Is Summer Over? (…yes, this is a test ;))

This morning on my dog walk, I was chatting with my neighbor and she mentioned “…I mean summer is basically over now”.

I automatically said, “Oh my god RIGHT!?”  Then shook that off REAL quick.  Like…excuse me?? It was JUST the 4th of July. We have at least 7 more weeks of actual summer left, and that doesn’t even count the awesome beach days we’re going to get in September.  I mentioned it to her, we had a chuckle and continued on our walks.

And THIS,  this exact mentality,  is what gets us.

It’s the same energy as “UGH, the year is half over and I didn’t [insert miscellaneous unplanned fitness goal here]”. No ma’am. Not today, not on this dog walk, and not in your fitness goals either!

I know I tend to be a peppy bitch about this stuff, and I get that it can be annoying when you’re not feeling it. But hear me out, because this isn’t just “Tina being Tina”, it’s that optimism and a positive attitude are measurably linked to actually getting things done.

Yes, it is SCIENCE.

Psychologist Martin Seligman spent decades studying what he calls “explanatory style,” basically how you talk to yourself about setbacks. His research found that people with an optimistic explanatory style are more productive, persist longer through obstacles, and literally outperform peers who have more raw talent but a more pessimistic outlook. Optimists are also significantly less likely to drop out when things get hard, because they’re more motivated and less distressed by setbacks, they see them as temporary, not permanent.

The flip side is just as telling: pessimists tend to cope by avoiding or abandoning goals altogether, while optimists lean into acceptance, active problem-solving, and (my favorite part) humor. Same hard situation, completely different outcome, and the difference is the story you tell yourself about it.

Listen, it’s not lost on me that this is hard, and some people aren’t wired this way (…I was not wired this way, and that is a topic for another email). Rewiring how you talk to yourself takes actual practice and actual awareness, it’s not a switch you flip once and you’re done. If you notice yourself hitting this mid-year mark with a little crankiness, a little “I’m not where I thought I’d be” energy, that’s normal. Just try flipping the script in that moment and see what happens. It works more often than you’d think.

• Instead of “the year is half over and I haven’t reached my goal,” try “I have a whole half a year left to reach my goal.”
• Instead of “I’m behind,” try “the first half was me getting mentally ready, the back half is where it actually happens.”

Same six months. Wildly different energy. That’s a total glass-half-full move, and it’s not delusional, it’s strategic.

This applies to literally everything motivation-related, especially your workouts. When you don’t want to get it done, try spinning it: not “ugh I have to work out” but “I get to do the thing that’s going to make me feel amazing in two hours.” It sounds like a small trick. It is not a small trick, it’s the difference between showing up and not.

Here are some tips on how to make this “Re-Frame” a habit:

• Use if-then planning: research on implementation intentions (shoutout to psychologist Peter Gollwitzer) shows people who make specific if-then plans, like “if it’s 6am and my alarm goes off, then I’m putting on my shoes and walking out the door,” are 2-3x more likely to actually follow through than people who just have a vague intention to “work out more.” Crazy right?
• Attach the reframe to something you already do. Every time you catch a negative thought about your progress, pair it with one physical action, write it down, say the flipped version out loud, whatever. Repetition on a consistent cue is what makes it automatic. (Personal share, I used to say “NOPE” out loud when I thought I wasn’t going to make my mileage on a long run…yup, just me out in the world going NOPE NOPE NOPE, to interrupt my brain 😆)
• Give it real time. Research on habit formation shows it typically takes around two months of consistency for a new habit to start feeling automatic, sometimes longer depending on the behavior. So if the reframe feels forced right now, that’s not failure, that’s just week two.
• Track the wins, not just the goal. Each time you catch yourself spinning a negative into a positive, that’s a rep. Reps build the muscle, same as everything else we do here.

You’ve got seven-plus weeks of summer and a full back half of the year ahead of you. The first half wasn’t wasted, it was warm-up. Let’s go make the second half the one you actually remember.

See you in the gym!
T

PS: Did you know you get 2 weeks free and a killer deal to sign up.  CLICK HERE to get started with a No Sweat Intro Session. Our No Sweat Intro is 30 minutes and we will show you around the gym, talk about your goals and if it sounds like a good fit… we will collaborate on a realistic plan that will help you get there and support you every step along the way💪. Small groups, big support, BIG fun… we would love to meet you!