Organization is the key to accomplishment.
This is why we budget money, write business plans and keep
calendars. We need that plan of attack for success. Writing everything
down will make it easier to see our progress, or possibly where
our progress is being blocked.
Exercise
Goals. Planning to exercise may sound excessive
to some people, but it’s no different than planning a meal
time. Even if you have the vague idea that you will be exercising
at a certain time, you will be more likely to actually do it.
But take that a step further and plan how to make use of your
time. 5 minutes warming up, 10 minutes feeling a “4”
on the Rating of Perceived Exertion scale,
20 minutes at a “6” and then cool down at a “3”—if
you plan to succeed and stick to your guns, how can you fail?
Keep a calendar
with the days and times of your workouts marked.
Keep an exercise journal so you can plan what you want to work
on and write down how each exercise felt so that you can modify
it for your next exercise session. Plan and act, and your goals
will be within reach.
Nutrition
Goals. The whole
reason we’ve gained a few extra pounds, is because we haven’t
been paying attention to what we
eat. Do we know how much fuel we need? The first order of business
is to figure out how much we need and plan meals around that fact.
Exercise is great for helping to get rid of extra stored energy,
but we can’t get rid of it if we keep eating so much that
we continue to store more. We need to plan meals, incorporating
each food group, and set portion sizes so that we can maintain
or lose weight. The second step
is to be mindful of what we eat. The best way
to do that is to keep a food diary or better yet, a calorie budget.
Budget your nutrition and your exercise like you would your bank
statement, your income and your expenses. Again, success comes
from being mindful, planning, and executing that plan.
Sleep
Goals.
The main reason people don’t get enough sleep is.....? Lack
of planning! We set alarms, with little regard to how much sleep
we will be getting. We need to plan a bedtime—including
the routine like brushing, flossing and unwinding—so that
we can get the full benefit from sleep! When we don’t get
enough sleep we’re much less efficient, walking around like
zombies in a fog for most of the day. Accidents happen when people
try to go without enough sleep. People are just notable to work
well on very less than ideal sleep.
We
can’t allow the day to just float by unconsciously or allow
exhaustion to dictate when we go to bed, especially since when
we wake up is dictated by work and the commute to work. Keeping
a schedule or calendar of times to sleep and wake and sticking
to it will allow you function efficiently each day. Remember,
be mindful, plan, and execute that plan. You’ll be unstoppable
in conquering your goals!
Motivational
Goals or Rewards.
It’s hard to do things for the sake of doing them. Sometimes
we need material rewards. We just have to remember that the reward
comes after the work, much like saving up to buy something expensive.
You have to have all the money saved before you can buy it. Write
down your reward for your goals and when you have accomplished
one, reward yourself. But be careful of your rewards. It might
be best to purchase something that can serve as a reminder of
your accomplishment as opposed to something that will disappear
when it’s been used. Go for the new sunglasses you had your
eye on, the new bikini, or even the new iPod. Don’t let
food become your motivation for exercise, food is an enjoyable
means to an end, not the end in itself.
Small
Steps. Remember to keep your goals small. Twenty
pounds is a large goal and a person could become frustrated on
the way to that goal. Hitting several small goals of five pounds
would mean more accomplishments and motivation. Break the large
goals into small ones, take the smaller steps and you’ll
find you’ve come a long way and it didn’t seem as
hard as you thought. Smaller goals will inspire you to accomplish
large ones and pave the way to success.•
