Resolutions

It’s that time again!

I’m big on goals and it seems almost everyone else is big on them right now too. It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions. There is a problem however…most people think up a great resolution and then do nothing about it. Most don’t even remember it past January 2. So, this year do it differently!

1. get a pen and paper
2. brainstorm a whole bunch of things that you want to achieve, buy, do (whatever)
3. review the list you just created and select the ten most important items
4. re-write your selections in order of importance on a new sheet of paper
5. now put a milestone date next to each item (you can always change it later)
6. find an easily accessible place to store your list
7. look at it every morning after you wake and every night before you go to bed

I guarantee that you are more likely to achieve your 2009 goals this way than by hoping to remember what you dreamed of achieving on NYE 08.

Have a great night and a prosperous 2009!

Greg, the stop sign!

There are many blocks that pop up and prevent us from achieving what we once were so very keen to accomplish. If you think hard enough, no doubt you can think of 3-5 reasons why you didn’t get to the gym today or why you got take away last night instead of cooking a healthy meal.

These blocks – no matter how insignificant they seem at the time – can derail your best laid plans if you don’t pay attention to them and remedy them as a matter of some urgency.

What’s stopping you from reaching your goals?

Setting goals is the easy part; achieving them is much harder. We all live hectic lives these days and any number of events can divert us from our intended path. The important thing is to notice the distractions and not allow them to completely block the path that leads you to where you want to go.

Here are a bunch of lines that fitness trainers hear all the time regarding the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle outside training sessions:

“I’m too busy.”
“I didn’t have the time.”
“I was too tired after work.”
“I couldn’t be bothered.”
“It’s too hard.”
“I don’t normally do that but…”

Do any of these sound familiar?

Let’s for a moment assume that you have set yourself some goals relating to your health and fitness (you have haven’t you?). Whether you want to drop a dress size by January or stack on more muscle by Christmas, excuses like those listed above will stop you from getting there.

So, what can you do about it?

If you don’t have a map you’re going to get lost

If you were planning to drive from your home town to the capital city of an adjoining state you would surely take a good look at a map to see how to get there. You would assess where you are starting and where you want to end up and what you have to do along the way in order to get there. Then you would settle on the route and away you’d go.

It never fails to amaze me that the vast majority of people do not use a similar system in their lives. How can you achieve anything if you don’t know where you are, where you want to go and how to go about it. Whether you want a promotion at work, you want to lose 5kg or you want to take over the world the only way to reach your goals is to plan it out.