How to Stay on Track During the Summer

It is a time of year of altered schedules and routines, and as such, a question I receive regularly is "how do I stay on track in the Summer?!"

There are two sides of the coin here:

First, what does on track mean to you? What are the goals you have been working on so far this year or this Summer? And what is the minimum required for you to stay on track to meet those goals?

The other side of the coin? Summertime for a lot of folks, is a time of slowdown and recharge. And maybe that's what you really need.

Let's dive in to each side to help you decide what is right for you.

On one side, you've been working on a particular goal with which you want to stay on track. If you have been training for a run or you've been working on something in your lifting practice, for example, you would want to consider what the maintenance requirements are for you to stay on track. Typically, a deload week (i.e. taking a week off) has a requirement for you to do at least one of your workouts in the week to ensure you don't lose the gains you've made.

That is not the only option on this side of the coin though.  Perhaps you require a full week of rest. In fitness terms, this works too.  Keep gentle movement throughout the rest week, and return with caution to your workout next week (i.e. lengthen warm up sets for example to ensure you're feeling ready to return to the full program).

To use another example, you could adjust the goal itself. For example, if you wanted to read a thousand pages of a book by the end of Summer, and it turns out that your week off needs to be fully off, change the goal to 900 pages.

Or, keep the 1000 page goal and lengthen the timeline to the first week of September, instead of the end of August.

Lot’s of choice here.

On the other side of the coin, I want to offer you the thought that staying on track isn't really the issue. In fact we must let ourselves get off track to support our mental health, rest, and recovery. The 'off-track' isn't the problem.

The problem arises when we either go beyond the length of time we decided we wanted to be off track, or there is no plan for how to get back to routine.

How do we combat these two issues?

One, set a firm deadline for how long are you going to be off track. Is it a week? Is it two weeks? You've got to set a firm return date.

Second, what is your plan to get back on track? Do you know why you show up for your first work shift, post-vacation without question?  Accountability. Somebody's waiting for you. You want your paycheck. Your boss has a job for you, etc.

So how can you build in accountability for your return?  Two sources:

a) self-accountability.  You've made a plan for return before you went on vacation, right? Now it is time to follow the plan.  Do not lean into the emotion and your mood as you approach the return.  Forget your mood.  Follow the plan.  (An edited quote from Leila Hormozi!).

b) accountability to others.  Tell someone your plan (and invite them to nudge you!), hire a trainer or a coach (we LOVE supporting this!) or join a group of some kind…group fitness, a walking group or a reading group.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, or things you'd like help with, reach out deanna@deannalangfordcoaching.com

Cheering you on!

Deanna