One of the most common reasons people quit their fitness journey is frustration. You’re putting in the work, but the scale isn’t moving, or the mirror isn’t changing. A fitness professional suggests that the solution is not to work harder, but to fix your mindset. Your mental approach is what will carry you through the plateaus. Here are three tips to fix the “frustration” mindset.
The first tip is to slow down. Frustration often comes from a “hypersonic” rush for “instant results.” You expected to be at your goal by now, and you’re not. A veteran coach explains this is a trap. When you rush, you deprive yourself, which makes you frustrated. You over-exert, which makes you sore and frustrated. The fix is to embrace a sustainable pace. A patient, careful approach makes fewer mistakes and prevents the burnout that causes the frustration. This steady pace is the fastest path to long-term progress.
The second tip is to focus on what you can control. Frustration is a direct result of focusing on results you cannot control. You are frustrated with the scale. You are frustrated with your waist size. A fitness expert insists you must focus on your efforts, not your outcomes. You cannot be frustrated by your effort if you are doing it.
This means you must shift your energy to controllable, daily actions. You can control your sleep. You can control your water intake. You can control showing up for your workout. This is a more empowered and frustration-free way to live. This leads to the third tip: choose small, manageable changes over big, drastic ones. A big, “all-or-nothing” change is a fast track to frustration. A small, “I-can-do-that” change is a path to consistent, frustration-free progress.