Last week, I received an email from my wonderful Swedish client, who is on an extended trip. She made an “on the road” exercise commitment and wanted to update me as promised. I had to laugh when she called her workout, “The Persistence Training” program that has kept her going through jet lag, family celebrations and home cooking.
When we first met (along with her husband), we joked about our shared experience of the Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise Program. These two had been working on and off with the same exercise system for years. For me, the exercise handbook was the basis for my l972 premier class.
The definition of persist, as a verb is to continue steadfastly or obstinately despite opposition or difficulty. The synonym of persist is perseverance, which means steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Nike pretty much sums this up with their motto, “Just Do It!”
So how to continue continuing on to do what is possible every day when the days feel so crowded and we might feel so tired? My client had made a verbal vow to send an email update on her workouts. While I didn’t hear every day, I did get a report on what had worked and what had to be worked around on a regular basis.
Bottom line, even though daily exercise was sometimes skipped due to trains, planes and automobiles, there was a consistently of exercise and reports. Her persistence to persevere was right on track with not giving up after encountering the first obstacle.
We both agreed that certain factors helped her feel successful. Regular accountability to someone, short burst of 7 minutes of intense exercises, willingness to just keep going even though her initial commitment of “daily” did not work out perfectly and adaptation to looking for those little breaks of time to say, “yes now” instead of “oh well,” were the keys to her “Persistence Training!”
