As humans, especially in this day and age, we want instant gratification. When we want something, we want it now and we want it the easiest way possible. This is one of the biggest reasons why so many fitness journey’s fail. Very few are willing to go the distance it takes to actually see results. This is why patience is paramount to success. Bare with me as I tell this story.

The Fruit Tree

One of the more common analogies in the fitness industry revolves around a fruit tree. It’s been floating around for awhile and I have no idea who said it first otherwise I’d give them credit. In any case, maybe you’ve heard it and maybe you haven’t, but regardless, I’m going to tell it anyway.

The first step to having a fruit tree is too, well, plant the seeds. You can’t have a fruit tree without them. Once you plant the seeds, the next thing you have to do is actually take care of the plot. This means ensuring you water it and that it gets enough sunlight.

Do that enough times and you start to see those seeds sprout. It’s not much, but you begin to see the daily work you’ve been putting in. This excites you, but you know the work isn’t done yet. If you want it to grow even more, it means you have to continue putting the work in to help your lil bb tree grow.

Do this for months, maybe even years and eventually you have a full-fledged tree. Ah, but what about the fruit? Now that tree is grown you still need to stay patient as the fruit still needs to grow. It’s yet another waiting period. Even as it grows, it’s not like you’ll be able to eat it right away. You have to wait for it to become ripe. You want to reap the rewards (the fruit) of your hard work, though, so you never stop until they ripen.

This entire process, as you can imagine, might take several months at best, but more likely years. Let’s recap quickly. First you plant the seeds. Then you tend to the seeds. Over time, the seeds grow into a tree. The very last thing to grow is the actual fruit. Your patience is paramount to success if you want to reap the rewards of your labor.

How This Relates To Fitness

If you haven’t already drawn the parallel, the path of the fruit tree is incredibly similar to your fitness and nutrition journey. Very rarely does the work you do today show through. Don’t think for a second that you’re going to do some bicep curls today and have massive guns tomorrow. It just doesn’t work like that. Similarly, you aren’t going to wake up with a flat stomach tomorrow by eating grilled chicken and some veggies for dinner later.

In order to have a successful fitness journey you must be able to consistently do the necessary work it takes to grow. Just like watering the seeds once won’t help the tree grow, going to the gym only once won’t help you reach your goals. You must be consistent. This is why I stress that your patience is paramount to success. It may be discouraging to not see your hard work right away, but if you can hang tight, continue to do what’s necessary to grow, I promise that over time, you will reap the rewards of your hard work.

Not sure where to even get started on your journey? Check out this post with the 5 actionable items I found to be most helpful in my journey. The best thing you can do to start off is just focus on one thing at a time.

As always if you have questions you can either leave them here or reach out to me.