Tag Archives: Goals

Finding Your Purpose

Goals, Visualization, ,

Why do we spend so much time thinking, breathing, learning and focusing on our health? What keeps remotivating us each year to set specific health goals, like losing weight or exercising more consistently?

Part of it is that we have enough knowledge to know that being overweight, or eating too many fats or sugars will increase our risk factors for developing chronic disease.  Or, some of you may have had a health scare like high cholesterol or a heart attack that motivates us to make changes.

For most of us we feel that improving our health is going to get us something specific. This could be more confidence, more energy, the ability to exercise, travel or play with your kids or grandkids. The truth is, your health is a vehicle to achieving what is most important to you in life.

The way to be successful in achieving the health you deserve is to first decide where you want to be and set specific goals about how and when you are going to get there.

The second step is to define why you need to do this, or what is driving you to make this happen.  For some of you the driving force may be that being at an optimal weight will give you the confidence to find a new job, or join a dance class. For others, it may be that at a lower weight you will be more flexible, have more energy and have an easier time getting around to play with your kids.  Whatever the reason,  we need to determine what it is that excites you, what makes you feel alive and in the those tough moments what you are going to focus on to remotivate you to exercise or eat well.

So, what I would like you to do is visualize yourself in the body you deserve. What is your optimal weight? Get in the body of you at your optimal weight…see it, and believe it!

In this state, I would like you to write down all of the ways that your life is going to be different in this new body. How will you feel? How will your confidence be? What will your energy be like? What will your health be like? What will you be able to experience?

I would like you to write down exactly how you are going to feel in this body, and be specific. When you are done brainstorming, I would like you to rank these in priority of which reasons make you feel most inspired.  Once you have these, I would like you to post these beside your goals and read these everyday.

Example – Jane Smith  130lbs  (current weight 175lbs)

1. At 130lbs, I have the confidence to go and interview for my dream job
2. At 130lbs, I feel more attractive and sexy
3. At 130lbs, I have the confidence to learn to salsa dance
4. At 130lbs, I have more energy, and be able to get down and play with my children

If you notice, all of these statements are in the present tense. Write this as if you are already in this body – feel how it would feel, and get excited!

It is important that you focus on what you want, and where you are going. When you do this, you are going to be more committed and your brain is going to see the possibilities and find a way to make this happen. It is also going to be much easier for you to stay on track and avoid temptation when you know exactly what you want, and where you are going.

Get inspired, you deserve it!!!

The Power of Goal Setting — Commit to a Better You

Goals, Weight Loss,

Happy New Year!!

The start of a new year is always marked with possibility, resolutions and healthy habits.  I believe that people truly start out with the best of intentions, and while some succeed…most end up falling back into their old habits before the end of the month. We can see this if you walk into any health club in January and will have a hard time finding a treadmill while 6 weeks later it is more barren than the Sahara dessert.

So, why is it that people’s good intentions sometimes aren’t enough?

In 1979 there was a study conducted on students in the Harvard MBA program. The students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.
Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

In spite of such proof of success, most people don’t have clear, measurable, time-bounded goals that they work toward.

What Can You Do?

When I ask people if they have weight loss or health goals, many do but just like the study shows very few of them ever write them down. For most people this is actually a scary process…if I write them down it means I actually have to do something about them. This is exactly the point…writing goals down makes your nervous system and physiology engaged and makes you more committed to achieving them.

It is also important what language you use. A statement such as “I am going to try and lose about 5 lbs” is very open and frankly “wishwashy”.  It means that you are going to put something down because you feel like you should, but you are not going to make it too concrete so there is nothing holding you accountable to attaining it.

What if you were to switch that goal to “ I MUST lose 5 lbs by the end of January.” And..what if you read this goal every morning, and also came up with 3 action steps as to how you are going to do this.  Which goal is going to make you more inspired?

The second step to this is that everyone needs someone to be accountable to. This may be a friend, family member…but more often this is a professional that will push you to new limits and encourage you to set higher standards.

Your Action Plan

Do this for yourself, make 2009 the year for lasting change…your deserve it!!

  1. Write 2 goals using positive and encouraging language that commits you to moving forward. For example: “I MUST lose “x” pounds by “x” date”
  2. Set a short term and long term goal (I would set the long term one for the end of 2009), write or print them out and post this in an area where you and everyone else can see your level on commitment.
  3. Read this every day, and become excited about the person you are committing to becoming!!!