Lissy Shortall on How to be Your Own Coach… Successfully.
Whether it be in the gym or classroom, many college students find themselves at a loss for motivation. Maybe it is a lack of pressure from parents to get homework done or an insecurity about not knowing how to properly use dumbbells. Whatever the case may be, you get stuck in a rut and fail to move forward.
But, how do you not do that? How do you keep progressing and growing? How do you find that motivation? Well, according to Lissy Shorthall, it comes from within.
Lissy is a strategic communications major at Elon University, as well as a GroupX instructor and employee at Media Services. Her job is to coach and encourage others in a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable pursuit: exercise.
Originally, Lissy was not a fitness enthusiast but actually quite the opposite. Her relationship with food was very poor and she avoided the gym because it triggered body dysmorphia. She was left mentally flustered and physically lethargic…. until last February.
She started with a 30-day challenge. This challenge in particular was to go to the gym every day for 30 days.
“I would feel like people around me were watching me,” she said. “I somehow thought they knew that I didn’t know what I was doing. But now, in retrospect, I’ve realized that’s not true ,and I think that’s important for beginners to realize.”
At the outset of her journey, she felt insecure. But with time and exploration, she found her groove. Working out individually in the gym was one trying aspect of the challenge, but she ended up getting into GroupX classes as well. It is a welcoming and encouraging place to learn, and the convenience of scheduling classes in advance is very appealing, she said.
This lifestyle change had great impacts on Lissy. As a result of going to the gym consistently, she added nutritious food to her diet because she noticed the positive relationship between her food and physical activity.
“It’s not like you’re going to eat a big bowl of mac n’ cheese and then go to the gym,” she said. “You wouldn’t feel good.”
The connection was powerful and impactful on her overall well-being. Because of her more nutritious diet, supplemental water intake, and improved sleeping habits, she became a happier person.
“No lie, it took a lot of self-discipline,” she said. This practice of self-discipline, she said, falls under the popular umbrella-term “self-care”. Her perspective of self-discipline changed from having a connotation of negativity and restriction to being a tool for self-care.
“Nobody wants to tell you why discipline is so important. Discipline is the strongest form of self-love. It is ignoring current pleasures for bigger rewards to come. It’s loving yourself enough to give yourself everything you’ve ever wanted,” she said, quoting financial marketing expert Ama Amo-Agyei.
Lissy uses this, and many other quotes, as motivation to keep herself committed to her vision. She found herself acting as a self coach by giving herself the tools necessary to be successful in life. “I want to help other people who maybe felt the way I did when I was first starting out,” she said.
Lissy said tools to be your own life coach fall into two categories: academics/work and physical well-being. Here they are:
Academics and Work
1. Find your passion—it is the dedication needed for success in academics and work.
Since childhood, Lissy has been a creative individual but never had a deeper inspiration for her school work. There was never a choice; academics and work were significant aspects of her life before college. But the effort she put forth was mostly for the purpose of maintaining good grades.
It wasn’t until college that Lissy began to see a connection between academics, work, and her own interests. Now at Elon, Lissy found the communications program as a means to use her creativity in a future career. There was “no other way than being in the Communications School,” she said. Lissy sees media as a cool platform because of its novelty and timeliness. She said it is always changing and evolving and that it captivates her.
In regard to her work as a group exercise instructor, she said, “I really, really, really love my job. Every single time I finish a class I’m just like, ‘Hell yeah.’ It’s just… the best feeling.” The passion she has for her school work and employment is her motivation to excel. Work is a borderline spiritual experience for her. She believes that the energy put out into the world is reflected back, which means the energy she puts into her work energizes and motivates her.
Lissy strategically plans to complete assignments by associating different places for different tasks; that way, she is less distracted and more efficient. (Photo by Juliana Schiano)
2:. What to do with negativity.
“I’m still searching for all the things that bring me happiness. It is the pursuit that drives me all along.” - R.H. Sin
It is not about ignoring the negatives and the burdens of life, Lissy said. She added that she really tries “not to focus on the negative” as her first tool in staying committed. Secondly, she said she sees bad days as affirmation that there are better days to come. Lastly, Lissy said to try to speak encouragingly to yourself, which is something especially applicable in her job with Campus Recreation and Wellness where it is easy to make judgements about herself.
Lissy wears her favorite “Happy” sweatshirt to put positive energy into the universe. (Photo by Juliana Schiano)
3. Self-care is self-discipline.
One way Lissy coaches herself with assignments or tasks is by associating different places with different things and activities. It makes it easier to get tasks accomplished when she has a planned time and location for specific needs and activities. For instance, Lissy does her homework on the second floor in Belk Library and only exercises at the gym and not at home. She finds that the dissociation of mixed environments tends to distract from work.
Physical Well-being
1. Nutrition, like fitness, is not linear.
Lissy typically uses a well-known diet guidance of 80/20, in which 80 percent of her food choices are healthy and 20 percent are less nutritious, which she says is great for when you want to “treat yo self.”
“If I want Chinese food, I’m going to get Chinese food,” she said. “I love orange chicken more than I love myself.”
2. Define “healthy” for yourself as an individual, and choose to make healthy choices in the present to reinforce your future goals.
To Lissy, being “healthy” is a short-term choice to support her long-term goal.
Although there is time to make health-conscious choices, sometimes life gets crazy and cravings emerge with relentless power.
“[I] might as well just go for what I want to go for,” she said. “Granted, it’s important to stay healthy, and I know that being healthier is going to make me feel better in the long run.”
Lissy has found several “healthy” foods that bring her joy not just by eating them but by making them too. She even brews her own Kombucha and makes her own chocolate dessert hummus.
Lissy’s lifestyle essentials. (Photo by Juliana Schiano)
3. Use self-discipline characterized by self-love.
For example, Lissy is coaching herself by listening to her intuition and hunger cues, especially when there is a temptation to grab food that is truly indulgent.
One way Lissy practices self-discipline to achieve her fitness goals is to keep a “no-no” drawer. This drawer keeps her extra candy and less-nutritious food out of sight and out of mind. It is actually a practice used to help emotional eating, according to Healthline, because taking foods you crave out of reach can challenge urges and give you time to think before eating. Therefore, this exercise helps preserve a positive relationship between body, mind, and food.
All in all, these tools are not objective but subjective, and what works for “Coach” Lissy, might not work for everyone. It is, however, always helpful to try new things, especially when you find yourself stuck and eager to keep moving.