New Year, New Me...the beat goes on.
The New Year Gives You the Feeling that You Can Capture Something New
Listen folks its no secret that the New Year brings New Promises that we all make to ourselves. These resolutions can be constructive and give us the feeling of being able the capture our goals. The problem is we often lose focus and motivation shortly after we being. The question is Why? And what can we do to change it?
I can promise you something that you may not realize. If you were to ask you favorite professional athlete be it Crossfit, Bodybuilding, Powerlifting, Football, Basketball or any other sport why is it so easy for them to remain fit they will on one accord look at you like you're CRAZY! Why? Because the journey to and maintaining a high level of fitness is a constant challenge. You are not the only one who craves pasta. You are not the only one that wants to sit alone on the couch and eat ALL the candy, cakes and pies. You are not the one that secretly wants to go to the buffet and let loose. The difference is these people are able to focus more on the big picture than on the small joys we all crave. These are the people who truly earn cheat meals or even cheat weeks. Not people like you and me who eat clean Monday morning, afternoon and night and declare we deserve a treat before bed.
So what does it take? Well first of all it does not take a magical beginning of a New Year. It does not take waiting until Monday, or after the holidays or vacation. It takes a 3 siimple steps that I'll cover below;
1.) The Big Picture.
This is a critical step, as it sets the pace and picture of the finish line. The Big Picture is something that is highlighted a great deal in 'How Successful People Think' by John C. Maxwell. John challenges his readers to cultivate the Big Picture in order to manifest it. But for the sake of health and fitness The Big Picture should be a short term goal that will act more like a benchmark. This can be go the whole week without getting lunch with your co-workers, go to the gym 3 days this week, throw away sweets. Small steps will accumulate, just remember while you are patting yourself on the back for reaching one goal the next goal should already be on the horizon. And don't get me wrong having a long term goal is not a bad thing, but don't allow the long term goal to be the sole goal or it will be very easy to lose focus.
2.) Be Selective with Your Advice.
In this age of social media and 24/7 information its easy for any and everybody to claim to be an expert. But a good friend once gave me perfect advice. Don't listen to people who are not doing what you want to do. In other words don't take financial advice from someone who is broke, business advice from someone who has not worked in business or health and fitness advice from someone who has not made it a major part of their advice. Everyone will tell you what you should and shouldn't eat, how you should and shouldn't work out, etc. But, if this person is not living the lifestyle you want to live then their advice should not be considered gospel. The age of social media and 24/7 information is at our fingertips. Take it a step further and do research. What works for my body may not work the same for your body. But I promise you investing time in learning first hand will take you much further on your journey to fitness then a friend at the water cooler will ever do.
3.) Recognize you will fail, maybe a lot, maybe a little but you WILL fail.
Often we see the finished product, we see the Rich Froning on the podium or the Super MVP QB. We don't see the days of scars, tears, pain, falling, failing, giving up and contemplating quitting. So you star on 1/1/18 full of gusto and ready to take on the world and get the "perfect" beach body. 1/7/18 you are starting to lose motivation and by 1/16/18 you are "taking a break." Don't give up on yourself it will happen to the best of us. Refocus and adjust the Big Picture if necessary and recognize its an eternal challenge to reach your health and fitness goals.
If you live by our motto the sky will always be the limit, so remember
"LET ME BE GREAT"