Success is a funny thing. To one person it could simply mean being good at what you do, to someone else it might be how many trappings they have and how much money they have have earned.

When it comes to health and fitness success can also be highly subjective and mean polar opposites to different people. So before we can measure our success we first need to decide what we regard as being successful. A few years ago I was going through a goal setting process with one of my clients when they said that they simply wanted to become confident enough to take their child swimming. They weren’t interested in running a marathon or entering a strongman competition, just simply improving their health and confidence enough to wear a swimming costume.

Whether you are trying to ‘lose weight’ or get a Personal Best on your 5k run there are a number of key points that I believe will help you be successful.

COMPARE: as hard as it might be, try not to compare yourself with other people in a negative way. Aspiring to be as good as someone else is healthy but feeling inadequate because you aren’t as good as them is unhealthy. Remember, no matter how slow you might feel you are running, you are still running faster than the person on the sofa!

LONG TERM: think longer term. Whatever health and fitness journey you are on, there will be ups and downs. Your weight will fluctuate, your performance will differ and your achievements will vary almost on a daily basis. But if you measure your progress over a longer period you will almost certainly have achieved great things. Ride the peaks and troughs knowing that you are moving forward.

PROGRESS: aim for progress not perfection. There is no such thing as perfection, so don’t strive for it. Progression is a great thing but comes in small chunks: for those of you familiar with my circuits and PT sessions you will have no doubt heard me utter this phrase “keep chipping away”.

From a personal point of view, having set up Andali Fitness February 2016 I measure my success not on how much money I am making or how big my circuits are but on simple things like:
* seeing people really engage with and enjoy exercise, often for the first time in their lives.
*listening to people’s stories of how their physical health, mental health and quality of living have improved as a result of exercise and a healthier lifestyle.
* having people sign up for events that they would normally never do (45 novice runners at last year’s Ludlow10 road race).
* having clients keep coming to circuits as part of their weekly routine and watching friends the friendships develop
 
So enjoy what you do and you will be successful.

Andy