Support from family and friends is important when it comes to achieving goals. Here's how it can make a difference.
I was a bit late on the uptake with the whole “new year, new me” regime but I’ve recently signed yet another fund-leaking gym membership in Kalgoorlie with every good intention of pulling myself out of the couch-potato rut I’ve fallen back into. This time I poured even more money into it — perhaps as motivation — and hired myself a personal trainer.
I envisaged a ripped, angry man who would intimidatingly tower over my 173cm frame looking something like a military drill sergeant, spitting as he yelled at me, but I was greeted with a 23-year-old with a footballer’s physique and a big, goofy smile on his face.
I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed and asked myself what this young bloke could possibly teach me that I couldn’t find on a YouTube workout video, but there was one question he asked me that left me reeling. I was stumped by it. In fact, I was so completely blown away that I realised I’d underestimated him from the start. What did he ask me?
“Do your home and work environment support your new healthy lifestyle?”
Do work and home support your health goals?
At first, I questioned what my housemate and work colleagues had to do with my health; after all I was paying for a trainer to practice with me, to report to and to hold me accountable — this was the basis of our relationship, right? Well, not necessarily because you only see your trainer for those 30 to 60 minute sessions a few times a week. What about all that time in between?
An often-overlooked yet essential element to achieving your goals (fitness or otherwise) is a strong support network. If we keep our professional or personal goals to ourselves, whether that be out of fear of failure or judgement, we could lose momentum, which ultimately makes it easier to give up.
Support doesn’t need to come in the shape of an ingenuine “high five” in the crib room because you ate a green salad instead of leftover pizza, or a passing “good on you” from your workmate for completing the task ahead of time. Rather, it comes from a group of people (family, friends, workmates) who can hold you accountable, inspire you to keep going, help filter through the mounds of “how to win at life” information out there and motivate you when you’re feeling yourself go off-track.
We might not all feel that we need this support, but getting to the top on our own can be a long and lonely journey. After all, you’re the one making the big change — all they have to do is help you get there. You never know, you might even inspire someone else along the way.