How Strengths Helped My Fitness Journey
By: John Reily Baluyot
I am probably one of the most sedentary people in the country. My idea of a perfect day is to stay indoors, work for eight to ten hours in front of a computer, and after that, watch Netflix (while eating), play with my Nintendo switch and lie down on my bed while I get drowned by social media scrolling.
But then I also started noticing some unfavorable effects of staying this way. I generally have low energy. I gain weight faster. My body posture starts to deteriorate. My skin dries up more quickly and I see myself looking older faster. And when I look at the mirror, I feel a bit sad, unattractive and for the lack of a better term-- losyang.
Imagine this esteem issue coming from a person who’s already achieved a good deal in life. Apparently, all the heightened comparative tendencies caused by social media, compounded by health issues, are still big factors in affecting a person’s motivation— accomplishments notwithstanding.
But how can a person, who has failed multiple times in their fitness journey, have a successful fitness journey?
In my case, the answer was strengths.
For years now, I’ve been teaching and applying strengths principles to create productivity and engagement at work. But it was only recently that I realized how to apply it in my fitness.
Here are some easy steps on how you can start:
Understand Your Strengths
One school of thought that I really love is Gallup’s Clifton Strengths. From their research, strengths are our natural inclinations that produce meaningful results. For example, in my case, one of my natural inclinations is competition. According to Clifton Strengths, “People who are especially talented in the competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others”. Looking back, I feel this inclination came from all the years of playing patintero and agawan base when I was a kid; or playing computer shop games (Starcraft, Counterstrike, Dota, etc.); and likely also years of competitive debating in college. I realized that when I applied that inclination to my work, I feel more energized and engaged by the activities involving it like: creating competitive strategies for our business, identifying milestones of success, comparing our performance against competition, and actually doing well against them.
So in essence, when we are doing something that is more natural to us, and we are creating results out of it, it feels more meaningful and energizing, doesn’t it?
(Have you taken a strengths assessment yet? If not yet, you may take them at www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. If you want free assessments, you may go to www.viacharacter.org or www.strengthsprofile.com)
Identify Strengths That You Can Tap
I realized that my fitness journey failed before because I only had one mindset. That is, I wanted to look good. Then, I did not anchor it to what I am naturally inclined to be motivated by because I didn’t know what strengths were.
But now that I know better, I identified two strengths that gave me a better frame of mind to see this journey through.
Futuristic. From Gallup, they claimed that “People who are especially talented in this theme are inspired by the future and what could be.” The argument for me here is simple. I love my husband so much and everyday with him is just life-giving. But given my family’s hereditary indications of high cholesterol, stroke and heart disease, if I do not do something about my lifestyle now, I would have less time to spend with my husband in the future. I might even burden him with long-term medical bills. That future thought really shook me. And to this day, it has lit a fire up my bum, to wake up every 6am, four days a week, to go to the gym.
Significance. From Gallup, they claimed that “People who are especially talented in this theme want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized”. See I finally found a positive spin to what I’ve been self-diagnosing as narcissism. I do acknowledge that I love being adored. But more than that, I love that I am making an impact on the lives of others. And when I started posting my progress in social media, and people continued to message me about how I inspired them to start their fitness journey-- that pushed me to endure all the pain of lifting weights. This way, I can get the health benefits that people around me will be more inspired by.
These are only two of the talents that I have been using. And as a result, I have lost 5 kilos in two months. My waistline went from 39 inches to 32 inches. My cholesterol went back to normal range. And this I got surprised by, from having a height of 5’9, I am now 5’10 (apparently there was an explanation-- something about the spine. Haha).
The point here is if we are intentional about which natural inclinations to use, and invest time, resources and effort on them, we get more energized and excited in the process. And that excitement is what helps form our habits that eventually translate to results.
Try reflecting on a big accomplishment you had, what natural inclinations did you use? How did you feel about the experience. Do you recognize some talent or strengths that you used then?
Create a Mindset that Acknowledges Regular Wins
Progress is generally motivating. And sometimes, while we may have small wins, we tend to be shy in recognizing them. But we have to remember, wins can be good sources of positive emotions. And positive emotions help with motivation and action.
What I did here, as a byproduct of my significance theme, was to measure everything I could at the beginning of my fitness journey: my weight, height, breast line, waistline, arms, steps, stamina, etc. I then created a journal (in my case IG stories) to report that progress. And every time I made progress, either someone would congratulate me, or I’d recognize it myself and even in the most silent hurray, I will savor that moment.
I even have more confidence to look at my shirtless body now in the mirror when before I would not even take my shirt off if I didn't have to. Like Nick Carter in all those backstreet boys music videos.
Wins, no matter how small, fuel our motivation.
Include Others in Your Journey
When we surround ourselves with people who value the same things, that is what we call our tribe. And when that tribe acknowledges us in what we are doing-- that in itself is a highly relatable win.
One of the things I joined is a fitness group chat with some of my employees and interns in Positive Workplaces. We may have different motivations for our fitness journey, but we have closely knit values and are good friends. So every time someone does something fitness related, they will post in the group chat. And whatever that post is, someone or everyone will automatically recognize that person’s efforts and from there we continue to form a stronger bond under the same journey. It's the same concept as other support groups. It’s a tribe that enhances belongingness under a common intention to be better.
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If you have observed, strengths can be applicable in different challenges of our lives. Whether it’s performance at work, leading people, resolving conflict, or in this case— fitness. The idea is it pays off to approach a challenge from a point that is more natural to us. We do not need to pretend to be someone else. We enjoy the journey more. And if we do things right, we start producing remarkable results.
If you want to know more about strengths, you could:
Check attend our Free webinar series this April 2023 through this link: Free Webinars
Contact us for your questions and inquiries via: thrive@positiveworkplaces.org
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About the Author:
John Baluyot is the Co-founder and CEO of Positive Workplaces. He is an Australia Awards Scholar who finished his Master of Leadership specializing in Organizational Learning, in Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He was also the 2020 National President of the Philippine Society for Talent Development (previously known as Philippines Society for Training and Development)
