Some good reminders: Progress not perfection

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Some good reminders from a recent Precision Nutrition newsletter. They are a coaching company. I have not used their services or have any affiliation with them. I like their attitude and newsletters and articles. I could have edited this one to remove the 'sells pitchy' parts of this entry, but then it didn't seem to flow quite right. Link to another of their articles that I read earlier today, "Fat loss hacks!?!? 10 charts show why you don’t need them."

Precision Nutrition newsletter extract

Can you recall the last “bad” day you had?
Bad days usually aren’t about what went wrong. They’re about what didn’t go the way you hoped.
The food choices, the skipped workout, the “ugh, what even happened today?” feeling.
You finish the day shocked at yourself—and not in a good way. 
You think, “How did I let myself slip so much?
All those crappy food choices! I thought I was better than that…”You marvel at all the things you know—but still didn’t do.
Worse, you have zero confidence that—if faced with a similar day again—you’d do any better.

Not many people know this, but…

Improving often means having more good days, yes.
More days where you look at yourself in the mirror and think, ‘You really nailed it today, kid.’ And you go to bed feeling that swell of pride and confidence in your chest.
But actually, the secret—and arguably more important—skill behind any self-improvement initiative is simply to make your bad days… less bad.

“Less bad” doesn’t sound as fun. True.
(Don’t worry—we don’t call our program “Less Bad Nutrition Coaching.”
But we do take damage control seriously.)
But when it comes to making progress, damage control is your best friend.
Damage control means being able to:
▶ Put away the chips before you finish the whole bag (even if you’ve already eaten more than you intended to)
▶ Return to the gym—even if you missed the past four workouts (instead of giving up completely)
▶ Have a moment of self-awareness that it’s time to put yourself to bed (rather than stay out later and have yet another Aperol spritz)
▶ Continue to show up and give C+ effort (even when your perfectionist side tells you you’re doomed to fail with anything less than A+)

In PN Coaching, we emphasize this skill heavily. We call it “progress over perfection.”
And it can be THE thing that helps you keep going and—over time—achieve your goals.
With a “progress over perfection” mindset,  imagine if your new “worst” day could look like this:
You wake up late (dumb alarm!). 
When you go to get your kid up, they’ve peed the bed so now you have to add laundry to your already jammed morning routine.
Forget packing a healthy lunch.
Traffic is horrible, work is nuts, your usual lunch workout class gets canceled, and it’s raining buckets outside. 
At the end of the day, more traffic. 
By the time you get home, you’re too exhausted to cook. Plus, takeout pizza (and maybe some wine) would really take the edge off.
Your old self would’ve said, “Screw it! Healthy eating and exercising are NOT happening today!”
But your new self:

• Grabbed an apple on your way out the door
• Found a courtesy umbrella at the office and went for a brisk walk at lunch
• Ordered pizza, but added baby carrots as a side—and felt satisfied after 2 slices
• Poured a half glass of wine and sipped it mindfully

As you drift off to sleep, you huff in disbelief at all the stuff that went off the rails today.
But you also feel a little smile come over your face. 
You did your best. Better than before. And not because it was easy. 
But because you’re strong.

Nkd213

This is so helpful. I love the mindset shift!

rms62003

I like it - we need to think more in this way. As humans, we aren't perfect, and can't keep beating ourselves up when we don't act perfectly.

Every little good behavior helps and it adds up over time. Instead of focusing on the 'bad' we need to celebrate the little 'good' things we have done!