A skill is a learned ability to do something.
At Sleekgeek, we often say that health is a skill because many of the things that lead you to become a fit and healthy person are things that you have to learn and get better at over time.
If you’re struggling to be successful on your health and fitness journey, you’re not broken, weak, or stupid. You’re likely just missing some important skills.
It’s kind of like playing the piano. You might get given the perfect song to play, but if you don’t have the skill to do so, then it’s useless. Until you learn.
Without these mental skills, you’ll be hard-pressed to be successful in the long run.
12 Mental Skills to be a Successful Sleekgeek:
1) Knowing Why:
- The skill of always knowing exactly why this journey is so important to you. It’s about going deeper than the surface level desires and finding out what’s really at stake if you give up.
2) Setting Goals:
- The skill of knowing what outcome you want. It’s also about identifying the specific behaviours that will lead you to that outcome.
3) Focus:
- The skill of deciding on a particular course of action and then sticking to it. It’s about passionately ignoring or resisting distractions for the sake of your goals.
4) Re-Focusing:
- The skill of getting back on track after getting distracted or interrupted. The sooner you can realise that you’ve become distracted and the quicker you can re-focus on your goals, the better.
5) Being “Always Something”
- The skill of choosing progress over perfection. It’s about being less “all-or-nothing” and choosing to just always do “something”. Even the tiniest of actions or improvements can add up over time to impressive results.
6) Re-Framing:
- The skill of choosing an empowering story about an event that happened or a situation that you’re in, rather than a disempowering one. It’s about choosing to look for the positive and seeking it out.
7) Confronting Anxieties, Fears, or Worries:
- The skill of dealing directly with anxieties and fears rather than ignoring them or running away from them. It’s about trying, experimenting, learning, and being brave.
8) Be Your Own Biggest Fan:
- The skill of giving yourself a helping hand and cheering yourself on. It’s about knowing that negative self-talk or beating yourself up doesn’t work – it just makes you weaker. Flip the script and be your own biggest fan rather than biggest critic.
9) Discomfort Tolerance:
- The skill of being able to sit with uncomfortable sensations or thoughts without needing to respond. It’s about pausing and being okay with what’s happening rather than reacting straight away or even at all.
10) Gratitude:
- The skill of being grateful for what you have or what went right despite what you don’t have or what went wrong. It’s about knowing that life is messy and rarely goes according to plan, so it’s important to acknowledge the good.
11) Resilience:
- The skill of being able to withstand or bounce back from tough times. It’s about being stronger than you think you are. It’s about being a badass.
12) Be Your Own Hero:
- The skill of being the hero of your own story. It’s about being brave, resourceful, and proactive. You have to look out for yourself and do what you need to do because no one else is coming to save you.
This is not an all-inclusive list, but it’s a starting point.
In fact, you may have even found this list overwhelming. That’s OK!
Just like learning to play the piano or speak a new language, you don’t become skilled over-night. It requires deliberate and consistent practice, over and over and over again.
If you like the idea that living a healthy lifestyle could become easier with a bit of practice, then I’d suggest that you pick 1 or 2 skills that really stood out for you and see how you can practice them over the next couple of weeks.
It if helps, you could try to think about these skills in the context of your work, hobbies, or relationships, which may be more familiar to you. Then, see how you can translate that over to health and fitness.
