Gamify Your Weaknesses

One of the main hurdles holding so many of us back is that initial adherence to a simple solution to what feels like a complicated problem.

Weaknesses are seldom genetic hindrances without a solution. They only feel that way because the mixture of insecurity and uncertainty has a way of distorting our realities. This becomes more and more apparent to each of us as we slowly check off a box or two that once felt ‘uncheckable’.

In pursuit of getting a few more of those uncheckable’s dealt with, you have my permission to tell “running with headphones on doesn’t count” guy, “you had a piece of gum it’s not fasted cardio it doesn’t count” guy, or “that’s not rx’d” guy to fuck off. Every single weakness, including those that amounted to mental roadblocks rather than physical, that I’ve helped myself and others overcome had some leniency and/or gamification to them. Get the ball rolling by making the things that you’re scared of seem a bit more fun. You can always ditch the headphones or complete the work as we wrote it once you gain a little momentum.

When the alternative is nothing, something is pretty damn powerful. So go ahead and turn the steady-state work into weird intervals in your head, race a friend you have no business trying to keep up with, turn the music way up, turn the damn tv on if it will make you row, add your favorite movement to a work with your least favorite movement, start with an infinitesimal amount of something and slowly add to it over time. Do what it takes to bridge these gaps. Gamify that which you would not execute on otherwise.