Speaker 1: I'm Sam Wood, and this is your motivational moment for
Speaker 1: this week, and we are talking progress, not perfection. So
Speaker 1: I want to tell you a little story. When I
Speaker 1: first started my twenty eighth program back in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: I was two weeks into the program and I was
Speaker 1: doing a daily video to my twenty eight ers and
Speaker 1: sending it to them on their little app, something I
Speaker 1: still do to this day. And I pulled into the
Speaker 1: supermarket and it was about nine o'clock at night. I
Speaker 1: was on my way home from my gym Snares and
Speaker 1: Eve hadn't moved to Melbourne yet, so I was still
Speaker 1: living the bachelor life where I could kind of go
Speaker 1: home at whatever time I wanted. It didn't really impact
Speaker 1: anyone else. I pulled into the supermarket to get dog
Speaker 1: food for my dog Hendrix on the way home, and
Speaker 1: I proceeded to not only get his dog food, but
Speaker 1: also a lead of chocolate ice cream. And I sat
Speaker 1: there and I got my phone out and I did
Speaker 1: a video to my twenty eight ers where I showed
Speaker 1: them that I'd bought the leader of chocolate ice cream
Speaker 1: and that I was heading home and couldn't wait to
Speaker 1: get into it. And It was by far the most
Speaker 1: popular video I had done to them at that stage,
Speaker 1: and it was just so beautiful to see that people
Speaker 1: needed to see that I was real, and the relief
Speaker 1: to people that we didn't have to be perfect. And
Speaker 1: it really really dawned on me at that moment that
Speaker 1: the reason I don't like so many exercise programs, not all,
Speaker 1: but so many, and the reason I think they do
Speaker 1: more harm than good in some cases is they are
Speaker 1: extreme and they practice perfectionism, which is the total wrong
Speaker 1: thing to do. If something isn't enjoyable, it's not sustainable,
Speaker 1: and if something isn't deable, what is the point in
Speaker 1: doing it. That's where I've shifted my whole philosophy, my
Speaker 1: whole workout philosophy, particularly in my thirties and beyond I'm
Speaker 1: now forty one, has been to move away from that
Speaker 1: extreme lifestyle where you have to work out for sixty
Speaker 1: minutes plus every day, and every workout you have to
Speaker 1: smash yourself so you can barely walk down the stairs
Speaker 1: at the end of the workout, and you can't drink alcohol,
Speaker 1: and you can't drink coffee, and you can't eat carbs,
Speaker 1: and you're depriving yourself of everything that you enjoy, and
Speaker 1: guess what. Eventually, some people last longer than others. The
Speaker 1: damn walls break, you throw the towel in, you feel deflated,
Speaker 1: you feel defeated, and you go back to a worse
Speaker 1: position than when you first started. I always explain it
Speaker 1: to people when i'm explaining progress not perfection, that you
Speaker 1: should be a seven, eight, or nine out of ten
Speaker 1: with your food and a seven, eight or nine of
Speaker 1: ten with your exercise, not a ten out of ten
Speaker 1: in either, because neither of those are enjoyable, neither of
Speaker 1: those are sustainable. Now, the reason I give a seven,
Speaker 1: eight or nine range is it depends on where you're at.
Speaker 1: If you want quicker weight loss goals, then you probably
Speaker 1: should be closer to a nine. If you're happy for
Speaker 1: it to take a little bit longer and you're a
Speaker 1: little bit more relaxed about it, you should be at
Speaker 1: a seven. Now. I'm sure some people are listening, going, well,
Speaker 1: i'll be at a two now. There's a point where
Speaker 1: you can't be at a two because that's actually not
Speaker 1: there's not going to be any progress there. It's going
Speaker 1: to be either going backwards. It's going to be regression
Speaker 1: not progression, or best case, you're going to stay where
Speaker 1: you are. So I typically think you need to be
Speaker 1: a seven or eight out of ten, and you've got
Speaker 1: to have the ability to change gears. If it's the
Speaker 1: start of a little challenge that you're doing to yourself,
Speaker 1: you might be a nine out of ten, and then
Speaker 1: you have the ability to change gears and go back
Speaker 1: to an eight out of ten or a seven out
Speaker 1: of ten once you've got that initial momentum and you've
Speaker 1: got those initial results, as long as you have the
Speaker 1: ability to go back a gear so that it becomes
Speaker 1: more enjoyable and more sustainable, because progress not perfection, I
Speaker 1: promise you, is the only way to get long term
Speaker 1: habits and the only way to have long term success.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you might reach a level of your health that
Speaker 1: you're really happy with. I'm exercising three or four times
Speaker 1: a week. I'm lean, but I don't care about having
Speaker 1: a six pack. It's not for me, and I function
Speaker 1: and feel great because really, let's not forget how we
Speaker 1: feel and how we function is more important than how
Speaker 1: we look. So my whole philosophy, the philosophy of my
Speaker 1: twenty eight program, the philosophy that I've lived by with
Speaker 1: my personal training over a two decade span has been progress,
Speaker 1: not perfection. And if I can leave you no other
Speaker 1: motivational moment than this one, this is the one I
Speaker 1: want to remember. So my task, as I always give
Speaker 1: you on with these motivational moments for this week, is simple.
Speaker 1: I want you to evaluate where you are at from
Speaker 1: a food score out of ten and where you are
Speaker 1: at with an exercise score out of ten, and I
Speaker 1: want you to make an improvement. Unless you're already at
Speaker 1: a nine out of ten, then just keep doing what
Speaker 1: you're doing. But if you're at a six, go to
Speaker 1: a seven. If you're at a seven, go to an eight.
Speaker 1: And find that place where you are still enjoying life,
Speaker 1: but you are really proud of the results and the
Speaker 1: progress that you're making. Because when you can find that balance,
Speaker 1: that's when you know you're in the right spot.