Solving the maze

Do you remember trying to solve a maze? You know, the ones that come in puzzle books and newspapers? You start and then you come to a place that forks. You have a choice to make. You make a choice and go further into the maze. More forks, more choices. You are deeper into the maze. And then, a dead-end!

What do you do? Simple. You retrace your path to the last fork you took, and make the other choice. If that's a dead-end, same deal. Re-trace to an even earlier choice.

Solving your health and fitness is not your typical "solve it once and you are done" kinda thing. When you decide to work on it, outside help gives you shortcuts and clues but it comes down to you making choices. You need to make choices that work for you. What is a dead-end for your friend might be the breakthrough for you. And vice-versa.

What worked today might not work for you in a few years. Because you are not the same person, and neither are your circumstances.

When you solve a maze, there's immediately the start of a new one - at the centre. At the solution.

The shortcut to solving a maze is to start from the solution and work your way back to the start. You make lesser, if at all any, mistakes and find your way to the goal.

You can apply that metaphor in two ways.

One, visualise yourself at your endpoint. Let's say it is you losing 10 kilos or deadlifting double bodyweight or whatever it is you fancy. What does your current day and week look like? That's the solution to your maze. Now, you need to emulate the steps to your solution until you get to the solution.

Two, you apply your learnings from solving this maze to your next maze. The next one is not more complex, but it could be. It sometimes is, it sometimes is not. But you know how to solve a maze. You know what all it entails - experiments, making choices, learning, going back to a previous fork, and all the time making one step forward in the direction you've chosen.

When you stop trying to solve the problem with finality, things get much simpler.

When you realise this is a never-ending game and love it for that precise nature, you are halfway close to winning.

After solving the current maze, the next maze is the reward, it is the challenge, it is the way of life. Expect it. Look forward to it.

And remember, you will always find yourself at a dead-end, sooner or later. That's fine. Go back to the previous step and make a different choice.

Begin again!