I was so upset all I wanted to do was floor the accelerator and ram the car in front of me. I was on the DC beltway heading to the airport to pick up my son. For the past 60 minutes I was averaging 3mph. And, there was no end in sight.

Expectations are funny things. We align resources, make plans, and invest emotions based on our expectations. When those expectations are exceeded it is exhilarating. When they fall short it’s frustrating…or worse.

My son was flying in from Australia. It was the first time we’d seen him in more than a year. His plane was landing at Dulles Airport which is at least an hour from where we live. The scheduled arrival was late in the afternoon so I would have to navigate the Capital Beltway during the peak of the rush hour.

I expected slow traffic.

I checked Waze for a couple days each afternoon to get a sense of how long the drive would take. I added 20 minutes for margin. In other words, I aligned my resources, made my plans, and set my emotions on the expectation it would take an hour and 40 minutes to get from my house to the airport.

And, then the unexpected happen. An accident on the beltway blocked several lanes and turned the highway into a parking lot. My frustration soared as I watched the estimated arrival time move later and later and later.

That’s when all I wanted to go was ram the car in front of me. Since there were only a few feet separating us very little physical damage would have happened, but the near term course of my life would have changed dramatically.

So I didn’t.

If you are doing The 30 Day New Year Fitness Challenge, I suspect you also have expectations. You have aligned your resources, made your plans, and invested your emotions for an expected outcome.

This is probably why more than 90% of all goals fail. Expectations are set and quickly frustrated. Instead of flooring the accelerator, the opposite reaction usually happens. The brakes are hit and the goal is abandoned.

Years ago, Ava was having an issue with her computer hard drive. She called Support. After an hour, it was clear to me the call was not going well. It went further south when the tech said to my wife, “Let me readjust your expectations.”

With fear and trepidation, I’d like to do the same.

There’s no doubt every fitness journey comes with expectations. It has to. Why else would we engage in something as hard as fitness if weren’t expecting results. That’s not the problem. The problem with fitness expectations is how quickly we want the benefits.

Here comes the readjustment.

The only benefit you should expect from the next 30 days is that you didn’t quit.

Fitness transformation doesn’t happen without fitness momentum. Fitness momentum doesn’t happen without a fitness habit. And, that’s what these 30 days are all about…creating a fitness habit.

Understanding that will keep your fitness frustration pretty low.

It’s never too late to start a brand new fitness journey. If you want to do the 30 Day New Year Fitness Challenge you can begin today!

If this is the first you’re hearing about the Challenge, it’s really quite simple. You set a modest daily step goal and make a commitment to reach that goal every day for 30 days. Every day you hit your goal is a win to be celebrated!

Download this free 30 Day New Year Fitness Challenge Guide to get started. It will help you set the right goal for you. The guide also includes a contract that you can make with yourself. That may sound cheesy, but it’s the commitments we make to ourselves that sometimes are the easiest to break.

Every day you reach your goal is a WIN and this free guide includes a 30 Day Win Tracker to help you celebrate your fitness victories!