OK - so you know how when someone asks you to do something 3 months down the road it’s NO PROBLEM! I got this! Then a week beforehand you’re having a stroke because you don’t know WHY you agreed to do this and OMG how am I going to get this done???
Future you is an optimist that makes Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec look like Oscar the Grouch. Future you is massively motivated. Future you, when given the choice of a piece of fruit or chocolate for tomorrow’s box lunch order, will always let the better angel of your dietary nature prevail. Then when the pre-ordered lunch rolls around it’s all, “Where’s my cookie??”
Key to your success is knowing yourself. You wouldn’t leave a pot roast to cool on your counter and walk away with your labrador retriever untended in the kitchen. He eats it and it’s hard to be surprised - that’s just human (errr…dog) nature at work. Your toddler will probably not exercise any self control if her supply of Halloween candy is left for her to ingest as she sees fit.
Remember Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? Ted went back in time and laid out helpful objects for himself to find later. You can be your own time traveling hero. You KNOW what you SHOULD do. Make it easier for ‘future you’ to make those decisions.
You’re at the grocery store. Shopping when you’ve just eaten means you will make better choices in the now for your near-term future. Who are we buying those cookies for? Who is going to eat them? Future us, unless that temptation doesn’t readily exist.
Scheduling your classes and weigh-ins NOW for the next two weeks or month means you’re already locked in. Don’t leave it to ‘present you’ to have the intestinal fortitude to pull yourself out of a warm comfy bed without that ten bucks hanging in the balance! (Past, present _and_ future me are all very thrifty - late cancels best involve being carried somewhere on a gurney ;).
One of my favorite things we do is collect video testimonials, often at the end of bootcamps, with people celebrating their wins. Watching these later can remind you of your enthusiasm for movement and clean eating (or at least the RESULTS you get when you are practicing those!) If you don’t have that to refer to, consider using this as a little time capsule for future you:
Send an email to yourself a week, a month, six months from now.
Where do YOU want to be in those time frames?
It all starts with today.
Coach Marcey Tidwell is started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program!
Coach Marcey Tidwell
