The Psychological Momentum from Fitness

[Music]

five years ago

i did something my parents weren’t proud

of i hid it from my coworkers and

friends

it caused my job loss a breakup

and a major therapy bill

but it helped me find my purpose i

started

working out mind blowing i know right

this thing that they say causes you to

lose weight and gain muscle

can also totally disrupt your life

side effects include learning how to

trust yourself

becoming disciplined in your habits

becoming an unstoppable leader

meanwhile i was just trying to find

myself

there’s so many of us that go through

these new life stages

where we feel like we’re settling like

if we could find that

missing piece of the puzzle then we

could take over the world

so we swipe we scroll we read the books

we travel the world

all in this pursuit to unlock this human

potential

but sometimes we become paralyzed by

comparison

i know this i’m a first generation

bengali muslim american there aren’t

many girls that look like me

that are in fitness entrepreneurship or

technology but i always knew there was

something different about me

to my parents dismay i was always the

one breaking

all the barriers when i was told no

i would always find a way

no you can’t play outside you’re going

to get too dark

no one’s going to want to marry you or

no you can’t move out of the house unwed

what will people say

are my favorite no

you have to stop working out you’re

turning into a lesbian

are you a prostitute

you see this picture on the screen right

here is what she saw

that warranted that question after it

went viral on the internet

but no mom i run a tech startup

you see this picture right here shows

more than just this weight loss

transformation

it was this representation of this

mental and physical

transformation that happens when we

shed the societal weight of trying to

fit in

and letting go of these fears of not

feeling good enough

it’s like whenever i entered into these

crowded gyms

it felt like this church of wellness

everyone was on their own pursuit their

own path

showing up every day just to get

stronger

and they were surrounded by this

community of doers

i wanted that i wanted that in all

aspects of my life

my work my relationships in the world

but i didn’t have a clear path to what i

wanted to gain or lose from this

experience

i just knew by vulnerably surrendering

to the journey i was going to unlock

this

ultimate life hack to success

which is trusting myself

you see when we choose to create motion

by creating action we let out this

breath of anxiety

and let in opportunity

but it starts by investing into our

wellness ecosystem

our mental physical and social

well-being

but it starts with our mental well-being

i like to call this the commitment to

our health

and the journey of dating ourselves

in this self-awareness practice we’re

learning how to commit to getting

comfortable

getting uncomfortable in a research

study on the psychological benefits of

solitude

researchers found that the date with

oneself

aids in psychological adjustment

meaning less depression a higher sense

of personal

agency and a higher life satisfaction

but to be honest it is totally awkward

going to a restaurant by yourself

without your phone so baby steps

schedule a once a week activity that you

enjoy

that aligns with your interest so if you

like poetry

go to a poetry reading every week maybe

challenge yourself to get on stage

maybe you like hiking go explore a new

route

every week the goal is to combine

something that is both uncomfortable

with something that is familiar and

aligns with our interests

for me i chose to work out at a new gym

every week so many of us are familiar

with that fear of going into the gym

and feeling like everyone is judging us

kind of like that imposter syndrome

sometimes we feel at work now

for me i knew committing to this journey

was not about

overcoming and becoming the fittest

person

it was just about being able to discover

this

self-confidence the vulnerability

and the student mentality to conquer

any new environment

i learned this really cool skill in the

gym called activating

your blinders it’s when you are so

focused on your work and

concentrating on executing on the plan

you don’t have time to worry about

what’s happening around you you don’t

have time for those distractions

i loved this

it was so powerful because i had so much

control over my actions

and my mindset and i saw this

transferring into everything i was doing

at work and in my relationships

so much that i committed so hard to this

goal

and worked out at over 400 gyms across

the world but this was just a testament

to show

that i was ready to take on any new

environment

it could be work offices new countries

new relationships because i could throw

away these fears of being lonely

or these imposter syndrome thoughts

and no i had my student mentality

this ability to learn and make new

friends wherever i go

and i saw that this was happening in

every aspect of my life

i even made that dive first into

uncertainty with

entrepreneurship as i found in my

startup

sweatpack to help other people like me

looking for fitness communities

and that’s when i learned the next phase

which is a commitment

to getting physical movement

physically moving our bodies is an

activation

energy that forces us to do something

right it’s being able to create momentum

through movement now i like to think of

this

as adding in physical activity into our

everyday routines

because what we get with our subsequent

wins in the gyms

transfers into a subsequent win into our

work day

this is a phenomenon called

psychological momentum

psychological momentum is a series of

positive

or negative events that affect our

cognitive behavior

and performance so a win in the gym

can translate into a win at work so

think about it like this

okay i scored a win

and a personal record on my run time

when i crushed

a client presentation when

i asked my boss for a raise and i got it

winning

[Music]

you see it’s just we start to believe in

ourself and trust ourselves that we just

start to go for it

but sometimes we experience

failure like every great winning streak

sometimes we fail but that’s what

fitness teaches us

resilience the ability to get

back up and get moving

sometimes that means starting over

and sometimes that means creating our

own box

but we create the rules and we always

come back stronger

but what i’ve learned is to be able to

share

this journey of hard work and

resilience because people want to be a

part of the journey of the

come up it’s not as great anymore just

seeing the success story

and hearing about everything in

hindsight people want to be a part of

the process

i’ve learned by building my community of

over a hundred thousand people globally

that they trust me and that when i have

a hardship

they want to help me create the answers

to get farther along

and in return i get to do the same to

them

it’s all about contributing to our

ecosystem and being able to

help each other up figure out what the

hacks are

so that we all end up successful

together

that’s why we have to create this last

thing which is

community finding a group of people

that share our common common interests

and

goals now the kohler effect

states that we should find people that

are 10 percent

better than us because it challenges us

to do more my personal philosophy is

hang out with the person who is where

you want to be

sometimes they’re characters in books

sometimes they’re

influencers on social media but for me

i decided to create a fitness instagram

page

where i could connect with these people

host events nationwide for us

join a co-working space and

go to these networking events on a

weekly basis

by putting myself in these uncomfortable

environments

where these people lived i was able to

learn from them

grow with them and learn how to adopt

their skills

but learn how to stay committed to

myself

and true to me

so this journey of fitness comes

together as we commit to our mental

physical and social well-being

learning to get comfortable getting

uncomfortable

so you see it’s definitely impacted my

life

as a result i attracted the love of my

life

i became an award-winning entrepreneur

and global speaker

i have the healthiest and most loving

relationship with my family

and i love the person that i’m always

with

me so

i hope you will commit to diving head

first

into your fitness journey dating

yourself

and finding your community

then go out there and be a game-changing

disruptive leader have some fun too

thank you

[Music]

you