Have you ever self sabotaged?

I ask this because I caught myself beginning a process of self sabotage this week. I didn’t even notice I was doing it at first.

It all started with a combination of a very busy week, both at work and after work. Then I pulled my right quad slightly and walking became painful. I ended up spending the evening, nursing my leg on the couch and eating a grilled cheese sandwich rather than skipping the snack and going for my usual evening walk. The next day I felt not great, leg still sore, cheese sandwich related guilt bubbling. Then I repeated the same behavior again. What was I doing!?

Almost three weeks into my twelve week exercise and healthy eating challenge the results are slow but definitely present. If I just keep on with the program I will definitely be in better shape than when I started. It’s a no brainer.

The sub conscious mind is a sneaky thing. My logical brain knows that A+B = C. Do the eating, do the exercise and results will come. My sub conscious brain is not interested in logic however. It thinks that since I’ve never succeeded with this kind of thing in the long term before that I never will and the sooner I revert to past behavior the better. How could I, the queen of never quite achieving fitness goals, ever imagine that I could have a six pack or heaven forbid toned arms.

My sub conscious brain equates slow results with no results. It thinks what I am doing is not nearly effective enough and I should move onto the next big thing as soon as possible.

I however, am now onto my sneaky sub conscious brain. I refuse to give up. No tasty, comforting grilled cheese is going to keep me from achieving my very long term goals. I may have kicked the cookies but there is a long way to go to reprogram my sub conscious brain into preferring the walk to the couch.

Forming new habits and new brain connections is a long process. Our brains don’t like new ways of doing things, the old ways feel comforting and safe. What I am currently doing with my body and lifestyle is like trying to write with my non dominant hand. My brain much prefers a life of couch snacks and Netflix. I am working on re programming it to to prefer a life of fresh air and fabulous views. A six pack would be nice too.

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