CrossFit South Bend

Today we are going to try to give you some tools to figure out how committed are you really, truly and deeply to your goals? This is something that we deal with a lot here at Crossfit South Bend. Whether it’s fitness goals or health goals or mobility goals. Whatever goals you might have. One of the things we always talk to people about is their commitment level. What is that commitment level and what does that really mean? Okay. First of all, why is commitment level so important? Commitment level is going to dictate the appropriate protocol for that particular goal. I’ll give you an example. If someone says, “Hey I want to lose 20 pounds.” Right? “But I don’t care whether it’s in the next two months or in the next two years or in the next 10 years.” Their commitment level is maybe a one, in the sense that they just don’t really care when it happens. Then that’s going to dictate what we do. We don’t really have to do anything majorly invasive or severe at that point because they don’t really care.

On the other hand, if someone comes to you and says, “Well, I want to lose 30 pounds in three months.” Which is a decently aggressive goal if they want to do it sustainably and in a healthy fashion. Then we have to have a talk about how committed are you? How committed are you to that goal, because lots of people want to do something like that but not everyone is willing to put in the effort. One of my favorite all time quotes comes in the form of the following saying which is, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die to get there.” We see this over and over and over again with fitness, nutrition and mobility goals. If someone says their commitment level is a 10 to me. When we’re meeting I will always check to see if that’s really true. The way I’ll check, and it isn’t a perfect method by any means, but the way I’ll check is I’ll ask, “Well what are you willing to sacrifice?” Because if your commitment level is a 10, that doesn’t just mean, “Oh I really really want this thing.”

That means that you’re willing to sacrifice to get it. Just like lots of people want to be rich but they still want to spend a lot of money or people want to have a good relationship but they don’t want to put in the work to get there. Similarly with nutrition. People say, “Oh well, I want to achieve this thing. I want to have a six pack and I want to lose 30 pounds in three months.” But what are you really willing to do? Are you, for example, willing to stop going out on the weekends as frequently? Are you willing to stop drinking for a period of time? Are you willing to go to bed at 10 p.m. every single night and get eight hours of sleep? Are you willing to do a mindfulness practice where you’re de-stressing constantly on a daily basis? Are you willing to cook for yourself 80 to 90% of the time? It’s okay if you’re not willing to do those things. That’s fine. If someone says, “Hey, upon realizing that this is what I would need to do to get to those goals, I’m not willing to put in that effort.”

That’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. If people come to us and say, “Hey look man, I just want to eat pizza and chocolate chip cookies.” Or whatever it is they want to eat and they don’t care about the consequences. We don’t see anything wrong with that. What we see a problem with and what is most problematic for us is when someone says, “I want to do X, but I don’t want to do the things required to do X.” “I want to lose 30 pounds in three months, but I don’t want to change my diet.” Or, “I do want to change my diet but I only want to cook 40% of the time.” Or, “I do want to get better sleep habits but I still want to go to bed past midnight. I still want to go out for drinks.” We can’t do anything for you in that case. There really isn’t much to do. Your commitment level dictates what we are able to do. It dictates how we’re able to help you. You need to get very very clear for yourself about what your commitment level is and whatever the level is, it’s fine.

If your commitment to achieving financial peace or what have you is a five, that’s okay. If your commitment to achieving health and wellness is a 10, well then that’s going to require a certain sacrifice. Ask yourself the following question, if your commitment level is a nine or a 10 to achieve a particular goal. Let’s say it’s a health and wellness goal. Ask yourself the following question, “What wouldn’t I do to get there?” Not just, “What would I do, but what wouldn’t I do? What wouldn’t I do to get there?” That would be very telling for you because if you say, “Well there’s really nothing I wouldn’t do.” Then you’re very committed. If you’re someone who says, “Well I don’t know about giving up chocolate chip cookies. Well I don’t know about giving up my beer on the weekends or hanging out with my friends.” Again, that’s okay, but you’re not truly committed as you say you are. That’s something that you need to get very very clear on. Because there’s no way to help you achieve your goal unless you get very clear on that.

Depending on your commitment level, we can give you more or less intensive protocols to help you get there. The people who say, “I’m willing to do this.” And we give them the protocol and they do it, they succeed. The people who say, “Well I want to do this but I don’t really want to put in the effort.” They don’t succeed and it’s because they’re just not willing to do what’s required to get them there. In order to get a real sense of whether you are going to be able to achieve your goals, you need to know what your commitment level is. If you think you’re really committed, ask yourself, “What wouldn’t I do to get to this point and what am I willing to sacrifice to get there?” That will give you a lot of insight to how committed you are. All right guys. Thanks so much for tuning in. I’ll see you next time.