Don't Think, Just Do

“JUST DO IT!” Nike got that phrase right. When it comes to getting things done, sometimes you should just go out and “just do it.” There is truth to this statement even though it might sound simple but it is very profound. This mentality is especially effective when it comes to getting a workout in.

At work or school, how often have you thought in a day “I want to work out today”? Then by the time you get out and go home you end up sitting at your couch just to “relax for a second.” (A few minutes or hours go by.) By the time you know it you are relaxing way too much. If you even get a chance to go and attempt to work out at the gym after “relaxing” you still need to go change. You get to your closet and you think about what to wear. Then you decide to bring clothes to change in after your workout (another few more minutes go by). Then you see yourself in the mirror and think “I don’t like how my hair looks right now” or “let me put on my contacts”. (Still, a few more minutes tick away.) You think about walking over to the fridge to get a water bottle for your work out but couldn’t decide whether you want Gatorade instead. Then five or more minutes later you finally put on your shoes. Then at the moment you decide to grab your keys in the living room….your moment of ZEN…..YOUR COUCH (and it is calling you back)….and guess what, you wasted so many minutes preparing and THINKING that you convinced yourself to just skip the gym altogether and catch that movie you’ve wanted to see On-Demand.

 It is true that some people are committed to their pursuit of health but to most others like me, we go through the same processes before a work out. That is why over the years I have been inactive with my work outs. I let work and life get in the way. I thought too much of working out that my work out became just that, a THOUGHT. I failed to adjust and I paid the price by becoming overweight. Sometimes adjusting your lifestyle to fit in being healthy doesn’t need planning. We just need to stop over thinking, go out and do it. Next time you want to work out, just change clothes and go. Who cares if your clothes don’t match, who cares if your hair is not as neat, who cares if you miss your movie (it’s On Demand, watch it later!) It is a work out not a fashion show! In Nike’s words…..”JUST DO IT!”

PS. This was something I learned from Anthony Robbins (yes, the guy from Shallow Hal that was called “Banana Hands”). Check out his body of work, even if you just learn one thing it will be well worth it. It has helped me in my life in positive ways.

What does OCD have to do with Fitness?

1, 2, 3…1,2,3…I have a minor OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It is undiagnosed professionally and not overwhelming but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you have it. It permeates my life in certain ways. I have to triple check a door and sometimes even more to make sure it is locked. I count to a certain number until I am satisfied and start over if I am not. Then you get that uncomfortable feeling of anxiety if you don’t do a certain thing right. I am saying this because I know I am not the only one from the people I know who has it. I hope by my admission you can learn that you are not by yourself. Now don’t make it worse than what you are reading, in my daily life it is not too much of a burden and it even helps in some ways. It helps me with my job. It helps me with my work outs. It even helps me with my diet.

How does it help me with my job? Well, since I work with numbers a thousand can easily turn into a million with just a decimal point placed in the wrong area. By having some type of OCD, I end up triple checking a number before I submit it. It doesn’t take me long to do and it actually have allowed me to catch errors before a verifier can catch it. So it actually helps out in what I do. One point for OCD….

Work outs….Let’s just say that if I think I am not getting the same amount of work on one side of my arms/legs, I make sure I try to make it as even as possible. And repetitions don’t bother me…..as a matter of fact the counts help out in my work outs. OCD can fit into work outs too.

Diet….Once I get into a pattern, I can eat the same thing without complain. For example, when I was in the prime shape of my life I was eating Oatmeal and Egg Whites every morning with the exception of Sundays. My pre lunch snack was a Slim Fast. My lunch would be a choice of Chicken Kitchen, Wendy’s Chili, 3 Tacos, Pollo Tropical, or Subway. My dinner consisted of a protein shake. This did not bother me at all and I did it for almost a year or so. Today I am back to the oatmeal routine, and not only does it keep me healthy it saves me money from the McD's and Dunkin Donuts breakfasts I used to have.

In reality, as much as OCD is seen as a hindrance to your well being (and if unchecked it could be), it doesn’t have to be that way. We all have faults that we have to deal with and it is in how we choose to deal with them that we can actually use them to improve ourselves. Sometimes there are positives in our little annoyances and I choose to empower myself with it rather than be consumed by it.  I thought about releasing this subject many times over and I feel that it would actually help me in my quest for improvement by allowing others to see more of who I am……

”Don’t let your faults get the best of you but turn it around and make the best of what you have!”

(Disclaimer: if you actually have something that requires medical attention please do not be afraid to seek it, nobody should ever judge you if you are doing something to help yourself)