Fall Fitness: Wise Counsel from your Two-Months-From-Now Self

We are in a precious window of time right now. The early days of fall are sweet. We watch the leaves turn, but we still have temps in the 60s. More clouds, but we see the sun most days. As I type this, the length of the night just edged out the length of the day by a minute. There’s a wistful feeling in the air because we, at least those of us in the PNW, know some changes of a meteorological variety are a’coming. Those changes can create more friction for at least some fitness aspirations, so I’ve learned to make the most of this season to help clients (and myself) shore up fitness plans for the fall and winter.

What fitness aspirations do you have for the coming 2-3 months? To start doing something? Keep doing something? To do something more consistently? To achieve a specific goal? (I’m focusing on lifting heavy weights more consistently.) Let’s say you’re with a group of family/friends going around the table at a big year-end meal inventorying your gratitudes. What would you want to hold up and say– I’m so SO glad I have this [fitness practice] going on. It’s keeping me strong, healthy, flexible, happy, sane, [fill in other desirable adjective].

Back to the present, on a scale of 1 – 10, where are you with that fitness aspiration right now?

If you’re at a 1, what is a resource, simple action or small initial goal to move you to a 2? What valuable pieces may already be happening even if they are very small?

If you’re at a 2 or higher, what helped you get from a 1 to where you are now? Make note of resources, daily actions and conditions that led to progress. Focus on engineering those to move you farther up the scale. 

Wherever you are on the scale, how will you know that you’re at the next level on the scale? What might other people notice? What will be different in your days, around your home, on your schedule? What does it look like to be doing it?

Imagine you’ve reached a 10 with this aspiration– you’re doing it! What would your 10-Achieving-Three-Months-From-Now Self counsel you to do this coming week to move you closer?

On this same front, James Clear, the Atomic Habits guy advises “When determining the size or complexity of a new habit ask yourself: What can I stick to — even on my worst day? Start there. Master the art of showing up. Then advance.”

The Unstill Life community is a place to surround yourself with good folks who value fitness and do all kinds of awesome things out in the world with their fitness. If you’d like more support, or just a sounding board fitness advocate to explore your aspirations with, let’s enjoy an early fall meet up and talk.