I was talking to a client the other day at the gym, we were discussing some technique on a certain exercise. As I was explaining the most effective way to do it, she said to me “I can’t do that.”
We all know that that four letter word is not allowed in the gym but after she said that I simply said, “well, why not?”
The response that I got was a common one. “I don’t know.”
So you said that you can’t do it, but you haven’t even really tried. So how do you know?
This is almost a hard wired response for people. When we hear something new, or someone wants us to try something that maybe scares us a bit or we just have never tried before, the automatic protection response is “I can’t.”
Maybe trying that certain thing, whether it’s exercise or not, is scary. It puts us out of our nice fluffy, albeit boring, comfort zone.
I can’t simply means, I don’t want to try at this moment. Or maybe I’m scared. Or maybe I just never thought about doing that.
There are very few things in life that we literally cannot do. We could try them, maybe we fall on our face and totally suck the first time, but who really cares?
At least you tried. That’s what I tell all of my clients when we branch out to doing push ups on the toes, or keeping the elbows in on the push ups or using a heavier kettlebell on their swings. All I can ask of you is to try.
Was it hard?
Yep.
Did it suck a little?
Yep.
Did you try and did that feel really good?
Yep.
Something that I started working on several months ago is changing the automatic, hard wired response. When someone suggests something or you think of something and you automatically think “I can’t,” we have to change that.
At first that will still be your response or your thought process sometimes. Once you initially think “I can’t” I want you to stop and think, “why not?”
After you get consistent with doing that and asking yourself why not, then you’ll start to slowly fade away with the initial “I can’t” response to something new or hard.
Start rewiring your old habits and remember that instead of saying “I can’t” just think instead, “Okay, I’ll try.”
Give this a shot today and make it part of your daily habits. You’ll see your confidence boost and especially in the gym, you’ll be more open to trying instead of resistant to change. Change is the only way we can grow. I can’t wait to hear how this works for you.