If we try to define personal growth, we quickly come to realize that the area is rather broad and that new ideas in terms of what we can improve constantly come along the way. Cultivating the mind, body, mental and physical health, just to name a few…
But every once in a while we stumble across some technique or area of improvement which comprises more elements into one; something that stands for more than just what it looks – Enters fitness.
For some fitness is only a routine advocated by movement and adrenaline driven junkies. Fitness is the new black; it is fashionable, and occasionally being accepted for all the wrong reasons.
Some even go so far as to label it as a form of procrastination and a way to escape doing work that matters. People think that cultivating the body has nothing to do with cultivating the mind. And sadly, this is not even a joke.
So how can fitness actually influence personal growth?
What exactly is on the table for self-improvement enthusiasts if they adopt fitness as a way of improving themselves?
1. Fitness advocates discipline.
More than anything else in fact. We get used to constantly going against our reflexes and being consistent to the point of being stubborn.
It gets tough, painful even. And if discipline is built in such conditions, then by all means it stays embedded in our character for good.
Sets of weight lifting, repetitions, cardio activities such as running, cycling or home workout like the P90 workout (explained in this P90 workout review), Piyo or any other Beachbody on Demand workout, with all their repetitiveness – they all depend upon the concept of discipline.
It is soon enough that you adopt this habit of discipline and start applying it in other aspects of life.
2. Personal improvement depends on the ability to envision and recognize progress.
To believe in it, to feel like you are actually climbing one bar higher each and every time.
And fitness encapsulates that too. You feel different in both having improved your health and looks, as well as power and energy. Even your mood is getting better by the day.
And once you feel progress, you get more confident than before. This confidence soon spreads outside of the gym and across many other aspects of life, so you witness progress quite more frequently.
3. Fitness appeals to personal growth even with the physical aspect of it.
Not only does your body start to look great, but it releases a chain of chemical reactions inside it that make you feel a lot better. Your mood improves dramatically, and you feel more calm and refreshed. Hence any tension flies out of the window.
4. You’ll easily balance your time management
Another logical conclusion is that you are a lot more tired, thus going to bed earlier and balancing your time management. Your energy levels tend to get equally divided throughout the day, and you simply feel this rush of energy and improved cognitive focus that lets you be ten times more productive.
In other words, you elevate your game in terms of personal development. The rush of energy is complimented by increased agility and coordination which also positively impact your mood and make you feel quite more energetic.
5. You’ll start questioning the routines and already laid patterns
Now putting the physical aspect aside again, there is another curious thing that fitness enthusiasts enjoy. We, fitness enthusiasts, love experimenting and questioning the routines and already laid patterns.
And if others are comfortable with watching the wizard, we would rather poke the curtain and see things for ourselves. What begins with changing the number of sets and repetitions as to pursue some outcome, quickly translates into being more willing to try new things, develop a new approach. In everything in life, really.
You become more curious, more creative, more willing to break dogmas. And this is a character trait that gets deeply embedded over time and shapes a lot of our success with personal development later on.
6. Fitness offers the idea of perfection.
If you ask fitness enthusiasts towards where they aim, chances are that only one of ten people will tell you that they just want to lose some weight. Nine out of ten will have a quite more ambitious picture in mind.
The thing is, you see, that over time fitness elevates your expectations in both performance and looks. This pattern of thought multiplies itself as well and applies to many other areas of life. And Less Brown, one of the best motivational and personal development speakers, said it perfectly:
“Once a person’s mind is expanded by an idea, it can never be satisfied to going back to where it was.” – Less Brown
You quickly get used to dreaming big, and mediocre expectations along with mediocre results are out of the picture.
As you can see fitness is a lot more than just cultivating your body. It enables you to transcend your potential in terms of achieving personal growth more quickly and a lot more efficiently.
Fitness is one of the most important aspects of personal growth. And as a firm advocate of both, I cannot stress that enough.
Image credit: By Method Fitness