Written by: Ben Howard, Guest Writer
You’ve probably heard about this thing. This special quality that we all possess but don’t all know how to harness for the best. But do you know it’s much more than that?
It is much more than just a special quality. It is, in fact, a Superpower!
Adaptability not only helps you to overcome the daily challenges we all inevitably face, but it is also the incredible tool that means you can achieve success in each & every venture that you embark upon.
My main focus for this piece is how being adaptable will transform your physique & mind from a fitness perspective, but I am also going to touch on things that can be applied in various other ways.
Because life is for living. And if we try to live a life of rigidity & never seek to change, we become very stagnant very quickly. The same is true when you decide that you want to get fit, lose some weight, gain some muscle & look incredible. Most people will search the internet for “the best diet/workout/plan to achieve X”. And you will be presented with 100s and 1000s of different approaches, all of which have the potential to work (even if some are much better than others).
But the problems often begin here.
You pick a plan. A plan that is as generic as it gets. But a plan that you like the look of for whatever reason. Maybe the person advertising it looks like your goal. Maybe the catchy name piqued your interest. Or maybe a friend of yours recommended it.
Whatever the reason, it typically comes with one major flaw. It hasn’t been designed with you in mind & you’re unsure how, therefore, to adapt it to suit. You see, that superpower I mentioned at the very beginning is within you, but you might need a little direction to unlock it.
What tends to happen at this point is that you will attempt to shoehorn this new approach into your life. Or totally overhaul your life to create room for the plan. You might even manage to stick with it for a week, maybe 2, possibly even a month, or more.
But soon, it becomes obvious that it isn’t right. You can’t possibly keep missing meetings to eat. Or turning up to work hot & sweaty after having run 10 miles that morning. Or refusing to attend any social event for fear of what you’ll be forced to eat.
You’ve lost all sense of adaptability.
And believe that the only way to reach your goals is to adopt a life that has you doing all of the things you hate and none of those which you enjoy. Very quickly this new lifestyle, the one that might have triggered initial excitement, becomes something that you resent, worry about constantly & have nothing but stress filling your every waking thought.
Don’t you think it would be better if you were to create an approach that could be flexed around your existing lifestyle?
An approach that complimented your day rather than complicated it? This is where adaptability becomes crucial. The best results are often the ones that are achieved with the simplest methods. No crazy complicated diets. No ridiculous training plans. No strict rules around when you can & can’t eat. Just finding the best way for you as an individual to achieve success.
✅ Eating when you’re able to & foods that you enjoy.
✅ Training within the time you have available, doing exercise that excites you.
✅ Not stressing about a missed meal or training session.
And, even when those best laid plans go awry… not panicking, but readapting. Being OK with life throwing you those curveballs because you can reschedule, find alternatives and still progress towards your goals. It’s no different outside of fitness.
Think about that time your boss gave you a sudden deadline that meant having to rearrange your other tasks to drop everything & get it done.
Think about that time the kids got sick & you had to leave what you were doing to make sure they are OK. Or the time you went out for dinner, with everything planned before arriving, only to find out that your chosen meal choice wasn’t available.
Being adaptable is what got those things done. It’s why you nailed the deadline, took care of the kids & enjoyed the dinner regardless of your first choice not being available.
There are really only two ways to look at it:
Blind panic, total rigidity, nothing gets done if it’s not done the way it always has been
Adapt, improvise, move forwards & keep striving for more
Which sounds like the more progressive approach to you?
And which is far more likely to not only get you results in the first place, but to be able to sustain them in the future?
For more info follow me on Instagram, Facebook and visit my website!
Ben Howard, Brainz Magazine Guest Writer
Ben Howard owns Team Ben-E-Fit, a fitness & lifestyle coaching team. As a former finance professional who experienced how powerful taking charge of my health & fitness was on my career progression, confidence, stress management & ability to lead from the front, I developed a huge passion & purpose to help others achieve the same benefits so they, too, can maximise their physiques, confidence & careers.
