I’ve been doing CrossFit for a little over a year, and one thing that has surprised me about it is how much strategy can be involved in approaching a workout.
The Strategic Nature of CrossFit
CrossFit is well-known for posting leaderboards showing everyone’s results. But the real competition is the competition between each individual athlete and the workout. And if you want to win the workout, it helps to have a strategy.
Of course, just like in life outside the gym, plenty of people just show up and do a workout without thinking much about a strategy. They just move impulsively without considering how they will arrange their equipment, how they’ll pace themselves, or when they’ll take breaks.
Sometimes that can work well. There’s something to be said for just jumping in and figuring it out as you go.
For the more challenging workouts like the ones in the CrossFit Open, going in with the right strategy — or any strategy at all — can help you win the workout without fully depleting your physical, mental, and energetic resources.
Without a strategy — and the discipline to stick with it — it’s easy to get caught up in the adrenaline rush of the competition, go out too hot, and burn out before you’ve reached the end.
Or, you might be more likely to get thrown off course by a disruption or interruption to your flow.
Without a strategy, you might fail to meet your potential, which is really what this is all about.
That said, sometimes you don’t know what the right strategy is until you’re in the thick of the workout. A plan can look good on paper and then fail to meet the moment. You might encounter surprises. You don’t know how you’ll feel in the moment.
There is a point at which, even if we don’t know all the factors that might pop up, we must move forward — even when we are hazy on the landscape in front of us.
This is a metaphor for how we must approach life in any realm, whether it’s a workout, building a business, raising a family, or achieving any other goal.
The new moon in Pisces reminds us that life is about constantly navigating this dynamic between having a dream, putting a plan or strategy in place to anchor that dream, and being flexible enough to roll with the unexpected.
New Moon in Pisces
New moons are moments of seeding new intentions and new visions.
Just before the new moon occurs, Mars in Aquarius forms a square to Uranus in Taurus. This is an aspect of friction that can speak to reckless behavior and impulsive action that can be disruptive.
That energy is still in the air as the Sun and Moon join in Pisces (3/10 at 5 am EDT, 20º16’) in between Saturn and Neptune. The New Moon will be in a sextile to Uranus, which is a supportive aspect.
Symbolically, this speaks to navigating the murky waters between having a strategy to anchor your dream, and not holding off on taking action just because you don’t know all the possible contours of the landscape or have the perfect strategy to navigate it.
Provide Structure to Your Dreams
Saturn is the planet of boundaries, restrictions, rules, and time, while Neptune is the planet of dreams, intuition, and illusions.
Neptune — especially in Pisces — encourages us to get dreamy and listen to our intuition, while Saturn signals that we must impose structure and discipline. Saturn is often described as the planet of “No” — the one word we don’t want to hear when it comes to our dreams.
Although this can feel like a pull between two opposing forces, it provides a reminder that we need both dreams and discipline.
Discipline Without Dreams = Drifting and Drowning
If we only have discipline and structure — if we are taking action without those actions being anchored to a bigger dream — we will be more likely to capsize when unexpected turbulence arises, or burn out because we didn’t allow for adequate rest and recovery.
Action that is not anchored to a bigger vision or a dream becomes difficult to sustain when the waves get choppy.
Dreams Without Disciplined Action = Delusions
On the other hand, our dreams will amount to nothing without the hard work and discipline to take consistent action over a long time span.
Neptune in Pisces can sometimes feel like being in a boat without oars — a constant experience of drifting off course.
If we actually want to create the life we dream about, we must create the infrastructure and support systems we need to buoy our efforts.
The Saturnian influence can provide some oars and maybe even some river banks to keep us from floating adrift in the ocean of life.
We must learn to say no to what isn’t relevant or necessary or aligned in order to leave room for what is.
Dreams + Strategy + Action = Fulfilled Potential
When we anchor our dreams with a strategy of disciplined action and rest, we can find a place of sustainability.
Having a strategy can keep us from going out too hard, burning out before we’ve reached our potential, or drowning in overwhelm when the unexpected arises.
When we have a strategy, it becomes easier to maintain our intentional action, even in the face of the unexpected turbulence that will inevitably arise.
New Moon Intentions
At this new moon, consider what dreams you have.
- What intentional daily actions, done repeatedly over time, will help you create that dream into a reality?
- What’s a strategy you can put in place to keep yourself accountable to those actions?
- What is your back-up strategy for when turbulence arises?
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