I am a results oriented person. I love to get results, to achieve, to tick boxes and all of those lovely things. I am also a bit of a contradiction. In my work life, I understand the need for patience, for taking slow but deliberate steps on the journey towards success. I know it will take years to achieve the optimal level of cultural and process gains in the company I work in. I’m cool with that.

When it comes to my own personal transformation I can never seem to gain the same zen like clarity, patience and sense of purpose. I want results now, I expect results now and I get frustrated and unreasonable when I don’t get them.

Almost two weeks into my twelve week fitness and healthy eating program I can feel the frustration monster starting to roar and complain. The program itself is actually extremely sustainable. I know I can do this for twelve weeks and probably keep doing it indefinitely. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

You will find many posts on this blog about focusing on process rather than results. It’s a concept I continue to struggle with despite working on it for years. A few weeks into a program I find myself checking the scales, the measuring tape, fiddling with my progress spreadsheet and dreaming about the results to come. It becomes a bit of an obsession and patience goes out the window, leaving only frustration.

This time, I am not giving into the beast. I am putting down my tape measure and only picking it up, or getting on the scales once a week. I am reminding myself that I am not doing this for short term gain. This twelve week program is only one quarter of my Year of Transformation. At the end of the twelve weeks I will start something new and equally challenging. This program is only the tool I am using to make it possible for me to do more of the things I actually want to do, that I can’t do now. It is not the end game so why am I in such a hurry?

The Year of Transformation is more that just a year long process of transforming my body. It is also a chance to change my mindset about a lot of things that are no longer serving me. It’s an opportunity to break long standing habits that if unchecked will undo all my good work. Like mastering a new workout, mastering my obsession with results will come with time and practice.

And boy do I need practice.

Published by the lean minimalist

Donna Sherriff is a New Zealand based improvement and operations management specialist. Seeing a need for simple, no fuss, improvement advice she started The Lean Minimalist blog in 2017. Donna writes articles offering advice and tips for rapid and sustainable business improvement based on over 15 years in Senior Management roles. Passionate about sharing the lessons of over 20 years on the high performance track Donna offers coaching services to professionals. She also writes about her own personal improvement journey, minimalism, and her life long struggle against the tyranny of cookies and sugar which she overcame in 2020. These days, Donna is pursuing a journey to earn her black belt in Taekwondo after a long hiatus of 16 years away from training. On the side she is an amateur but passionate musician and poet. View all posts by the lean minimalist