Inflection Point
An inflection point, when working towards a goal, represents a critical juncture in your journey, a moment when the trajectory of your efforts and the ultimate outcome of your pursuit can shift dramatically. It is a pivotal moment where the path you’ve been following reaches a turning point, either leading you closer to success or veering you off course. Understanding and recognizing inflection points in your journey can help push past the tough times and ultimately to your goal.
When you are on a fitness journey to lose weight, get stronger, change your body, change your life, etc., you will find success along the way. Maybe you find a little success or maybe you achieve a lot, but success – big or small – doesn’t always equate to the achievement of your goal.
Goals take time to reach. Over that period of time, you will want to quit and fall back on bad habits. Some of those moments you will push past, but others will be tougher, more critical moments that will decide the ultimate outcome of your journey. These moments are your inflection points.
In weight loss, an inflection point will come after you have achieved some success. Maybe you lost 30 pounds, but your goal was 50 pounds. You are happy with 30 pounds but you are struggling to find the motivation to keep going. You are content, but you’re not fulfilled. Still, the idea of continuing to put in loads of effort every week is becoming harder and harder and you feel like you’ve lost yourself. You are in a rut.
For those moments, and for those of you who have ever, or will ever experience these inflection points on your journey, the following message is for you.
You’re going through a pivotal moment in your journey. You’ve lost all your momentum. Suddenly getting in your exercise or making better food choices feels like you’re climbing the tallest mountain. This is the exact moment when most people fail. This is the moment when people start to question why they are even doing this. This is the moment people come close, but the pursuit of their goal ends.
But not for you.
Because you know that the majority of people who set out to achieve this goal, failed. You know that those people were not willing to do what you are willing to do. They won’t go to the gym one more time, they won’t stick to their diet one more week, they won’t continue working on themselves. They are tired, you are tired, but you see the finish line. You push past negative thoughts and the lack of motivation because you are not going to do your best – you are going to do what is required to achieve your goal.
During the New York City Marathon, runners who decide to give up or give in to personal defeat are driven to the end of the race by the Sweeper Bus – it’s called being swept. Once you get swept, you are driven to the final mile marker where you get to cross the finish line. But you don’t actually finish. You are given a stamp on your hand (to indicate you were swept) instead of a medal around your neck. Marathons are not easy. They will test your mental and physical toughness. It’s those who are prepared for the journey (barring medical issues) and battle through every mile of adversity who get to don the badge of glory.
The majority of people in your position right now will give up. They start listening to the loud voice inside their head that tells them to be lazy instead of the quiet voice that wants them to keep going. They will end their journey even when the finish line is closer than it has ever been … they will be swept.
But not you.
You know that this phase will pass and every day that you put in beyond this point is the progress no one else was willing to make. You know that you are stepping into a level of personal development and growth that only the most successful people of our time have stepped in. You will stay on this path because you are relentless. Every step and every setback you have made has become a brick in the foundation of your imminent success. The greatest achievements in history were born from perseverance, from the will to keep going when others failed. When doubt and fatigue creep in, remember that this is how success is made. Success is never given; it’s earned through unwavering determination and the refusal to give up.
