Create and take action. Even if you have to convince yourself...

As I write this I’m currently six hours past my self imposed deadline of sending this newsletter by 11am. Normally I have this sucker written at some point through the week when the idea comes to fruition, but as life often hands you lemons, this week is far from normal.

As I realized I was past due, my first thought was that I’ve built enough rapport to skip a week.

“Ah, Casey, you’ll catch ‘em next week”.

Had I followed that thought, I know that tomorrow morning I would greet myself with thoughts of disappointment.

So rather than start making a shit sandwich, ruin my streak of having this newsletter written and sent out every Tuesday, here I am.

What I found interesting of this thought cycle - 1) oh no, I won’t make it 2) skip it, it will be fine 3) fuck, I wish I just did it. - it’s a cycle that many individuals find themselves in, particularly with their fitness.

Ugh, my meeting ran over so I don’t have my full 45 minutes to train.

Ah crap, I totally forgot I have ______ at ______ time so I won’t make it to my normal gym time.

Or how about this one...Man, today just hasn’t gone my way. I’m just going to bag it and catch up tomorrow.

Any of those sound familiar?

I remember during our gym shut down in 2020 having a brilliant conversation with Mental Skills Coach Nicole Adach - shout out Nikki Noodles - and asking her what was the most beneficial skill individuals can always improve on. Without hesitation she said “Positive Self Talk”.

(side bar- if you want to check out that conversation, you can find it right here!)

If you’ve never heard of it, positive self talk is exactly what it sounds like, talking to yourself with optimism about your current situation, actions, or upcoming/past events. It’s something that requires a decent amount of self awareness, but like all novice skills, can be trained and improved with some consideration.

As I sat in bed watching Big Hero 6 with my 2 year old realizing that I hadn’t written anything down for this week, let alone missed my deadline completely, I knew as soon as I wanted to push it off, it became my trigger to switch in to self-talk mode.

“I have enough rapport to skip this week” turned into “Casey, you made a promise to your readers and to yourself. A late newsletter is still a positive win”

“Fuck it, I’ll get them next week” turned into “Man, I’m going to feel way better getting something done during a stressful week than nothing at all”

And most importantly “I can’t believe I missed my deadline” turned into “Hey, there’s still time today to take action”.

Therein lies this weeks lesson, if you will.

When you start telling yourself why you can’t. Think of why you can. Change that negative thought around 180 degrees. You CAN talk yourself into action with positive self talk and reframing your current situation.

There is enough time. There is an alternative way to get it done. Something today is going to be better than the hopeful tomorrow.

Even the most sour lemons that life gives you can be turned in to lemonade and with enough sugar it can taste pretty damn good.

You got this.

Have a great week everyone!

-Casey