Mindset Tip For Hikers

Today I share a simple, but incredibly powerful strategy a hiker can use to help maintain consistency and motivation during a training process: 
 
Recently, I have been on a journey to rebuild my training routine.
 
In previous months, my life got a bit complicated. Amongst other things, my training went completely out the window. 
 
Which was a bummer. Because I had had some BIG training goals for 2024, and in the first half of the year, I had been making some big strides.  
 
But now, I feel like I am back to square one with my fitness and strength. 
 
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been doing my best to get back into training. It has been both a physical and mental battle. But I am getting there.
 
Today, I want to share one of the most valuable tips for any training journey. 
 
Whether you are just restarting...
 
Or have you been training consistently for months (or years)...

 Celebrate The Little Wins 
 
When it comes to training (and life in general), we are not very good at giving ourselves full credit.
 
When we do something 'bad', we are our own worst enemy. We are hypercritical, get negative, and tend to fixate on what we did wrong. 
 
When we do something 'good', we often gloss over it. We don't acknowledge it; just accept it as what we 'should' be doing and just move on to the next thing. 
 
Which is a shame. 
 
One powerful thing you can do is to take some time to acknowledge and celebrate the little wins.

No matter how small the thing that you have accomplished is, give yourself credit for what you have done.

This has three valuable effects:

1. Positive reinforcement can be incredibly useful to help build momentum and consistency in a training process
   
   
2. Acknowledging the wins can help us appreciate our 'progress' (and stop us from getting hung up on doing everything 'perfectly, or comparing ourselves to what we could do in the past)
   
   
3. When you inevitably have a bad day, this can reduce the chance of you getting too negative (because you are more aware of all the good you have been doing)
   
   

To give you an example here:
 
Last week, I did some laps at the local ocean pool. I suck at swimming laps (my least favourite form of exercise), and I got tired really fast. I only did eight laps (with a lot of rest between each one), and then I was done.
 
If I had left it at that, I might have felt like a failure (because I got tired SO fast, and I couldn't do anywhere near how many I used to).

But I didn't let that happen.

Instead, I took a moment to acknowledge what I had done.

For starters, I had actually completed the session (there was a lot of 'self-negotiation' throughout the day about doing it or not).
 
And also, even though it had been hard, I had done two more laps than I did the week previously.
 
By acknowledging this and also celebrating this, it cemented in my mind that the session was a win!

It was a positive. And it made me excited to try it again next week.
 
It is such a simple thing, but it can genuinely make a difference.

So, if you are going through a training process right now or are looking to get started with things, this is my challenge to you:

Take some time each week to celebrate the little wins. Sek them out, shine a light on them and acknowledge them. And I promise you, it can make all the difference. 
 
Yours in trekking,
 
Rowan