Stay Motivated by Tracking Your Results
Hi! My name is Coach Jimmy and I am curious, how do you judge your progress? I mean, seriously, how can you tell if you are moving in the right direction? I used to ask myself this all the time in so many areas of my life.
You see, before I started mentoring people or doing videos like this, I was a three time college dropout that found myself a hundred pounds overweight and I had moved back in with my parents in my early twenties and so I really was starting from not even zero, but like negative zero. I had multiple maxed out credit cards and I look at the things that I have been able to accomplish over time and I go, “How did I know whether or not I was making progress?”
I mean, it’s always easy to see the before and after picture at the end. We have all seen them on the infomercials, right? The before and after. Something like the Biggest Loser or a “rags to riches” story. It’s so easy to look at the end of the journey and go, “Wow. Look how amazing that progress was.” But I bet that you don’t give yourself the credit of the progress you’re making in the midst of it because we can’t always see the progress we are making because we are our own worst critic.
I wanted to talk about this today because this morning I was working out with my workout partner and trainer that I see on a regular basis and we were talking about the fact that over the past few years…so I went from 250lbs at my heaviest to a 150lbs at my lightest, but over the past few years I have really been working to put on some muscle and some size.
While we’ve done that, I have been battling kind of a mental thing of feeling stronger, of really having great energy, but my mid-section at times is my bugaboo.
I am not one of those dudes that wakes up all day long, six pack, really defined stomach, and what I was talking to her about how there were times when I looked back when I was at my leanest and think, “I really wish I still look like that,” and she was explaining to me how I can’t see the progress I am making about having much rounder shoulders that my entire physique is so much more impressive now than it was at my leanest or my most ripped that I am so much healthier now.
And she says because we look at ourselves in the mirror everyday or we look back, we don’t understand the progress we are making and then we maybe making progress in one area and the definition in another area may not be the same, but where we’re heading, we are creating us ourselves a much much more solid foundation for long term success.
Be Patient With Your Success
So I tell you that in kind of in the parameters of fitness, but it’s the exact same thing I found in the business world of entrepreneurs all the time. People that are trying to start a business or write an eBook or create a product or any kind of business, that they are doing the daily activities, but they don’t see the big results as fast as they want to.
They don’t see the sexy “after” photo.
They don’t see the credit card being paid off.
They don’t see themselves being able to leave that job that they feel like they should leave by now.
And it gets frustrating where the people around them can see the progress, maybe they are seeing the progress in their consistency on Facebook, maybe they are seeing the progress in the quality of content that they are producing on Instagram, or that they are getting better on video. Like those first few Youtube videos were really rough or they are doing live streams better, but they don’t realize that they are getting better.
I look back at my early videos and I think I thought I was really good back then. I look back now and I cringe or I look back at how I used to talk to people about business or prospecting or trying to help people get matched up with the right product, and I look back at I did it just a few years ago and I am really honestly kind of embarrassed by it. But it was part of the progression and if you are showing up every day, there is a progression there that you don’t see.
Success isn’t just one thing
You don’t see the inch and inch and inch and inch and inch and that’s what we tell people, in at least in the fitness world, is “Don’t just judge your progress by the scale. The scale is going to lie to you.”
You may be losing inches.
You may be having more energy.
You may be sleeping better.
If the only way you are judging your progress is the scale, it’s super easy to get discouraged because the scale is going to fluctuate even though that shirt is fitting different, those pants are easier to buckle, your energy level is more, you can do three more pushups than you could the day before, even though the scale is going up.
It’s the same thing in your business guys.
If the only way we’re looking at progress maybe is by the bank account or by the rank of our business or by our following on social media, it’s super easy to get discouraged. We have to find other ways to judge our progress and a lot of times that’s finding a mentor, somebody who has that outside presence to look. So for me, it was my trainer.
If the only way you are judging your progress is the scale, it’s super easy to get discouraged because the scale is going to lie to you.
She has been watching me over the four years or so that we have been working together and she is like, “Oh my gosh, Jimmy. You have no idea how I see you progress.” She sees me progress differently than I do.
The business coaches that I worked with before see me progress and say, “Wow, Jimmy. I see your business going. Your content is so much more consistent. You are so much better at this than you used to be. Your follow though with things are so much better,” things that are really in the middle of it, when you are in the middle of trying to build something, when you are in the middle of that grinder, in the middle of the hustle, it’s hard to see the progress you are making.
And so what I encourage you to do is find that mentor.
Never Forget How Far You’ve Come
Find that person that is willing to be super honest with you, call you on your shit when you’re not on pace, but also say, “Yo yo yo, give yourself some grace. Let’s look back and let me remind you where you used to be. Let me remind you what you used to struggle with that’s more natural to you know.” And then take the time to celebrate that.
I was so thankful that she pointed that out to me today, because for me it’s just really easy to just look at my mid section and go, “Ugh, I don’t see these abs.” I don’t see whatever while I am lifting more than I’ve ever lift in a workout. That my form is so much better now than it used to be.
The same thing is happening in your life in so many areas, in business, in relationships, your fitness, your nutrition, your energy, or whatever it is that you are pursuing. So I am going to encourage you to find that mentor. If you don’t have one, man, I would love to be that for you as well.
You can go to my website anytime. TheCoachJimmy.com. Stop by, check it out, hopefully there is something there that motivates you or inspires you or teaches you something to move for and that’s where you can contact me as well.
Let’s work together. I want to make your goals my goals and get there because I know what an amazing role mentors have played in my life and I want to pay that forward to you.
Thank you for watching this video today. If you found value in it, I am going to ask you to do me a favor, click the ‘like’ button, share it with somebody else, and most importantly leave me a comment. Tell me what that thing that you are progressing towards. What’s that area that you want to see progress in so I can be in your corner as well.
Thanks for watching. My name is Coach Jimmy. Until next time, keep moving forward.