I’m running at a pretty quick pace (for me anyway) averaging about an 11-minute mile. As I’m pumping my arms and panting and running and panting some more, I notice out of my peripheral vision that the person to the left of me (with one person in between us) had an unusual item in propped up in the cup holder on the treadmill.
My eyebrow went up at the sight of it and I smirked, turning my expression of “Whhhaaatt?!” into a huge gasping breath, so as not to draw attention to myself. In the cup holder of the treadmill down the row was…
(Wait for it)….
A bag of Ruffles sour cream and cheddar potato chips!
Although those are my absolute favorite kind of potato chip (they are like cream-cheddar-cheesy, crunchy, salty bits of heaven in my mouth) I was a bit taken aback at seeing them propped up on the treadmill.
At the gym.
Where people were working out.
You know, trying to get healthy, avoid a heart attack and all that jazz? Yeah. It was weird. Talk about some serious sabotage. Why in the hell would you be walking (or jogging) on the treadmill, only to have a little snack of Ruffles potato chips the minute you stepped off… or even worse, while you were on it? It seems kind of counter-productive to me. I don’t know, maybe the guy is just more honest than what I’m used to. He didn’t skulk off and wait until he was in the private sanctity of his home to gorge himself on junk food. Nope. He was gonna do it right there in the gym. Perhaps even while he was on the treadmill, in front of all of us poor suckers depriving ourselves of that wondrous salty, cheesy, delight.
People surprise me that way. They do something so ridiculous then they wonder why the hell they fail, or can never seem to “catch a break.” Uhhhh. It’s called use your brain first.
Think. Then act.
You might remember, I recently wrote about not being afraid to try new things in my last blog. I said, “Don’t avoid doing something just because you don’t think you’ll be good at it. Try harder. Work harder.” But that being said, have realistic expectations about what you are trying to achieve and don’t let false hopes sabotage your chance at success. Too many times, we do this to ourselves. Maybe not as intentional as this dolt down the row from me with the chips, but in many other ways we do. We sabotage our own good intentions with something that will be detrimental to our desired outcome.
Why do we do it? Are we weak? Are we stupid? I think it’s a little bit of both. Mentally, we are obviously not entirely focused on what we want our desired outcome to be. If we were, we wouldn’t do something that dumb. And obviously, because we are doing something that dumb, we must be kind of stupid. At least, about whatever it is we’re sabotaging ourselves on. (I defer to the guy eating his chips while walking on the treadmill. I say again: counter-productive, don’t you think?)
If something is worth your doing, then it’s worth your doing well. If you don’t fully understand the process or can’t commit to at least attempting to do it right, then do yourself a favor and do a little research first. Educate yourself. Get the mental awareness so that you can put some good effort in. It’s like driving a car. We wouldn’t send a 15-year-old kid out in a brand new Jag and say, “Go ahead. Drive it.” That’s just asking for trouble. If you think you’re going to do something but don’t have the willpower or education to do it, don’t expect to succeed. That may be tough to hear, but it’s the truth. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try new things, or that you have to be an expert in any given field or concept to do well at it. But don’t have unrealistic expectations about your outcome.
Here’s another example: Expect to fall down when you enter a room blindly, with the lights turned off and furniture in the middle of the room.
You’re bound to trip over a table. That’s okay. Just remember to get back up, brush off your bruises and start again. Don’t get mad that you tripped over the furniture, or that the stupid table was in your way and it was dark. It’s not the table’s fault. Move the table. Turn the light on. Duh. Are you catchin’ my drift?
So kids, what can we take away from today’s adventure? Don’t be afraid to try something new… but don’t have unrealistic expectations and expect to succeed if you haven’t properly educated yourself on the matter. Hey -- Mr. I’m On The Treadmill Eatin’ Chips, don’t get your hopes up honey, because you ain’t droppin' one pound that way. And when you feel like you’re gonna yack that crap back up after working up a sweat, please stay away from my treadmill.
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