Goal Setting for 2011 - achieve whatever you want in the new year
If you want to make any progress in life regardless of what it is then you need to set yourself goals and a progressive plan to get you there. This is a relatively simple concept and an easy one to apply but often people "bite off more than they can chew" and end up getting overwhelmed and giving up. For many people going all out works in the short term but in my experience this is not a very sustainable method.
Lets take the goal of fat loss:
First picture where you want to be and when, say 12 pounds lighter in 12 weeks.
Next we break down the goal into small chunks, this is often not done and the idea of losing 12 pounds can seem daunting. So, 12 pounds in 12 weeks is 1 pound per week. That seems more achieveable doesn't it?
OK now for the how.
You know you need a combination of both nutrition and exercise to get the job done but again this can seem very daunting, so you break it down again.
First you start with your nutrition and again you break it down into chunks. So rather than giving up sugar, alcohol, wheat etc. in one go you start with one at a time. You stop eating wheat for the first few days and increase your veggies, then once you have achived this you stop all the sugar and eat a better breakfast, then the alcohol and so on...
Take small steps and sort out your nutrition day by day, always knowing that you are moving towards your goal and not away from it. Once you feel comfortable that your nutrition is under control then you can start on your exercise, and again you would break this down into smaller chunks.
Start with 1-2 sessions a week and then as you start to adapt and feel the benefits increase these sessions to 3 or even 4.
Each week has its own separate milestone of 1 pound, so if you achieve this then great keep it up. If not you need to tighten up on your nutrition or work a little harder at your exercise.
Here's an example of how all this might look:
Week 1 - Give up wheat and sugar, eat breakfast
Week 2 - Cut down on caffeine and dairy, eat more veggies
Week 3 - Give up caffeine and alcohol
Week 4 - Start raising your heart rate 2 x week
Week 5 - Try a new activity or sport
Week 6 - Increase your activity to 3 x week
Week 7 - Get to bed 30 minutes earlier
Week 8 - Enter an event with a friend
Week 9 - Increase your activity to 4 x week
Week 10 - Reward yourself with a weekend away
Week 11 - Try some strength based training
Week 12 - Lose 12 pounds and more...Set a new goal...
Each plan will be different but you can see that by simply writing it down and breaking it up into weeks it doesn't seem that daunting. If 1 week is too much then break it down again into days, or half days. Reduce it down until it seems manageable to YOU.
You can use this method for anything, in fact I use it to plan my year, workout sessions, books I want to read, business achievements, travel adventures etc.
So when you want to achieve something and really get it done, get out a pen and paper and make a plan, set a goal and then break it down into managable chunks.
Now get going, it's time for week 1.
Good luck!
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