What percentage of your “To Do” list ends up “To Done”?
I’m sure some of you have read books like the one from the great Steven Covey call “First things First”, but here comes the real deal maker.
Are the things on your list the things you Need to do, or are they the things you are willing to do.
Chances are if you wrote a new list of 10 things (That are legal and morally correct) that you don’t want to do. The first 10 that come to mind are things you need to do the most.
When I first started out and made the decision I was going to work towards getting fit, I had to set my priorities. In the first couple of weeks almost anything could derail my scheduled gym time. I always found an “I can’t exercise today because”.
If you truly want to get into shape, lose weight, or any other goal for that matter, here is what I suggest.
Write down all the ways you could achieve your goal, then put big X by the ones you don’t want to do.
Mine looked like this:
X Watch what I eat and make sure it is healthy and nutritious
Cut out sugary drinks and some snacks.
X Exercise for 45+ mins per day.
X Publicly declare my goals so that I’m held accountable
Take supplements to make sure I’m getting the right levels of vitamins and nutrients
Remember the X stands for something I really didn’t want to do. Those are the items I needed to do the most.
Ask your self what it is that you have as a goal… then make sure its not fear and hesitation of doing the things you don’t want to do, keeping you from achieving this goal.
Treat your fitness like a business. Plan it, schedule it, execute it, track it and revise it when it’s not taking you where you want to go!
Plan it
Nobody plans to fail… they just fail to plan.
Pick a system that works. Something has proven results. Pick something that has appeal to you. This is why I’ve chosen Beachbody. It has great exercises, proven results, and great supplemental products. (disclaimer: I believe in Beachbody so much I am now one of there reps. And I’d love you’re business http://www.beachbodycoach.com/donedieting)
Pick a meal plan that suits your goals. Please no crazy diets. They don’t work remember anything you go “on” you’ll eventually come off… so please don’t go “on” a diet. Make gradual dietary changes that you can stick to for a healthier life. I’m a huge fan of http://www.shakeology.com meal replacement drink. Its low calorie and has more nutrients then anything I’ve ever seen.
Set milestones and goals then give yourself rewards for achieving them. (Non food awards works best.)
Keep it fun. Most people will quit if something is too hard. Find something you enjoy doing and every once in a while try changing it up. Do different exercises, run a different path, or eat something different but healthy. This will help keep it fresh, exciting and also have the added benefit that your body will respond better to different exercises. (I’ll save The benefits of varied training for another article, another time.)
Motivation, the key to staying on track is motivation… What is your reason “WHY”? Know why you’re getting into shape. A lot of people say… that if your reason “WHY” isn’t enough to make you cry… its not strong enough. This may not be easy to pin point for you but its very important. Develop your reason for health and fitness to the point where you can share it when asked.
Schedule it
Treat the time needed for health and fitness activities, like it’s a very important meeting, a critical doctor’s appointment or anything else in life you really have to do… or want to do. If you keep a calendar, ink it in. This is part of the plan.
If you schedule it in, you’ll remove the “I don’t have time” excuse. It may be tough to find time this week so here is what I suggest. Pick a date outside of your normal planning window. For me, it was 2-3 weeks out. Then pick 3-5 days a week your going to do your exercising. Write it into the calendar before something else occupies the time slot.
Next, work your way back till the current date and place what ever time you can in the calendar for gym time. This will get maybe 2 workouts this week, 3 next week then 5 every week from that point forward.
Last part of schedule it… THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, What ever you do, don’t let anything move your gym time. Hopefully you’ve picked a time that won’t really conflict with your job or family obligations but this time is your health, your life, your fitness. Treat this time as if someone is trying to hurt you or your family, because in essence they are… give up your health time give up your healthy life. Maybe even give up a few years you should have spent with your kids.
Execute it
Plans are worthless without execution. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Planning = a nice plan—à More planning… Longer plan…
Action = Results —–à More action…. Better results
Enough said on this.
Track it
Part of your planning should have been goal setting. Whether you’re tracking yourself in pant sizes, weight, or with a tape measure. Pick a time interval and record your results. I may get on the scale daily but I write down my weight in a log every Friday. I use the tape measure the 30th or last day of each month.
The second part of track it…. Even if you don’t count calories, keep a food log, write down everything you eat through out the day, every day. It’s been proven in medical studies that those who keep a food log have significantly better success in weight loss.
Revise it
Here is the key… if you start to see less results, get board, your exercise is getting too easy, or start you feeling burned out. Revise your plan.
If you owned a business and you started losing money (you know this because of tracking) Would you spend the time to figure out why and try a different approach? The same goes for fitness and health… if what you’re doing isn’t working try a different approach.
Last but not least… Never give up… while you may have different goals and even different plans through out life, health and fitness needs to be part of your lifestyle.
A Riddle: “Who Am I?” – If you know me and control me I can change your life.
By Ronald Skelton
Here is a riddle for you, see if you know what it’s talking about:
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me, and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of all great men.
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine, plus the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
I am a HABIT! — Unknown
I received the above riddle from a co-worker of mine and felt that it is definitely the best explanation of a habit that I have ever heard.
HABIT…When most people hear this word, they automatically go to the negative thoughts that comes to their minds. People think of a habit being negative.
The secret to your health and even your future lies in your daily habits.
“Are my current habits going to help me achieve my goals in life?” This is a life-changing question if you truly ask it and listen for the answer.
When I named this website Done Dieting, I did it for a reason. Diets are temporary and have the same negative connotation that the term HABIT has. I decided that my weight loss was not going to be part of my HABIT of yo-yo dieting this time around. I was going to replace bad habits with good ones.
Here is how the process works. Pick a bad habit and replace it with one that will pull you closer to your goals in life.
I started with my habit of sitting around on the computer to much, I replaced 1-2 hours of my computer time each day with physical activities such as going to the gym.
The next habit that I replaced was eating way to many sweets. I replaced that habit with snacking on fruit instead of cakes and other sweets. (Sugar is very addicting and I still have sweets from time to time but they are very limited).
This process isn’t easy and takes a great deal of willpower in the beginning.
If you look at the definition of habit, Habit: an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation. (pulled from google search “define: habit”), the two key terms here are automatic and reaction. A habit is something you do without thought, its automatic.
What does it take to create a new habit? It’s a common belief that in order to make something a habit you must do it a minimum of 21 times. I like to use the 30 day rule.
When I want to develop a habit say working out 6 times a week, I mark it down on the calendar and schedule my workout time in for the next 30 days. I also get in the “habit” of adding it into my schedule as I plan out past that 30 day mark.
I’m going to go back to my belief that it’s the “Whys” in life that make us succeed. It’s the why that will help you change your habits.
A well developed “Why”, that burning fire inside of you that helps drive your determination is required to change and form new habits, but changing habits is the main key step to achieve our goals.
If you don’t develop a burning reason “Why” you’re trying to achieve a goal, chances are it will not happen.
All it takes to achieve any desire in life, is believing in your “WHYs” so much that you won’t let anything stand in your way and a good set of habits that will push you to success.
You need to review what your habits are and ask yourself…”Would I recommend MY habits to someone I truly care about?” Someone with the goals that I have? If not change it.
Your entire future lies in your habits-positive or negative. You have the most powerful force right now in your hands, the ability to decide what your habits will begin to be.
Control your Habits = Control of your life
(BTW- This is a work in progress for most of us, including myself.)
