There’s a lot to be learned from this quote:
"A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, un-glorious tasks looks like from far away. No one ‘builds a house.’ They lay one brick again and again and again and the end result is a house." - Tim Urban, waitbutwhy.com
What's your CrossFit Plan?
How many times have you found yourself looking at someone else’s success and thought,
“Wow, I wish I could be like that too!”
How many times have you caught yourself watching another athlete at the gym and said to yourself,
“Man that’s so cool... but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that.”
It’s pretty easy to just declare that you want success - to admire from afar longingly - but there’s a reason why so many people never actually break through to that higher level of achievement.
A lot of us are unwilling to lay one brick at a time. They're unwilling to follow a plan.
Forgetting to follow the plan...
In today’s society that’s packed full of social media posts and “look how cool my life is!”, it is super easy to get caught up in envying another person’s success. To be honest, every time I scroll through my Instagram or Facebook feed, I am completely bombarded with trophies, podiums, and lifetime CrossFit PRs.
It’s like watching highlight reel after highlight reel, and if I’m not careful I can easily get swept up into thinking that I’m a total failure for not winning at everything, all the time.
I think Mark Manson explains it well:
"All day, every day, we are flooded with the truly extraordinary. The best of the best. The worst of the worst. The greatest physical feats. The funniest jokes. The most upsetting news. The scariest threats... This flood of extreme information has conditioned us to believe that exceptionalism is the new normal.”
This is a problem.
Keeping Perspective
While we are so obsessed over being at the finish line within the walls of the gym, we tend to forget what’s really important: our next step in our plan.
We forget that the only way to link our current path to the finish - or final goal - is to the connect the dots with what can seem like a bunch of really small, boring steps. Yet those dots are what make up our CrossFit plan that will get us where we want to be.
But listen up: those small, boring steps are exactly where success comes from. It’s those little bricks that you lay that can build an incredible house; just like each of those small steps are what essentially get you closer to that finish line - no matter how long the race may be.
Referencing directly to CrossFit, it's each one of those drills that you take the time to do after class, each step of your CrossFit programming that you check off, every time you practice that movement that is causing you so much irritation.
CrossFit Plans: The Moral of the Story
So why am I writing about bricks, and baby steps?
Well to start, I hope this helps to encourage you and give you some perspective. Now is a better time than ever to do some goal setting and look forward to what you want to achieve for the rest of the year. Whether it’s getting your first pull-up, or walking on your hands for the first time… remind yourself: there are people just like you who’ve seen success. They started right where you are today. Just because you’re not close right now doesn’t mean you can’t get there.
You may be at brick #1 of your CrossFit plan, but if you keep plugging away and slowly but surely lay down those bricks, the progress will come - and the finish line will start to make its way into view.
And don’t forget, WODprep is here to help you get those fitness goals kicked off. Start by pinpointing what your goal is - write it down.
Then, layout a plan. Map out a system that over time that will help you continue to make baby steps towards your ultimate goal.
Need Help with a CrossFit Training Program?
We have several free CrossFit training programs and guides that can help:
Don’t see the training guide you want? Leave a comment below!
From HSPUs, muscle up drills, and even video analysis, we want to help you lay those bricks!
I hope that you can apply these thoughts to your CrossFit training as well as your mindset moving forward. Remember, whether you are trying to win the CrossFit® Games, or would like to simply learn your first double under - it’s all about the steps within the plan, not the finish line.
Question: What is your #1 fitness goal? In the comments below, describe one brick that you will lay within your CrossFit plan to help you achieve this goal.
Alright let’s hear it –
1. What is your #1 goal?
2. What is ONE thing you will do to take a step in the right direction?
Handstand walks, staying injury free (I have a bum heal -planters fasciitis going on right now!) and better gymnastics skills.
Planters fasciitis is ZERO fun – I’ve been there! heal up and let us know how we can help 🙂
I had the same thing for a long time especially from DUs. I recently went to an O2X seminar, the yoga/pain management person recommended a weight transfer practice on landing and a variety of toe and arch exercises. Plus extensive heal cord elongation. It worked for me
Strengthen my core! Ten babies have wreaked havoc on my core. Also I want to get 3 strict pull-ups by the end of the year.
Awesome goal! If you haven’t seen it already, we have a strict pull-up guide if you’re looking for some ideas 🙂
https://wodprep.com/pull-ups/
I love working one goal at a time and this year had a lot of firsts because of this approach. I can fully relate to your brick laying scenario!
Now my remaining goals on my list of firsts that I am working towards are 1) RMU/BMU and 2) DUs.
I’m excited 🙂
Awesome! Have you checked out our RMU/BMU guides yet on our website?
https://wodprep.com/muscle-ups/
Unbroken fran and to strengthen my core
I have a hard time pin pointing my #1 goal because I need to work on all of the movements. I’m working on pull-ups now. Being able to do bar and ring muscle-ups by mid-2018 would be awesome. I want to get better at double unders too. Plan to try and qualify for granite games in April of 2018 so maybe that’s the #1 goal….but that includes a lot of baby steps.
Awesome Julie! Pull-ups are an awesome place to start – are you working on strict, or kipping?
Handstand walking!
How far? How will you know when you “made it”?
I payed for the muscle up madness and don’t know how to access the program… please help!
Hey Kathy – send us an email at [email protected] with the email address that you used to sign up, and we can help you out! thanks!
Run a half marathon, Ring muscle ups, bar muscle ups.
My goal is to do 10 kipping Pull-ups unbroken. At the moment I follow the program for kipping Pull-ups but I still don’t know how I need to use my hips.
Hips will come! Be patient and keep laying bricks 😉
I would love a training program that helped me not dread big sets of heavy thrusters and wall balls during metcons.
Sounds like a mental strength/mindset thing over technique. Maybe we can come out with something! 🙂
Awesome post, WODPREP! I am a huge fan of your programming and love the athlete analysis one-on-one video coaching. I get excellent feedback with every video I submit!
I would love a program to improve my cleans – power, hang, and squat. I work on these almost daily but struggle to show consistent form. I also struggle to generate maximum “power” from my hips.
Hey Yaniv – awesome to hear that you’re enjoying athlete analysis 🙂 Looking forward to helping you continue to improve your form!
Muscle up and snatch
Which kind of muscle up? And how much weight for the snatch? Make sure you’re specific with those goals! 🙂
Handstand walk!
How far do you want to walk? A few steps? A football field? Make sure you have a distance or measurable goal in mind! 🙂
Body weight snatch and linking my kipping pull ups
Top 200 in my age division in the 2018 Open
Love it – great goal 🙂
Hey Amy! How did this end up?
Wow, I’m impressed by your post. The metaphor you used to explain goal setting is like building a house where we have to repeat the same work over and over again by laying bricks, and the end result is a house, is just awesome. I like the idea.
This is the first time I’m here, and I’m compelled to see that your blog is totally different from others, not just your content, but because of the drawings you used in your post. They are just outstanding. You draw them yourself?
And thanks for reminding that we don’t have to compare with others when we see how other’s are living on social media. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. More importantly, we should work on “laying the bricks”. Thanks. Cheers. 🙂
Thanks so much, Shawn!
Seeing your comment made me come back and re-read this article. It’s always so important to remind myself that the process is what matters, not the goal 😉
Anyway, I do not make these cartoons, but I do come up with the script for the cartoons. My incredible graphic designer totally nails it every time, her name is Shona and she is a CrossFitter (and a coach, too!)
[…] Are they still wishes, or have you actually penciled them in as your goals? Are you willing to put the work in towards them? Do you have a plan, or someone to help you make a CrossFit plan? […]