“Calvin, you need a haircut!”
I’ve been hearing this from my friends and family. They all know me as the guy who would more likely have a haircut like this:
(Also, a little extra pudgy too)
So, when I started to look straggly I heard about it.
I knew I needed a haircut.
Boy, did I know it.
And I wanted to get a haircut so bad! No one wanted it more.
Only…I couldn’t.
Let’s back up a little bit.
At the beginning of the year, I did what many of us do–I set a New Year’s Resolution. My New Year’s Resolution was to lose 25 pounds. Losing 25 pounds would put me in the best shape I’ve been in my entire adult life. It’s been years since I’ve been that light.
I believed it could be done, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It would be challenging. I would need something to give me the constant reminder to keep going when the going got tough.
I decided I couldn’t get a haircut until I hit my goal. That way, it would be a physical reminder that I would see every single time I looked in the mirror–along with the unintended reminder from others, “Calvin, you need a haircut!”
I hit the ground running!
I started at 170 pounds. My goal was to get down to 145 by March. (For those of you that think that is way too small for me–I’m not a large dude. I’m 5’6″. I was around 130 pounds when I was 20. 145 would be a healthy weight for me.)
I worked out every day, and started a new eating plan to go along with it. Everything started out great!
Falling off the wagon.
At the end of March I wanted to punch myself in the face. Since January I made progress! In fact, I got down to 157! Great progress! So, why was I so angry with myself? Because I had since gained most of it back, and I was now up to 165. At the end of March, when I was supposed to have hit my goal, I was 20 pounds off.
That’s when I decided to quit. It wasn’t worth it. I had been working my ass off! I was eating pretty healthy, too. Another goal I had made was to no go to any fastfood places, and I was 100% clean! I still was 20 pounds away! I had two options–either hate myself for not having the discipline of hitting my goal, or realize that it just wasn’t going to happen. Maybe my “older” body is just naturally supposed to be heavier.
The most important decision of my life.
I looked in the mirror. “Calvin, you need a haircut” I said to myself. I immediately remembered the commitment I made to myself. Under no circumstances would I get a haircut until I got down to 145 pounds. But if I can’t lose all that weight, does that mean that I’ll have to let my hair continue to grow?
Yes.
In that moment, I decided I was going to keep going. And if I didn’t hit my goal, I would just never get a haircut ever again.
I got in my gym clothes and worked out.
I was willing to be insane.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I had been exercising every day and I wasn’t seeing the result. I wanted to quit. But I decided to keep on doing it anyway, expecting that I would start getting a different result. Some days I actually gained weight! For a long time I plateaued, but I decided I would keep on pushing anyway. I would do it over, and over, and over again.
Yeeees!
Fast forward to last Saturday, June 11th. I stepped on the scale and I saw the most beautiful thing ever!
The scale said 144.8! “Yeeees!” I immediately said, “I did it!”
Over the past several weeks I started eating only “real food” consistently for the first time in my life. It changed everything. I continued to work out every day, and on a couple nights I added in a jog to give myself a little extra boost.
The lesson.
What I learned is this. I hit the result a couple days ago, but that’s NOT when I was successful. Far too often I think we pin our success to the result. The problem with that is the result is often times far down the road. If we’re not getting closer, we feel deflated.
Success really is getting up and taking action on your goal. That’s it. I wasn’t successful when I hit the result, I was successful when I decided to take on this personal challenge. I was successful every day I worked out. I was successful the day I decided to keep going even when I thought I was done. It was all those little successes that allowed me to have the result.
So whatever goal you have, I invite you to be successful, and a little bit insane. Successful not because you hit the result right away, but that you’re courageous enough to take a step. Insane, because even though you’re not seeing the result right away, you continue to take action anyway.
At this point in my health, I’ve never felt better! And yes, I got my haircut. 🙂
