“I was setting myself up to fail”: Turia Pitt talks about motivation and accepting failure

We’ve all fallen victim to the New Year’s resolution curse: adopting a vigorous exercise regimen, drastic diet or unrealistic project only to abandon it all halfway through January. But Turia Pitt, 35, is here to change all that. In her new podcast, The First 30, she’s giving listeners the tools to set goals and actually achieve them, and to live the best year you’ve had yet!

Thank you for making this podcast, because so many people definitely set New Year’s resolutions and given up on them far too quickly! We’re all like that.

We say, “OK, on the 1st of January I’m going to run 5km a day, then I’m going to do an hour-and-a-half Pilates session and I’m not going to drink any alcohol and I’m only going to drink charcoal water.

“We might be able to keep it up for a couple of days, but guaranteed, towards the end of January, we give it all up.

And that’s the reason why I wanted to do this podcast, it’s just to give some people motivation and information about how to make a habit stick and how to make their goals a little bit easier.

It’s nice to know we’re not the only ones to ditch things after January…We all do it. Especially before my accident. I was obviously a lot younger than I am now, but I would have liked this super-long list of things that I wanted to do, and it probably wasn’t achievable doing all of them at once. And then I’d just feel like sh*t, because I felt like I couldn’t follow through.

I didn’t have enough willpower. I lacked discipline and willpower. But that wasn’t the [only] problem, the problem was I was setting myself up to fail.

What are some of your top tips?

Turia: I think one of the pieces of advice is just to start small. I know it’s boring, but if you want to make a change, make small little starts. We have these really big expectations for ourselves and then when we don’t meet them, we feel disappointed. So I think that’s a really key thing for people to have in their minds as they’re starting the new year.

It seems like we’ve been relentlessly hit with new challenges for years now: the pandemic, bushfires, floods etc. What would your tip be to start 2023 off in a positive light?

Turia: I think it’s really important to remember that we don’t always have to be really positive. Feeling angry, irritated, annoyed or stressed – they’re all really valid human emotions. And when we say to ourselves, “No, I’m not angry. I’m not stressed,” we’re just bullsh*tting ourselves. It can be really refreshing just to say, “Hey, I’ve had a [bad] day,” and acknowledging it, and starting fresh the next day.

What are some of your own goals for the new year?

Turia: I want to get back into the gym and build on my strength. I’ve always been a runner, I love running, but this year I want to bulk up a bit and work on my strength training. I really hope a lot of people resonate with this podcast, and I’ll see where that goes, and my running program for mums [Run With Turia] which is something I started because it was something I felt like I needed, it’s just growing from there. So I’m hoping to make as big an impact as we can.

It seems you’re constantly looking out for other people, do you take time out for yourself?

Turia: Well, I guess it’s probably because it’s stuff that helps me. I feel like the stuff that I do, my writing, the running program and the podcast are all things I’m interested in, and that I’m curious about. And if other people get some takeaways, then that’s amazing.

Stream The First 30 NOW ON LiSTNR.