[00:00:00] Welcome to the UFTA podcast, hosted by Emily O'Connor and Jordan Rudolph. The UFTA podcast brings you a surprisingly fresh take on everyday topics in health, fitness, and everything in between. We want to open the door to explore new information and new solutions in a way that's easy for you to understand and apply to your own life.
Let's get into today's episode.
Introduction and Episode Overview
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the UFFDA! Podcast. My name is Emily Morris and we are back at it with another solo episode today for episode number 38 of season four. Happy to be back with you [00:01:00] on another solo episode. I know a lot of my solo episodes have really focused around language and a little bit of mindset.
Topic Int
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Stuff but really predominantly kind of diving into the language and the words we use Um, and today we're taking just a little bit different of a spin on that Uh, the topic comes from one of our members here at unity I know she has been going back through and listening to all of our episodes from the very beginning.
So really cool grateful that she is doing that, exciting for her to kind of listen back and she's already noted some stuff. So, uh, in terms of like changing and the different topics we've covered over the years of doing this show. So really cool to hear it from her perspective, because I certainly cannot listen to my own voice for that amount of episodes, so.
Cool to have her do that, but because I know she's kind of on a quest doing that, I asked her if there was anything that she wanted me to kind of touch [00:02:00] on in a solo episode. So this is one of the suggestions she had and where this topic originated from. Quick aside before we just hop in, if you have also a suggestion for an OOVDA podcast that you'd like to hear myself and our Most likely Jordan, uh, both kind of go on.
Feel free to let us know, reach out on social media, shoot us. If you have our contact, your member at Unity, shoot us a message. Uh, we are always adding to our list of topics that we want to cover. So this doesn't just go for you. Uh, she just happened to be in the gym this morning and I just happened to need a podcast topic for today.
So. As always, thank you guys for listening. And let's, without further ado, let's just dive in.
Understanding Failure and New Year's Resolutions
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Uh, you've probably noticed by the title that we're talking failure in specifically failure around New Year's resolutions. We've referenced a few episodes in a row now on the drop off rates for New Year's resolutions [00:03:00] and by this point most people, the majority of who have started a New Year's resolution on January 1, have now stopped doing that thing.
Um, obviously we are looking at this from a health and fitness perspective, but that goes for outside of health and fitness as well. Right? So, we have now failed our New Year's resolution. A lot of people can be in this mindset if we've stopped doing the things that we said we were going to do. Failure is one of the first words that comes to mind, right?
However, is it actually failing by this time of year? Right? Looking at something as a failure. So as we define failure, I think starting there is most helpful, um, in looking at, like, Where do we even begin to, if we want to get back on this [00:04:00] track and get back on our New Year's resolution, how do we do that, right?
So when we look at the definition of failure from Oxford, it's a lack of success or the omission of expected or required action, right? So we're stopping doing something. This, in New Year's resolution terms, often is something that we said we were going to do. Right? And can be detrimental. Failure can certainly throw us off the path.
It can set us back. It can really take root deep in our minds in terms of we then define ourselves by the things that we are lacking in instead of defining ourselves by the things that we have achieved. Right? It's that whole easier to notice the negative things around us than to notice the positives.
The word failure, and this is where my language will come back into play, can not only identify something that has happened, but [00:05:00] can be an identity if we aren't careful on taking that on ourselves, right? It doesn't become, oh, I've failed my resolution. It becomes, I am a failure, which when we're thinking language and we're thinking mindset can be dangerous to be in and objectively untrue subjectively so to ourselves can feel like it is true and may hold true depending on the words we continue to use and depending on the stories we continue to tell ourselves.
Redefining Failure and Identifying Obstacles
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So first step here is making sure we're not defining ourselves as the failure. It's just, hey, I've failed in what I've been trying to do. Right? From there, next step, why? What got in the way? Right? Because if we look at failure as this detrimental thing, and it's a roadblock, it's immovable, we can't move [00:06:00] through it, there's, there's no discussion left to be had.
If our mindset is, oh, I failed, hang it up, try it in 2026, okay, But then there's no discussion. You can click this podcast off right now and Let's address that first, but if we can be open and we can look at failure and say okay It's the whole like found failure isn't you know catastrophic. We just found something that didn't work, right?
so why what got in our way as We try to implement these new habits Right? Are there different lifestyle factors? Did we go too fast too soon? Did we set ourselves up for success in what we were trying to do or Did we set up for ourselves for failure right from the jump? Right when we can start to ask these questions failure becomes an opportunity We can discover what didn't work and allow ourselves then to see [00:07:00] ways in which it can work.
If we did too much too soon, okay, we need to start less. Like, we're not ready for that. And we might should ourselves into thinking like, oh, I should do this, I should do that. Why? Who says? Meet yourself where you're at. Take an evaluation. If it's too much too soon, okay. What got in our way? If it's a roadblock, if it's a scheduling thing, I just had a conversation with another member who's lacking some motivation, kind of trying to get workouts in, get runs in, getting all the things we feel like we need to do in this time of year done.
And it can be challenging, and motivation can wane, especially if you're living in a place that's cold, rainy, snowy, wet, cloudy, there's lack of sun, right, like all of those things play in to the factors.
Removing Friction and Adjusting Goals
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When we start to identify the things that get in our way, we can start to remove the friction. Every time there's friction, there has to either be a decision made, a push [00:08:00] has to happen, we have to get uncomfortable.
If we can remove those points of friction, That can be a massive, massive, massive impact. So maybe it's not too much too soon. Maybe there was just too much friction, too many variables, right? If you're not sure of your schedule, that can be a massive friction point. But if you, if you're not sure of your schedule, you can't prepare ahead of time.
But if you know every Monday at 10 a. m. I work out amazing We can get those workout clothes laid out Monday morning when you get up If you know it's on Monday, you could do it on Sunday If you know your Sunday's busy, but you still want to know it on Monday. You can do it on Saturday, right? We can get more proactive When we identify when we're doing some of these things so it might be a schedule It might be the program right?
Are we following a goal? And is the goal exciting to us? Does it scare us a little bit? Certainly. But, is it exciting? Are we [00:09:00] excited to go in? Do we truly, truly want what we are training for? Do we truly, truly want the goal that we are trying to achieve? Or is it one that maybe a friend wants, a family member wants?
We kinda want, but we're not fully bought in. If we're not fully bought in, it's not going to be exciting. It's not, it's gonna have that friction. We're gonna have a little battle. Every time we go to make a change that aligns with that goal. So those little points can all make a big factor. So it's not just that there's one thing that maybe got in the way.
But it's identifying all the little things along the way that like, might play a factor. Maybe it's this. Maybe it's that. Right? So identifying those. What gets in the way? What are those points of friction that we need to remove? So first, we've defined failure, we've looked at it, we've removed ourselves, we are not the failure, we've just found a way to not work, even if we did not succeed the first time, we can try again.
[00:10:00] How should we try again? Amazing. Where are the points of friction? What do we need to adjust? What do we need to change in the approach? Now, I touched on motivation prior to.
The Importance of Knowing Your Why
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The third big piece to this is why. Why do you want what you want? Why do you want to become the person who you want to be at the end of 2026?
Why is that goal important to you? Identifying who you want to become and why you want the things you want, just because you want them, right? But knowing your deep down why allows you to make the decisions that will get you to that place when they are uncomfortable, when they deteriorate. from where you are right now.
So, we talked about removing friction. We can remove all the friction we want, but in pursuit of a goal, there is probably [00:11:00] going to be a time in which you have to do something uncomfortable. I would say, I say probably, but probably. Nearly, certainly, there is going to be times where you have to step out of your comfort zone, take an action you're not used to taking, adjust your routine, learn something new.
I mean, options are endless here, right? Because you're pushing yourself to be a new person. We are becoming the person who we want to be through our actions, and those actions can be uncomfortable because they are not us. They are not our current state, but they are those actions of the person who we want to be.
When we know why we want to be that person, when we know why we want to lose the 10 pounds, when we want to gain strength, those actions take on a meaning greater than themselves. I know that we've talked about the why's before in our goals and our decision making and numerous podcast episodes ahead of time.
But I'd be remiss in this question here not to identify it, because when we [00:12:00] start a goal, let's say weight loss, right? It's one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. I want to lose body fat. Talked to numerous people this week, members, non members, potential new members here at Unity, working with them, and a lot of, predominantly, the goal is fat loss, right?
Yeah, I'd be nice. I'd love to lose some body fat. I've been working on this forever. Right? I've been working on this for years. I've pursued it in the past. That goal, when we say lose body fat, most of the time isn't that important to people. Now, before you come at me, it's not that losing the weight isn't important.
Right? Yes, that can be important. But what's really important is being able to pick up the totes and carry them up from the basement. It's being able to carry the groceries in the house with ease because we're carrying around less weight. It's being able to get up and down off the floor with the grandkids for playing with them because we are carrying around less weight and we don't have as much [00:13:00] body fat.
It's staying healthy, right? It's staying healthy and So that we can play with the grandkids, so that we can travel, so that we can enjoy life, right? So it's not at the end of the day about the weight on the scale, even though that's the stated goal. It's that deeper why. And if we don't know why we're doing it, if we don't know the version of the person we want to become, those decisions that get us there, those uncomfortable habits that get us there, make it really really challenging.
They get really really hard to start to repeat and repeat. Pete over time, especially when there's friction, right, especially when we're in a negative headspace because we're defining ourselves as the failure instead of externalizing that from ourselves.
Encouragement and Final Thoughts
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So as we think about our New Year's resolution first, It's only February 21st at the time of recording this, February 24th at the time you're listening of this.
Okay. There is the majority of the [00:14:00] year left, right? We are 12 months. Even if we say at the end of February, we have 10 months left to go. There is no reason that we cannot start a new goal right now on February 24th. Do not wait until March 4th or March 1st, excuse me, just because it's the first of the month.
Nope. No, no, no. February 24th. Right? As you're listening to this podcast. If there are things that you've slipped from in your New Year's resolutions that you want to bring back, today's the day. Right? We're doing it today. If you're listening to us on a Tuesday, we're doing it today. We're not waiting till next Monday.
Okay? So, first, make sure that you're not identifying yourself as the failure. Right? It's external to you. What went wrong? Take a moment, re evaluate. What got in your way? Remove some of those friction points, okay? As many as we can. Meet yourself where you're at. Be gracious, right? We can still work our way up.
Maybe it just takes a little bit less up front for us to get there. [00:15:00] Success will happen when we do those actions over time. So if we need to meet ourselves where we're at, when we need to do less than we think we quote unquote should, let's do that. Finally, if you haven't identified your why or we've forgotten our why, Why do you want what you want?
Why do you want to be the person who you want to become at the end of the goal you want to achieve? By the end of 2026, if we're thinking New Year's resolutions, or 2025, excuse me, before 2026, if we're thinking New Year's resolutions. Those actions that that person takes will identify what you need to do today, and then scale those down to meet yourself where you're at.
So, if you're feeling like you failed on your New Year's resolution, Few reminders, you might have to listen back, dropped some different things throughout, but the biggest, most important thing that I want you to take away from this is that you did not fail. You are not a failure. We simply [00:16:00] found a way that did not work for you.
So we need to reevaluate and find one that should. Back at it, rock and roll, and we have the rest of the next 10 plus months left to crush it. If there's anything else we can help with, feel free to reach out. Happy to do so. As always, thank you guys so much for listening to this week's episode of the Oofta podcast.
Share this with someone who you think will find it valuable. Leave us a rating, a review, subscribe, download, all the things that help us to grow organically, and we'll catch you next episode. Bye, everybody.
I don't know if you can see it, but I'm in the middle of the road, and I can't see anything.
