A breakthrough is an incredible thing. For your health, it means discovering something new about yourself, finding a habit that works, or making some startling realization about how you interact with nutrition and fitness in your daily life. A breakthrough signals a change for the better. Now, let’s talk about how you get there, because it’s not just a matter of time; it’s a matter of effort.
1. Work Small The first step to finding your breakthrough is realizing that it doesn’t have to be big. In fact, a breakthrough can be a small thing that only matters to you – Cut out your nightly glass of wine. Kick your addiction to diet soda. Get in the habit of using online grocery ordering and pick up in time management. Find a little change that works for you and be proud of it. Before long, those little changes start to add up into one big one, and that's a phenomenal feeling. 2. Embrace the Uncomfortable To find your breakthrough, before anything else, you have to be in the market, and that means getting out of your comfort zone. If you’re in your comfort zone, you’re not going to have a breakthrough. Breakthroughs happen when you change your habits, try something new, or push your personal boundaries. If you're looking for a breakthrough, start by making a change. 3. Be Willing to Fail In order to succeed, it helps to be willing to fail. As with any attempt worth making, you have to push through the hard to get to the good. I spent hundreds of hours in the water, painstakingly trying out new techniques to make the time pass before I ever found a strategy that worked for me. So in addition to being willing to be uncomfortable, be willing to fail. Try new things until you get it right, and eventually, you WILL get it right. 4. Be Persistent Last, and most importantly, don't give up. You'll be uncomfortable; you will fail, but it you keep going, you'll succeed. You really will find your breakthrough. Keep swimming; keep running; keep looking for new ways to improve your eating habits. A breakthrough may feel like a moment, but it's days, weeks, even years in the making. Work for it, and never give up.
For Deanna Duplanti, getting to your breakthrough is all about looking outside the box, and doing something different:
“I’ve experienced many breakthroughs in my health and fitness, but one of the biggest had to do with my nutrition. I learned that I could train, I could go all day long, but unless I had the proper nutrition, I wasn’t going to improve like I wanted to, and I wasn’t going to feel very good.
They say in a marathon you’re going to hit a wall at mile 20. The thing is, I don’t believe that wall exists. What I have found is that you just have to make a decision, ‘I’m going to give it all I’ve got.’ What you’ll often find is that you could do it, and you did. Look outside the box. Do something different. Even with food, things that I said ‘oh my gosh, I would never like that,’ those foods often turned out to be the tastiest thing ever. High in fat foods taint your palate. Now, I find healthy foods taste wonderful, fresh and clean. That’s a breakthrough. Get out of your comfort zone. Goodness knows I had never done a polar plunge, but the first time I did, I loved it. Be creative. You can be disciplined, but don’t let those boundaries mean too much. Lastly, remember that there’s no time limitation on a breakthrough. Every day is a new day, so start out fresh each morning.” Remember. You have to be in the market.
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