Where do I start?

January 4th, 2009

Where do I start?

I’ve had a few people ask me… Ron… I want to lose weight also but “where do I start?”

The simple answer is there is a very simple starting point.  Right Now! Maybe not physically but at least mentally.

Step 1: Get a little motivated:  (you’ll find that a little motivate grows up into a great motivation if nourished.)

What is motivation? I like to think of motivation as “My Why”.  If you don’t have a “Why” it’s hard to accomplish anything. (this is a good time to quite your inner 5 year old…. “Because” isn’t a good enough answer to “why”).

My why is to live a healthy life, teach marital arts and help others do the same?

Is motivation a single thing? Absolutely not, all humans are motivated by many many objects, some more than others.

I’m motivated by helping others, seeing results, feeling great, and of course financial gain. (don’t lie money motivates most people.. think of all the things you wouldn’t eat… but I put a hundred dollars on the table beside some of the common foods you think are disgusting, I’d bet the majority of you would choke it down.)

Where does motivation come from? Inside!  I can’t motivate you.  I can influence your motivation… I maybe even be able to drill sergeant some anxiety into you so that you work out harder… but true motivation comes from within.  It comes from your why.

Step 2. Set some goals

Goal setting is part of planning and we’ve all heard that people don’t plan to fail…they fail to plan.  So write down some goals.

What makes up a good goal?

  • It needs to be specific… NO “lose weight is not a good goal”.
  • It needs a time line.  A due date.
  • It needs to be realistic.  Not to others but to you… You need to believe in your goals.   I hear people tell me that there is no way I’m going to lose 100 lbs in 1 year… (135 lbs in less that 1 year 3 months).   They don’t know me.  I’m the most determined man on this planet.

I have a goal of being at 199.x lbs (under 200) by Dec 31 2009.

That’s 100lbs from where I stand today.   Now I have a few other large goals like this but they don’t relate to this topic so I’ll refrain.

Step 3.  Now that you have a goal in mind, break it down into micro goals.

My first micro goal was to walk into the local gym. I knew I used to enjoy working out and that if I put myself back in that environment I would likely want to get really into it.

This is a continuing process.  I have dozens of micro goals. Some I just have mentally but most I written down.

I had a micro goal of getting on the elliptical trainer and seeing what I could do.  That turned into a micro goal of increasing my time and calories burned while on it.   Today I get on the elliptical and it’s normal for me at 300 lbs to stay on it for 1hr 30 mins or more and hit calorie counts of up to 1500 in a single session.

Micro goals are key to successfully reaching a major goal.

Step 3. Action: as Nike would say,  Just do it.

This is the most important part… as a mater of fact you can do this before you officially do the others..  Its simple… push yourself way from the computer and go for a walk.  Push out a few push ups.  Do something.   You’ll find that this will get the blood flowing and you’ll be eager to complete each of the other steps.

If you haven’t read my post What 4 Things Can Get You Anything You Ever Wanted Out Of Life? You must do so now… but it’s a twitter exclusive so follow me on twitter and get the password.

Good luck, Good Health and Great fun.

Categories: Motivational | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments