It's no secret that we enjoy what we enjoy for a reason. If you typically enjoy a cup of coffee and shower before you head to work, you've found what works for you and that brings you joy. The same applies to our health and wellness lifestyle. Exercise has many benefits, one of those being a major stress reliever, so it makes sense that workouts that are familiar to us bring us comfort when we are in need of some stress relief. At some point, though, there is a point of diminishing return in seeking out that familiar workout routine.
Going back to that cup of coffee, think back to when you first started drinking coffee. Have you always had the exact amount you currently drink, or did you start with one or two cups and now you need four or five to get through the day? Perhaps you started with two small cups of coffee and now you are up to two large cups of coffee? Aside from giving you a hankering for coffee, I bring this up because the body adjusts to your daily habits the best it can to maintain "normal". If your "normal" exercise routine was challenging for you a few years ago, that's great! However, now, what is it doing for you? Just like the caffeine in the coffee, your body has no doubt made an adjustment to that routine, so changing it up becomes crucial to get some of those benefits of exercise back!
With all of that in mind, let’s talk about finding a thrive zone. Being in your thrive zone means being at the peak of your mental and physical capacity for productivity. Being in your thrive zone basically means knowing what you’re good at and doing it well, and staying within that zone to get to one from the other.
Finding out where you thrive is essential because that is your base, where you feel comfortable. Until you find your thrive zone, you won’t necessarily know when you get outside of that thrive zone. There in lies the key to breaking through plateaus and unimaginable goals: being able to push beyond what you thrive at and what makes you comfortable. Guess what? If you push beyond your thrive or comfort zone, soon you’ll adapt and that uncomfortable feeling feels like normal to you. At that point you’ve unlocked a new thing you’re good at and that becomes part of your thrive zone.
It also may require a bit of a change in mindset. Breaking through plateaus and unimaginable goals may sound far off to a person who is looking to change their body composition. If you think about it, to that person, their normal state was when they were at a certain weight that they felt they thrived at. Now, they are at a new normal state of weight where they don’t feel they thrive and they need to get back to that thrive zone. They need to do things that will, at first, make them uncomfortable, but eventually will become comfortable and lead to that desired zone they thrive at.
The next time you find yourself setting goals, keep in mind where you thrive. Or maybe you don’t know where you thrive? In that case, set your goals, then do some soul searching to find out where you can thrive and how that can help you get to your goals.
If you’d like help setting and achieving your health and wellness goals, please contact Jack Zahn at jack@trifitnesswbl.com to set up an appointment.