Posts tagged Switch

O.k., here we go, our first story…

About 5 weeks ago I got an Email on my Facebook page.  This person had introduced themselves as the program director at CNYMMA, a mixed martial arts school.  A while back I had befriended them on Facebook and discussed the possibility of trying them out.  Like most people I procrastinated and said, “I’ll call them tomorrow”, and everyday it was always “tomorrow”.

The new program director was different.  I was at work when she called, and I recognized the number, so I answered. (Which anyone who knows me personally, I don’t answer my phone too much.)  I can’t explain why, but I did.  She introduced herself and the first thing she asked was “What are your goals?”.  I have never had anyone ask me that question.  I was kind of caught off guard, and had to take a minute to think.  I then realized that even though I had goals, they really weren’t concrete.  I had to actually think about it, rather than rattle them off quickly.

So, after some thought, I explained my goals to her.  She didn’t waste anytime and asked when I wanted to take my free introductory class.  Once again, she caught me off guard, and I had to think quickly.  So I answered “whenever, anytime after 4pm” (that’s what time I leave work), and at that moment I was committed, there was no backing out now, I was stuck.  So, she quickly came back with, “How about tonight at 6:45?”  Boy this girl was good!  Caught off guard again.  So of course, now freshly committed, I said “Sure.”

6:30pm that night I arrived at the gym with a thousand things racing through my mind.  The thought of just ditching the whole idea came to mind quite a few times.  I was extremely nervous, and my confidence level was in the basement.  I walked in and introduced myself, and we went into her office.  We began to talk about my background, my family, my dreams, my fears and just about everything in between.  It was great to be able to talk with someone about myself, and have them get excited for me.

She began to explain the history of CNYMMA, and what their mission was.  They are committed to setting and achieving goals.  They believe in setting a huge goal, and breaking it down into little weekly goals.  As well as setting goals they encourage tracking them as well.  I felt in good hands, and the excitement was building, until she threw me to the wolves….

Practice started, and I fell in line (in the back of the room of course).  We warmed up, the typical stuff, and stretched.  Then we partnered up and the instructor began showing us some punching combos.  WHOLLY COW, me eyes got as big as the sun.  “How am I gonna do this?”, I thought to myself.  Well, I had a partner with some experience and I caught on pretty quickly.  All in all the night was a success, and I signed on right on the spot.

5 weeks later, and I have set a major goal for next summer of competing in my first full contact fight.  This long term goal has spawned many smaller sub-goals as well.  Diet change, mental conditioning, weight training, goal tracking.  These are things I have never considered before, and they are very empowering.

So the moral to this story is basically, when you want to try something, don’t give it too much thought.  Our minds have a way of talking us out of things.  It does this to keep us safe, because the “unknown” is inherently dangerous to us.  Also, if you want to make a change, you need to “clear the path”, and make the transition smooth and unobstructed.  This excellent book by the Heath Brothers explains how to make change easier.

The program director, made my decisions easy, because she cleared the path.  She forced me to commit, and didn’t accept any “I will need to think about it” answers.  But you don’t need someone to make you commit.  Think about a change you want to make, or something you want to try, and determine the next action, do it, and take the baby steps to get there.  Don’t think about details, you can figure those out along the way.  Just keep the big picture in mind and live big.

thanks,

Gerry