The Art of Negotiating

"I’ve had too many days where I’ve let exercise and nutrition get sacrificed for other things, and I’m in the fitness industry. Then I decided that they weren’t up for negotiation."

Chris Cooper, Founder and CEO of Vantage Movement

We are always negotiating with ourselves.  Well, maybe not you, but I know I can fall prey to it. 

Do you hit the snooze button?  ⏰

I don’t. I can’t snooze, when my alarm goes off, I get up.  It’s not f***ing negotiable.  I need to get up and get out of the room before I fall back to sleep and lose my morning.  

But from that moment, a lot of my life becomes negotiable.  Where am I willing to bend, what am I willing to compromise on.  When everything is a high priority and time is a limited resource, what’s on the negotiating table? 

The gym?  Eating?  Getting proper sleep?

Does this sound familiar? 

These are usually the first things to end up on the table.  They’re things we do for ourselves and if you let yourself, you can negotiate them right out of your life. They take time, energy.  Things that can run in short supply on some days. We get into these internal debates with ourselves to choose what we’re going to do and we compromise that today’s not the day, but we’ll do it tomorrow.  Until tomorrow comes and then it’s back on the negotiating table.

I’ve had too many days where I’ve let exercise and nutrition get sacrificed for other things, and I’m in the fitness industry. Then I decided that they weren’t up for negotiation.  I made my nutrition NFN, I said I wouldn’t go home until I exercised and made it NFN.  I eliminated the back and forth and just committed to doing them.  And as a result, I started making progress in all the right ways.  

The people that find success in their health and fitness are the ones who don’t negotiate with themselves.  They commit to the lifestyle.  Going to the gym isn’t up for debate, It’s a part of their day, just like waking up and going to sleep. It’s just something they do.    They don’t sit in front of the pantry and debate on what they’re going to eat, they know what their snack/meal options already are. 

Of course there are exceptions, sometimes emergencies happen, things pop up out of your control.  But this doesn’t change the entire equation.  It’s not up for discussion the next day, It’s just back on the schedule.  So if it isn’t, find a way to make coming to the gym NFN. Find a way to make eating healthy NFN. 

If you need help with this, schedule a Goal Setting session with us.  Lani, Jenelle, Ray or Chris would love to sit down with you and help you figure out how to make your fitness NFN. 

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