We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas / New Year / Summer break and are now getting stuck back into normal life again, feeling refreshed, and motivated for the year ahead. It feels weird writing this a month into 2017, but as so often happens at this time of year, that everything is out of routine until the kids return to school (today!!! Yay).
It has been a challenging time globally and locally of late, and I find myself often wondering “how could this have happened?” In spite of ourselves, we are in a sort of twilight zone / through the looking glass, “alternative facts” unreality.
My current best estimation is that our expectations were out of line with reality, for a one or many of these few reasons…
1. People were told what they wanted to hear
2. People were told only what others wanted them to hear
3. People heard only what they wanted to hear
4. People expected what they wanted, without thinking about what was being given
This got me thinking about all those people who start off every year with resolutions to get fit, lose weight or be healthier, only to find themselves back to their old ways by Easter. They also suffer from the inevitable disappointment of mismatched expectations. So how do you break this pattern and turn it into success, once and for all?
Step 1 – Define what it is you really want, and the lifelong reward for achieving that goal
Step 2 – Determine to true cost of achieving that – time, money, effort, choices, sacrifices
Step 3 – Decide if you are willing and able to pay that price
NB – if not, revise your goal against what you are willing to do to achieve it
Step 4 – Eliminate excuses, avoidance and justification from your thinking and behaviour
Step 5 – Make a plan that will work and and set yourself up for success
Step 6 – Take positive steps towards your goal every day, for life
Step 7 – Celebrate your wins and bounce forward from any setbacks quickly
Did you set a goal this year to improve your health? We’d love to hear about how you are going. If you need some extra help or motivation to stay on track, talk to your trainer or give me a call!