One of my favorite quotes is “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” Why? Because it’s so damn true and it applies to literally everything in your life. Since we’re into fitness, let’s talk how it applies to that.

Living a fit and healthy life takes preparation. You have to eat right and you should be following some sort of exercise plan that fits not only your lifestyle, but your interests and fitness level. Surely you want to achieve certain goals as well.

This could anything like adding 10 more pounds to your deadlift or something as simple as just hitting the gym 3 times a week. Now tell me this; when was the last time you achieved a goal without a strategy or plan?

My guess is, never. 

I will admit that I’ve been pretty lax over the years when it comes to my fitness. Sure, I wanted to be active and eat right, but I didn’t put much thought into it. As I got older (though I’m still a spring chicken!) I realized how much more important taking care of myself was and it made me change a lot of things in my life. 

As I started to endeavor on a more regimented workout routine and a healthy eating style, I struggled. I felt resistance to it from myself and those closest to me. 

With more time and more self-will, I became more determined than ever to build up my strength and endurance, started believing in my new lifestyle choices more firmly and what do you guess; saw pretty awesome results. 

So what made the difference? Well, I asked myself 3 incredibly important questions: 

1. What strength and physical gains did I want to see in myself?
2. Who were the 5 people I spent most of my time with?
3. Did these 5 people have the same goals and ambitions as myself?

So how did answering these questions help improve my training and fitness level?

Simple. 

There have been several studies proving that the 5 people you spend most of your time with directly influence you. They influence your behavior, values, perception, goals and success. 

Typically, we align ourselves with people who have similar interests and values as ourselves because it makes bonding with them easy. These common interests are what hold us together. They are also what makes it difficult to change.

When someone in your life, whether it’s yourself or a friend, makes a big change those closest will feel the impact of that change.

For example, if you and your best friends are fairly inactive people who love take out and gaming on the couch, if one of you decides to get more active, start cooking healthy meals and socializing on the weekend, you would notice, right? The ties that once bound you, nights in and fresh-out-of-oven-home-delivered-pizza, are no longer there. 

Depending on which side of the scenario you are on here, you may subconsciously feel betrayed or left behind. You may try and encourage your friends to join you in your new journey or feel like they are trying to hold you back.

See how important these questions are now?

If improving your strength and training is important to you then you need to surround yourself with people who live and breath this too. 

So now I want you to ask yourself these question and be honest. Now, tell me in the comment section below; are you ready to succeed in fitness and training?

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