Turns out, I needed my own advice last week (twice!)

Last week did not go according to plan.

My wife ended up in the hospital and needed her gallbladder removed. (It’s fine now ❤️.)

I wrote last week’s newsletter from a hospital room, using…let’s call it optimistic WiFi.

When the email went out this week, I opened it and immediately noticed that the bottom of the email had strange typos. The first letters of the words were just missing. Odd punctuation and line breaks. Stuff I KNOUS I didn’t put here.

And my COMPLETELY REASONABLE first reaction:

“Holy shit! How did this happen? This is such a disaster. I can’t believe I made a mistake.”

Spiral cue.

Luckily, I had a trusted mentor on the ground.

And it reminded me of advice I give to coaching clients all the time.

Not every workout will be great

Some workouts feel amazing.

Some feel awkward.

Some are cut short.

Some just don’t go smoothly at all.

And it’s not a failure – it’s normal!

The only unrealistic expectation is that everything will go perfectly, every time.

Somehow, I slipped into the mindset that this newsletter had to be perfect. Every word. Every mandate. No exceptions.

Life (and the hospital internet) had other plans.

The real victory was not setting up some sort of system to be perfect, forever.

He chose to move forward instead of beating me.

It doesn’t stop there

I had my own advice thrown back at me a second time this week. 😅

A few months ago, I joined a group coaching program that helps you share your story on podcasts more effectively.

Funny twist: the coach who runs that group is also one of my Nerd Fitness coaching clients.

One of the things that helped me he with was to create a sustainable fitness plan – something that didn’t have to burn the candle at both ends, something that could actually stick.

And it worked. It feels good. It became part of his life.

Meanwhile, when it came to mine podcast goals, my brain went straight to:

“Well, obviously I need to go all in. Hours every day. Total commitment. If I don’t do that…am I even trying?”

He kindly reminded me:

“This is exactly the same thing you teach in fitness.”

A little consistent work each week goes a long way.

Systems beat perfection.

Sustainability wins.

And you know what? As soon as he said that, and I stopped putting unrealistic expectations on myself, I made MORE progress.

It’s the same feedback I got from a reader a few weeks ago:

Hi Matt, Thanks for this email – it arrived in my inbox at literally the perfect time. And, funny how feeling LESS pressure to squeeze in a workout today actually probably makes it more likely to happen 😉

Why share this

In fitness, I am very good at trusting the process.

Because I’ve seen it work time and time again.

Out of fitness? Still learning. 😅

If you feel pressure to:

• Be perfect
• Never miss a week
• Go all in or don’t bother

… is usually a sign that we need to take a step back and reevaluate.

That’s exactly what I’m going to go over in a quick live coaching session on Thursday at 3pm PST.

I’ll run through some of the most common questions we get from readers, and help you zoom out and look:

• How to know if your current plan is really working
• How to build systems that survive busy weeks, low energy days and real life
• How to keep moving forward without needing everything to be perfect

If it sounds useful, I’d like to have it here.

.Here is a link to register..

speak quickly

– Matt