Have you heard of the Chinese Bamboo Tree?
Its metaphorical equivalent to personal growth and development is the most perfect metaphor.
None more so than with the concept of health and fitness.
We as humans like to associate health, fitness, weight loss, fat loss, muscle gain, fitness, distance, strength with the FASTEST RESULTS, the best this in the shortest period of time, and so on…
You hear it all of the time, somebody loses weight, the response…How long did that take?
Often this overlooks the foundational key practices and learnings that deliver those sustainable outcomes.
This doesn’t mean to say, don’t shoot high, don’t optimize your time, don’t excel…They are all things that of course, are achievable and accessible by all, with the correct mental application.
The key is sustainable application plus the association and order to prequential levels of mastery, first in the mind, and then in the physical, your daily performance.
Expecting to lose X amount of weight etc without the correct habitual strategy of exercise, nutrition, rest, recovery, sleep, hydration, stress management, life balance, happiness in other areas that compliment all of that is like expecting to win the lottery.. just because.
Only the difference is, with your health and fitness, you have the control.
Right then, Chinese Bamboo Tree…
The tree needs water, nourishment, light, attention every day for 5 years…the care and attention for the tree slowly establishes an invisible potential for physical growth…but for 5 years, no physical change, no surface break, no tangible movement to the human eye.
Until…In the fifth year, the tree breaks through the ground and grows over 90 feet tall in five weeks.
The question, did it grow over 90 feet tall in five years or five weeks?
The answer is obvious, it grew in five years.
Without the five years, there is no five weeks.
Without the correct mental and physical application, there is no transformation.
The success of anything is built on structure, goal setting, system identification, scheduling, learning those systems, failing, practicing, and relearning are all parts of the process until such momentum is made.
Like the bamboo tree, YOUR physical results are there, they will come, and they will come in abundance…but only with the right nourishment.
This demands faith in yourself, and you have to be willing to accept the concept that your body will not transform on a lovely easy little smooth ride, challenges will come, setbacks will happen, sometimes you will feel like it’s not working…that’s where the momentum is.
Because underneath all of that fear, things are happening…IF, you are applying yourself.
For now, I’ll leave you with that comparison, it’s a strong one when you think about daily actions and choices, expectations, future pacing, persistence, and consistency.
Consistency with discipline, focus, direction, and systems that optimize your health will deliver you results beyond what you may have thought was not possible.
Expecting the 90 feet tall equivalent to the weight loss, fat loss, muscle, etc (physical change) with a flawed reality (diets, restriction, bandwagon mentality, quick fix nonsense) that is disconnected from actuality is essentially… a fad and as realistic as unicorns and bigfoot.
nothing worthwhile comes from shortcuts.
Especially with health and fitness, trust me.
How does this make you feel?
What parallels can you draw on here?
Have you been the person expecting the breakthrough and growth without appropriate nourishment? (I have before, the growth is in personally identifying that)
Here it is…
Make your 90 feet breakthrough happen now with an application to the now.
You have the power.
Yes, you do.
Quiet.
You do.
😉
P.S. It’s not easy, but it is simple, and you can make it easy with the understanding of the simplicity, there’s some irony.