed schedule! There is Life Balance at stake!

Share your calendar with a friend and set each exercise session as an immovable part of your daily activities.

Nutritional fitness

Select food items that you have eaten during the lockdown days that you know is not beneficial to your health, and eliminate one of them from your diet for 30 days. Include your progress on your personal progress calendar, so that you can keep track of your performance.

It is best to only include positives on our personal progress calendars! Noting your exercises and nutritional challenges on your calendar and placing this on your fridge, will assist you in remaining accountable and makes it possible for you to view and track your progress.

Accountability promotes sustainability! The only way you will become, and remain fit in all quadrants of your life, is by committing to a plan, pursuing what you have committed to, and being accountable. In other words – ‘walking your talk!’

Elvira

JustLive coach

elvira@justlive.co.za

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I hate every minute of training. But I said, don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. – Mohammad Ali