How to Make 2010 Your BEST YEAR EVER (Part 2)

It is hard to believe the first day of the new year went by so fast. And as promised, I wanted to share the success strategies I have discovered during the last 18 years with working with hundreds of highly successful women during their weight loss journey.  By reading and applying the following stategies, you will be certain to reach your goals for 2010 and make sure your goals don't become a blur at the end of the year.

The strategies I am about to share with your are strategies of women who are real big losers. Women who have lost weight and never found it again. Women who have kept their weight off and are living the life they deserve. A life full of energy, health and confidence...they have in fact gained a zest for life!

I have witnessed these women transform not only their bodies and fitness level, but their life during their journey to better health and fitness. They have discovered and applied several common traits or stategies, if you will, that have helped them to lose weight, and get the fitness level that they deserve.

Here are their strategies:

Success Stategy #1 - They set goals. Not merely vague wishes of getting in shape, but real goals and they get them in writing. It's no secret that the number one resolution for most people is to make get in shape. Unfortunately, I also know most of them will fail. In fact, more than half of the people who make a resolution to lose weight will drop out within the first 90 days.

Psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed. Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actually even lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, most don't take goal setting seriously. They don't do it scientifically and they only do it once a year.

Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second.

In fact, I make it policy that when I meet a with a new client, they take a moment to really think about what they want out of my boot camp program. We set an aggressive yet realistic goal together and then break it down to smaller, more managable goals.

Here is the 7 step formula for setting winning successful weight loss goals. In order for your goals to be successful, they must be S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Winning weight loss goals must be:

1. SPECIFIC– Set weight loss goals with clarity. Your mind does not respond well to vague generalities. Get clear. Be precise and be specific.
2. MEASURABLE – Set goals that can be quantified in measurable units such as pounds, inches, body fat percentages and clothing size. Health goals such as blood pressure can also be measured. How will you measure progress?
3. ACCOUNTABLE – Set weight loss goals you can be accountable to. Be accountable to yourself by using a scale, and keeping a daily nutrition journal. Then, double your accountability and submit your results to your Personal Trainer or Nutrition Coach.
4. REALISTIC – Your goals should be attainable and maintainable. If you lose one to two pounds of fat per week, you’re doing awesome! “30 pounds in 30 days” sounds great in advertisements, but it’s not typical or realistic.
   
5. TIME BOUND – Set goals with deadlines. Time limits are highly motivating. With no time limit, there’s no urgency for completion. Set long term goals for 1 year, and then break your goal down into smaller, more manageable steps of 12 weeks. Set a 12 week goal for weight, body fat, and clothing sizes. Setting daily nutrition goals will help you reach your weekly goal and keep you motivated.
6. EMOTIONAL – Goals give you direction, but strong emotional goals are the propulsion syem that drives you in the direction you desire. Build up a burning desire by focusing in on the emotional reasons why you want to achieve your goal.
   
   Without this step, you will lose the drive and will have more stress which will cause you to give up when challenges arise. This is what will keep you MOTIVATED and provides you with the DRIVE to do WHATEVER it takes to succeed. You must identify your reason “why?”
   
   It is important to connect your goals to your values and purpose. What’s most important to you about reaching your goal? How will it benefit you? WHY do you want this? What will this result give you? How will this impact or change your life?  You must feel the emotion behind this. Need help? Think about what will happen if you do NOT achieve this goal…..This is the driving force behind your goal. It must be YOURS and must excite you!
7. REVIEWED OFTEN – Most goals fail because they are casually set once (usually at the beginning of the year) and easily forgotten. You can stay laser focused by writing your goal down and reading your goal every day.
   
   Write your most important goal down and carry it with you everywhere you go. Read it several times per day. Ask yourself, “What can I today that will bring me closer to my goal?”

Success Strategy #2 - They have a reason. When goals are in line with your purpose in life, this will allow you to achieve great things...In the classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote that “desire is the starting point of all achievement…the first step toward all riches.”

And he uses the following adjectives to describe the kind of desire he found after interviewing 500 of the most successful people of all time: consuming, obsessive, pulsating and burning.

Can you describe you current desire for your goals with the same words?

A compelling desire fuels the intense desire to ensure the achievement of your goal. You need a compelling desire – something that really gets you to leap out of bed in the morning...one that carries you through the day.

Perhaps you want to increase your energy to keep up with your children. Or, maybe heart disease or diabetes runs in your family and you want to avoid carrying on the tradition. Whatever you reason for wanting to get in shape, make sure you are doing this for yourself. After all, you are the one that will be making the compromises. And trust me; there will be plenty of them!

There is a big difference between simply wanting something and actually needing to have it! You must clearly identify your reason and motivation for deciding to change. Write your reason down, and review it for the next 21 days. Why 21 days? Research shows it takes approximately 21 days to create new habits or to break old ones! Remember, habits are what we are after changing!

Success Strategy #3: They Believe. 

There is not doubt the power of belief is the number one secret of top goal achievers. When all other things are equal, it is the reason why one person reaches their goal and the others struggles to reach their goal. It is the power of belief.

You may be familiar with the saying, “If you conceive it, believe it, you can achieve it”. So, pay careful attention to what I am about to share with you. It may very well be one of the most important keys to your success. I know, because it was for me, when I first learned it - over 18 years ago!

Beliefe is just like the thermostat in your home. If you set the thermostat to 72 degrees and turn on your air conditioner, the thermostat will make sure that the temperature in your home never goes over 72 degrees before it directs the air conditioner to begin working.

If you have been struggling to try to lose weight but you just can’t seem to lose it by a significant amount, it is probably because of your “belief thermostat”. The same applies for your performance in any area, whether it is financial gain or goal achievement of any kind.

Our limiting beliefs are created and sustained by our limiting thoughts (some of which we inherited from others), our limiting words (some of which we inherited from others) and the people in our life. Changing your limiting beliefs is such an important part of success that I put a lot of emphasis on it when working with my clients.

There is an extremely effective strategy that I must share with you. It is called the “Success Mindset”. A key part of reaching your fitness and weight loss goals is the practice of visualization and the power of belief.

For some reason though, too many people dismiss the mental aspects of achievement as nothing but a bunch of “rah-rah”, pep talk. But make no mistake about it; this powerful strategy is what separates the women who are truly successful with their weight loss goals from those who continue to struggle time and time again.

You see, all things are created twice, first in the mental realm and then the physical. You cannot achieve your ideal body, fitness level and weight loss goal if you don't have an idea of what that means to you.

Your subconscious mind is extraordinarily powerful, but it is a servant, not a master. Your subconscious mind coordinates every aspect of your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, words, actions, and emotions to fit a pattern consistent with your dominant mental pictures. It guides you to engage in the behaviors that move you ever closer to achieving the goals you visualize. Your subconscious mind does not differentiate between that which is imagined and that which is real. It accepts everything that enters its realm as truth.

Therefore, by visualizing yourself looking and feeling, not as you are now, but as you will be, you’re in effect telling your subconscious mind into believing that your desired result has already been attained. You begin to “see” the actions you must do in order to get you closer to your goal. World-Class athletes and champions know this and have conditioned themselves to “vision their dream”. They see on the inside long before the worlds sees it on the outside.

One of my very favorite stories about visioning the dream has to do with Walt Disney’s widow. Whenever they were dedicating Epcot, a reporter went to Lillian Disney and said to her, “It was a shame that Walt wasn’t there to see how everything turned out.” She turned to the reporter and without any hesitation and replied, “Oh, he saw it, and long before we ever did.”

Make sure you have a vivid, tangible picture of what you want to accomplish, look and feel like. Put this picture where you can see it several times a day. This image will imprint on your subconscious mind and your conscious mind will make it a reality.

The way to use creative visualization to reach your goals is to let yourself visualize what it would be like to already have achieved your goal. Take a moment to let yourself feel the excitement. Your goal has been met and you are where you want to be.

As you look in the mirror, you see how amazing your body looks. You can fit into your favorite pair of “skinny” jeans again. Your waist is tighter, thighs are slimmer, and your hips are more firm. Your arms look more toned and defined. You feel more confident and you can see the reactions of those you love as they see the new you.

While simple, this process allows you to physically see the body you want – pointing your subconscious toward the realization of your future, ideal body. This constant source of inspiration is a reminder of who you want to become and where you are headed!

Remember what accomplishing your goal “feels” like. This experience will help keep you motivated and will help pull you through the inevitable difficulties of making the positive changes.

You don't change your body by trying to change your body. You change your body by changing your mindset first...by creating new habitual patterns of thinking and visualizing.

To your success,

Joe

P.S. It's not too late to enroll for our January Indoor Boot Camp! We still have a few spots left, but they're going fast.