Stay on track with your health and fitness goals:
Begin each day by self-reflection. After waking, think of something that you want to accomplish that day. Make it something you can achieve with some effort but don’t get crazy with it. The idea is to boost your self-esteem so that you can reach short and long-term goals you have set and keep inspired and striving for excellence. Every time you reach a goal you’ll feel proud of yourself and give your self-esteem a healthy boost. This in turn helps with your commitment to hard work and pushing the boundary of success.
Keep the goals simple such as drinking 8 glasses or more of fresh water that day or eating vegetables at every meal. If you’re looking for a bit of motivation in the gym, create a goal towards doing extra reps on the bench press that day or adding a few reps to your most challenging exercise. What you choose doesn’t really matter, what matters is that it is achievable and moves you forward – the direction you want to be going long-term even if ever so slightly.
SMART GOALS
If your goals are not formulated properly, it will be hard if not impossible to reach them so it’s a good idea to adopt the SMART goal setting process for the goals you do set. SMART stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant with a timeline in place. If you’re currently reaching for goals that do not satisfy the SMART requirements, it may be time to set a new goal for yourself.
SMART REWARDS
Don’t forget to reward yourself for a job well done when you do reach a goal. Along with setting SMART goals you should be setting smart rewards. It’s not only ok but important that you are proud of what you have accomplished of reaching a goal you had set. Celebrate your achievements and commend yourself for your efforts.
KEEP A LOG
Ideally you should also be writing down your progress and your daily activity – all the reps, sets, weight and so on that you are doing in the gym each day. This gives you something tangible to grab onto when you need a bit of motivation. It’s also a great inspirational tool to look at on days when you feel as though you are not making the progress you want, you’ll be able to see firsthand that you are in fact getting stronger and moving closer to your goals.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Along with rewards, comes accountability. Make sure to stay accountable for the rewards you do give yourself or the rewards lose their value. If you reach your goal, reward yourself, you’ve earned it, but if you have not reached your goal yet, don’t cheat yourself by rewarding yourself early and robbing yourself of the chance to push harder beyond your present limits. It’s that last push…that last “effort” that gives you the inner satisfaction you are looking for.
Make sure you are setting both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Those that do usually stick with their program longer. Most people typically only set extrinsic rewards. Their vision is to impress someone with their new body. This is all well and a good way to keep yourself motivated, but you should also be setting goals that reduce your risk of heart disease or improving your energy levels – goals that stand the test of time and allow you to stop doing for others and focus on doing this for yourself.
It’s time to throw away all the false statements you’ve accepted about dieting and exercise and learn what it really takes to take weight off and keep it off for good…
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For more tools and resources from Carolyn Hansen to assist you in attaining your health and fitness goals and achieving the success you desire in life, please visit:
