Taking on Your Best Year

Good Luck

To those taking on New Goals in 2019!

New Year is a natural time for reflection, the idea of change seems more appealing, to try something new or something that has previously seemed beyond our grasp. However, as many of us know, simply setting the goal isn’t enough to guarantee they’re completion. It can often seem like a never ending cycle where the goal is set but always stays just beyond our grasp for one reason or another. It doesn’t always have to be this way.

Over the years working with a wide variety of clients, people of differing ages and backgrounds, a number of common themes become clear in the process of achieving goals.

Here are a couple of these to help you achieve your goals:

• Work out why achieving this goal is important to you.

This may seem like too much overthinking. But, taking the time to think about why achieving your goal will make a difference to you, will really help your motivation when making decisions gets tough.

• Connect with like-minded individuals.

We all need a support crew, no matter whether this is a patent who asks the questions, ‘Do you really need that?’ Or the partner/ friend who doesn’t dangle the chocolates, cakes or takeaways. But it may also be a club or a group of people who simply want to support you to achieve your goals.

• Reflect and evaluate what has and has not worked in the past.

Be prepared, create the circumstances that help you succeed, be prepared for the events or obstacles that take you off the right track. An example may be, chocolates in the office. They are near your desk, you have to walk past them regularly and you find it tough to not pick away at them. Ask if they can be put somewhere else, not so easily seen. Take healthier, lower calorie options that are easy to access.

• Consider where you prioritise your time.

It can seem like we are not making progress at various points along the way. It’s important that we take an honest look at where we are truly spending our time. What we prioritise is where our time is going. It doesn’t mean your goal has to be at the centre of every decision, however it does need a certain amount of investment in order to create that new habit. Occasionally, we can think we are giving a lot of time but actually when we track our habits and commitments we are not giving what we initially thought. It may be time to change that if you wish to achieve that goal.

• Goal achievement is not a linear process.

You probably know this from your own previous goals set, but it’s always worth repeating. Working towards goals is not an A to B process, there is progress, plateaus and setbacks. It is what you do when you hit them that makes a difference, re-evaluate, adjust your path and try again.

If you need any help, please feel free to give me a shout at louisept4u@yahoo.co.uk or message me on my business Facebook page: Louise’s PT 4 U

Stealing your own energy?

Changing the Goal Posts

Over hearing a brief snippet of conversation this morning, it set me thinking (dangerous when this happens).  We are always waiting on something to happen, a date, a time, a goal before we are okay with ourselves or our bodies.

So my question would be – why are you not good enough now?  Why is it not okay to be happy with ourselves now?  That doesn’t mean you don’t want for better circumstances or to improve yourself in some way, it just means your happiness and acceptance of self is not based on this.

Take this scenario, I’ll use myself, I have spoken of my leg injury previously.  A nerve injury to my lower leg, it’ll be there forever, nothing in the grand scheme of things of levels of seriousness.  Huge to me, it was affecting my ability to be me, it can really impact on my pain levels daily and on an ongoing basis.  Having been in the fitness industry I felt my body had let me down, the pain was and can wear me down.  Anyways, my point is, now I can run ridiculous distances (I would have told you, never possible haha, I can complete in OCR races, I have even (naughty I know)
returned to rugby to some extent.  You know what my body, that I constantly hammer to be better, does me good.  Its gotten me through a lot, stood up in adverse circumstances, mentally and physically been stronger than I thought possible.  Now ask me should I be happy with it, with me?  100%

Do I want better levels of fitness – always!

 

In today’s society, it’s always about ‘once you lose weight’, ‘once you tone up that wobbly butt or tummy’, it’s largely about being different, being seen to be ‘stronger, fitter, faster’, fitting in with the stereotypes.

This applies to males as well as females!

Pressure to change those external appearances is strong! (Yoda style)

We are constantly waiting for ‘perfect’ circumstances, I have bad news – they just don’t exist!

This coming from a true perfectionist at heart.  I tell people that I am better now and they laugh, you know who you are.  Truly I am, I don’t put the same pressure on myself I used to, that kind of pressure can be paralysing.  I feel lighter and more able to make decisions, the difference is that I don’t feel like I am wading through tar, clogging myself up with the intricacies of making that perfect decision.  Apply this to making thousands of decisions in a day, HUGE pressure on myself.  Does this mean I am not good enough?  100% not actually now I am relaxed and make better decisions with less perfect (but still good quality) outcomes and funnily enough I am happier with me.

We need to stop looking for these conditions and reflect on what is good and what we do well.  It just might propel you to make those changes that really do make an impact on your life i.e. the weight loss you’ve been reaching for, the fitness levels you believed to be unattainable.  We are robbing ourselves everyday of time and energy.  All sounding a bit airy, fairy?  Take 5 mins and think about it.

Let me give you one final example, I have had lots of clients come to me, primarily for weight loss.  But in some instances, I have had those who would be considered to be overweight/ obese but their goal is not to lose weight but to be the fittest and healthiest they can be.

Ultimately, yes for health, discussion comes around to weight loss BUT (big emphasis here), they can out-perform many individuals from a fitness perspective.  So based on the pressure to be a certain weight, a stereotype, should they not be happy within themselves? – 100% they should.

I love it that people can buck our preconceptions, really giving power to those who do not have that confidence themselves to be who they are, whatever weight they are and empower themselves!  Brings the old phrase to mind of never judging a book by its cover.

I have started a ‘gratitude jar’ this year, tried it before – epic fail!  But I am determined to finish this and read these at the end of year.  Every day a note must be entered with a minimum of 2 things I am grateful for.  This makes me happy, happy with me and my circumstances.  Is it really the body we must change or is it our attitude and mental approach?

I hope my ramblings and examples help you to gain some perspective.