On the importance of taking action, choosing hope over optimism, and travel-friendly workouts

Every single day you have a decision to make.

Are you going to take concrete action steps toward your goals? Or not?

The actions you take don’t have to be anything big. You just have to do SOMETHING.

This could mean committing to moving your body every day, even if it’s just a twenty-minute walk. Or finally signing up for that class you’ve been interested in for years.

Do enough of these small somethings day after day, week after week, year after year, and those seemingly small daily actions you took will add up to something big.

As the Chinese proverb goes:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

What I’m reading —

The Difference Between Hope and Optimism / Arthur C. Brooks / The Atlantic

Optimism is the belief that things will turn out all right. Hope is the conviction that you can act to make things better in some way. In other words, hope involves personal agency and the ability to act, whereas optimism can lead to feelings of helplessness when things don’t go the way you want.

Although our possible available actions may seem small, they add up.

“Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa

What I’m listening to —

The Art of Being by Erich Fromm

This classic work by psychologist and social philosopher Eric Fromm teaches us to avoid the illusions of our consumer-driven culture by learning to function as a whole person from a state of being rather than having. He writes about stress and anxiety as a necessary part of growth:

“Without effort and willingness to experience pain and anxiety, nobody grows, in fact nobody achieves anything worth achieving.” 

A quote that inspires me —

“When we have the courage to walk into our story and own it, we get to write the ending.” — Brené Brown

What I’m training —

Travel-friendly workouts.

Whenever I travel, I love scouting out a workout spot and seeing how creative I can get using what’s around me. Sometimes this means finding monkey bars at a playground to do pull-ups on, other times I stumble upon a calisthenics park. This week while traveling I used a simple bench as a tool for box jumps, step ups, and explosive push-up variations.

Three new workouts —

Do Anywhere Jump Rope HIIT Workout (12 minute, jump rope)

Fight Ready 12 Minute AMRAP Workout (AMRAP, dip bar)

231 Rep Bar Challenge Workout (Time challenge, pull up bar)

And here’s a medicine ball workout I posted on Instagram.

Remember, you can get these and all future workouts right in the 12 Minute Athlete app when you subscribe as a Super Athlete (this is WAY cheaper than joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer! In addition, you’ll be helping to support the site and making future features to the app possible.).

As always, I value your feedback, so please feel free to reply directly to this email if you have any questions or comments (yes, I am a real human). I get a lot of emails and messages, so I can’t reply to all of them, but I do read everything you guys send me!

Here’s to taking action,

– Krista

 




















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