A long time ago, I read that one of uber-basketball sensation Michael Jordan's secrets to success was that he doesn't focus on a basketball game as a whole, he breaks it down into increments, which in basketball is 4 quarters of 12 minutes. In his mind all, he focuses on is what he can accomplish in 12 minutes. The next 12 minute quarter comes, and he focuses on producing the most in those 12 minutes, and so on until he's gone through the 4 increments of 12 minutes to complete the whole game.
The benefit in focusing on the smaller increments is that 1. you are are focusing on producing a success in a short period of time, 2. time will go by faster and 3. your greater overall task will seem less daunting. For example, imagine your trainer telling you that you are going to run 60 minutes. "What 60 minutes! That's like forever." Mentally, you start thinking about how long that is and how the resistance is starting to kick in.
...your greater overall weight loss will seem less daunting ...
Now, what if your trainer said instead, "You are going to run 4 increments of 15 minutes." Right away, your mind focuses on the 15 minute number, and the task of running for the day seems less daunting even though you will be doing that 15 minutes 4 times. In the end, you'll still end up doing 60 minutes, but your psyche likes to hear the smaller numbers, so your resistance will be less. Yes, it's mind games, but it works!
So, for my weight shedding efforts, I am focusing on dropping 5 increments of 5 pounds which in the long run will give me my 25 pound loss goal. I just focus on dropping 5 pounds. When that first 5 pound increment is complete, then it's on to the next 5 pounds. Mentally, it feels much easier to drop 5 pounds instead of a daunting 25, 50, or 100, right?
During exercise, I use the same increment break down. On the treadmill, sometimes even one minute can seem like forever, so I break down a minute into 3 increments of 20 seconds. Let me tell you that it is SO much easier to convince yourself to push it for 20 seconds than 60 seconds. For a 30 minute run, I'll break it down to 10 minute increments or even 6 minute increments. Again, sometimes the small things can reap huge benefits.
