Are you [doing] enough?
Fitness & Thinking Fridays is back with an existential twist
I used to set the same resolution every year as a kid: get a six-pack.
Every January, I’d tell myself this was the year. I’d stare at fitness magazine covers, scroll through online forums, and wonder why I never got there. I trained, sure. But I also spent a lot of time thinking about training, stressing over what I was eating, second-guessing myself, tweaking plans, researching new workouts, getting discouraged, and starting over.
I wasn’t failing because I wasn’t thinking enough though. I was failing because I wasn’t doing enough.
See, we confuse thinking with doing all the time. We mistake the mental energy we invest – the stress, the doubt, the endless strategising – for actual action. And then we feel frustrated when things don’t change.
The truth is, if you’re consistently doing things that make a difference, you are doing enough.
The illusion of productivity
There’s a psychological term for this: action bias – our tendency to feel like we’re progressing simply because we’re engaged with a problem, even when we’re not taking meaningful steps to solve it (Patt & Zeckhauser, 2000).
Reading fitness content? Doesn’t count.
Overanalysing your meal plan? Doesn’t count.
Comparing progress photos without taking new ones? Doesn’t count.
Meanwhile, the real work – showing up, training, fuelling your body properly, sleeping well, progressing bit by bit – is what actually matters.
Not being enough
One of my biggest fears in life is not being enough. Not smart enough. Not successful enough. Not capable enough.
It doesn’t matter how much work I’ve done or how secure I feel 99% of the time – self-doubt has an ‘abit of creeping in – that moment when you think you’re making progress, and then a little voice whispers:
there’s always somebody taller, with more of a wit
and he’s equipped to enthral her and her friends think he’s fit
Arctic Monkeys, ‘Bigger Boys & Stolen Sweethearts’
That line always stuck with me – not because it’s just about relationships but because it’s about comparison. Fitness, career, life – it’s easy to feel like there’s always someone ahead of you, making more progress, doing it “better.”
And when we get stuck in that mindset, we start thinking instead of doing. Overanalysing instead of acting. Worrying about being enough instead of becoming enough.
The fear of not being enough won’t disappear overnight. But action makes it quieter. Lifting a bit more each week. Eating better. Showing up, even when you don’t feel like it. Because the only real way to silence self-doubt is to prove it wrong.
Doing versus thinking about doing
Fitness (and most things in life) boils down to a few key habits done consistently over time. Getting a six-pack wasn’t about some magic formula. It was about:
Training hard 3-5 times a week
Eating mostly good food, most of the time
Progressively overloading in the gym
Being patient as hell
Not overcomplicating it
But instead of just doing these things, I’d get caught up in mental gymnastics:
Am I doing the right workouts?
What if I’m eating too many carbs?
Should I switch to a different routine?
And the more I thought about these things, the less I actually did that meaningfully contributed to the end goal.
How to stop overthinking and start doing
Here’s the thing: thinking about fitness doesn’t change your body. Doing does. And if you’re stuck in that loop of feeling like you’re not doing enough, try this:
Identify the actual needle movers
What are the three things that matter most to your goal? (Hint: they’re probably training, nutrition, and recovery.)
Measure actions, not thoughts
Instead of asking, Have I figured this all out yet? ask, Did I show up for my workout today? Did I do a little bit more than last time?Build momentum with small wins
If motivation is low, do five minutes. Just five. Action creates more action.Trust the process
If you’re training hard, eating well, and staying consistent, you are doing enough. Results take time, not overanalysis.
The takeaway
If you’ve ever felt like you’re not enough, ask yourself: am I doing enough of the things that actually make a difference?
Because action beats overthinking. Every single time.
Further reading
Patt, A., & Zeckhauser, R. (2000). Action bias and the illusion of control. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007824504230 (Accessed: 5 February 2025)
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Retrieved from https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/daniel-kahneman/thinking-fast-and-slow/9780141033570 (Accessed: 5 February 2025)
When the Little Things Add Up
My own take on small actions leading to big resultshttps://coachjackmann.substack.com/p/when-the-little-things-add-up
(Accessed: 5 February 2025)Arctic Monkeys - Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts (Accessed: 5 February 2025)
And that’s it from me!
Much love, and I’ll see yas in the next one!
Jack x