HOW TO STAY ON TOP OF YOUR GOALS WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING

I think we can all say with plenty of confidence 2020 has been a weird year, Mudder Nation.

Before we get into the nitty, gritty of this blog, we want to give you a little reminder. You don’t have to be continually busy and continually productive to be successful. Now is a great time to fall in love with rest and recovery. Take a step back, call your loved ones, and use this period to reflect. It’s an important, healthy action during this period of transition and uncertainty.

OKAY, NOW LET’S TALK QUARANTINE GOALS:

Many of us have a lot of time right now to reflect on life and find ourselves with an abundance of free time. And while it starts off as a relaxing period of chilling out, we might quickly find ourselves falling into negative cycles, developing bad habits, or slacking off in ways that don’t feel great.

This ample amount of free time without structure can become overwhelming and uncomfortable. A good way to minimize that discomfort during that period of uncertainty is to develop some quarantine goals and use this time productively. We’ve outlined a few steps you can take during this time to honor your goals. Let us know your thoughts and if the following is helpful:

REFLECT ON HOW FAR YOU’VE COME AND IDENTIFY THE GOALS YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE

Like we said, life is in transition and taking time to reflect is really important right now. Maybe you have been running around like crazy the past few months trying to juggle work and training for the 2020 Tough Mudder season. Or maybe you’ve been in a funk and haven’t used your time productively before all this happened.

Either way, you likely have more time now than you’ve had in a while (unless you’re a medical professional or critical worker, in which case thank you for all you are doing right now).

But for the rest of us, go for a walk, journal, think about how you want to use this time. What goals do you want to achieve and why do you want to achieve them? Do you want to lose weight or do you want a more active lifestyle? Where would a more active lifestyle lead you in the next 6 months or the next year? How could a more active lifestyle reshape your family structure and your friendships?

Now is a great time to reflect, ask questions, and develop a goal for the next few weeks.

SET BENCHMARKS FOR YOUR GOAL

It’s been said it takes 21 days to build a routine and 90 to form a habit. Use this time to focus on your goals and focus on the next 3 weeks to make that goal a part of your daily life.

Write out specific goals you want to achieve each week and one major goal you want to achieve at the end of this period.

BUILD A SUPPORT SYSTEM THAT WILL KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE

Having a community is always important, but it is especially important now, when we find ourselves socially distanced from each other and unable to connect like we may have in the past.

Lean into your support systems, connect with others, FaceTime your friends. It’s really important right now.

FIND A MENTOR OR BUDDY

Even within a community it can be really helpful and necessary to have one or two people who are especially holding you accountable and working through your goals with you. This person should be somebody you are checking in with regularly, will pick you up when you’re down, and will motivate you to push harder when you’re feeling good.

BUILD BREAKS INTO YOUR QUARANTINE GOALS – BUT DON’T SKIP MORE THAN ONE DAY

Finally, Mudder Nation, nobody is perfect. Let’s cut the crap and acknowledge there will be good days and bad days. And if there’s a day you’re not feeling it, you can skip. Give yourself the freedom to skip and build breaks into your routine.

However, a helpful rule is to never skip more than one day in a row. Skip one day and get back on track the next day. If you skip two or more, it’s really easy to fall out of the routine.