Something Is Better Than Nothing

While I was aware the physical fitness needed focus, before Christmas I took the attitude that anything more than I was presently doing was an achievement. It became my mantra. If I didn’t have time for more than five minutes of yoga before bed, if my 30 minute paddle was more like a 15 minute chat on a board in the lake – it was ok, it's more than I was doing! I had grand plans of starting to join Parkrun - where ‘start running’ was the first step – something I still haven’t made any inroads towards doing!

During the 3 Day PaddleUK training course I probably burned more calories than I did in the first two weeks of January!

Christmas happened, as it does every year, yet this year I was very conscious of my training-that-should-be-underway.

Foodwise I was very observant about eating lean, fuel-based foods, limiting my carbs and generally saying ‘no’ to 90% of UPFs. Activity-wise I was also very good - doing a 3 day PaddleUK course and assessment in the week before Christmas on a blowy grey Cornish estuary certainly boosted the fitness schedule!

In January, paddling continued but the doing-something-more-than-I-was did not. In fact, I was doing considerably less than I was and consequently seeing my base fitness decrease with every day. I found an excuse to stay in bed a little longer, sit on the sofa enjoying coffee a few minutes more and convince myself that it was fine - because the paddling was definitely increasing and some weekends of increasing miles on the lake happened - so that's more than I was doing before, right?

Wrong!

A shift needed to happen - from something's better than nothing (always true unless you’re trying to raise your game) to doing something more than I did last week. This new, more sustainable mindset has really helped me push through when my internal narrative is trying to tell me I haven't got the time, the energy, the will, the room, the equipment etc etc.

Now I tell myself something is better than nothing but it needs to be more than last time – so 10 mins of yoga is better than none at all and tomorrow I'll find it easier as a result and do more - the target always being to do a bit longer or harder than the week before.

Considering the intensity in this goal increase has helped too, as there are only so many hours in the day and there's always so many other things to fit in, not least keeping animals, pets and family fed, well and where they need to be!

That leads me to my other ‘something’s better than nothing’ and fitting 'everything' in!

Priorities and communication - making my challenge a priority has helped me manage the other things around it, protecting the time to train and not be pulled out of shape by other people making plans on my behalf. This comes with a compromise though as the time I carve for this is taking time away from something else. For things that needed to be dropped or time I was otherwise wasting it's been a good thing, but in some cases it has resulted in me imposing duties on others (my decisions change how others around me use their time) – which again, isn’t always a bad thing, but this ripple effect goes well beyond me and my time.

Giving full disclosure of the importance this training is to me, the multiple benefits it is bestowing upon me and how time-sensitive it is has gone a long way to getting people behind what I'm doing and understanding why. This helps to manage their expectations of me and reduce uncomfortable conversations on why I'm not available.

I'm also accountable to the ladies who committed to doing this with me. Having a team around you is so important; people to step in, stand beside you and lift you up as well as back-fill the gaps you leave while stepping into a space where you can grow and evolve.

So, back to where I started: Something Is Better Than Nothing in action (which is also today’s takeaway thought)

This morning I had an overwhelming emotional purge triggered by the loss of my young and special cat who brought us so much joy and love. His absence is as huge as his presence in life was. This led to emotions from other losses, magnified by tiredness and fatigue from a huge paddle and testing weekend in general.

I find these moments exhausting but necessary and they often leave me feeling distracted and unfocused. I was in danger of drifting and ending up with a longer to-do list at the end of the day but the something-is-better-than-nothing mantra rang through my mind and I listened.

As a result, instead of using my precious pre-work time this morning mucking out and getting stables clean and ready for later, I actually exercised my horses, deciding that even a 30 minute walk down the road and back was something better than nothing. I needed it emotionally and they needed it too, as their exercise has been compromised for the paddling.

In order to make it count I asked a bit more from them in that short time and then enjoyed cruising home, focussing on being in the moment with them. It was like a 30-minute rejuvenation – yes, I was a little later to start work (I work for myself and my office is at home so my commute is quite short and my boss lenient!) and I still need to finish the stables later before they come in for the night – but if it wasn't for something-is-better-than-nothing my horses would have not have gone out for a leg-stretch and I would probably have been unsatisfied with an unproductive day.

My ever-patient horses