Hello my friends!
How are you? I really hope that you had a great Thanksgiving! I was fortunate enough to have a sister-in-law that knows how to cook clean and it was amazing. I have much to be grateful for.
Okay, down to business….I can’t tell you how many times I have had a client use the following line…
“Food prep is so time consuming Griff….I don’t have the time for this right now!”
Now its story time!
As my client walked into my office I could tell that I was in for a rude awakening. She had a certain look on her face that seemed to say, “Your not going to like what I am about to tell you”. I had asked her to prepare her food the previous week and she had eagerly consented to my request. As she sat down she opened her mouth and uttered these self-destructive words: “Food prep is so time consuming Griff…I don’t have the time for this right now”. She was definitely on the defensive as she went on with many other reasons as to why she could not follow through on her commitment.
To make a long story short I conversed with this client and found out that there was some underlying issues that were preventing her success. I asked her to do the three things that I am going to share with you here and within 6 months she completely changed her lifestyle, lost 20 lbs and turned what seemed to be “impossible” into everyday tasks that cause her no trouble.
Now let’s talk about YOU!
Let’s get down to business and admit that lifestyle change can be HARD! Do I have an amen? Do you ever find yourself really motivated to change your health and fitness habits but then when you step back to think about what it entails you freak out? You may start into your journey with limited success, and then life inevitably “happens” and you find yourself back at square one. If you are honest with yourself you will be forced to admit that you are likely not changing because you are associating change with PAIN in your life! In today’s post I want to give you 3 easy steps to make the “impossible things” in your life not only possible, but relatively easy.
Step #1: Define Exactly What You Want and Get PASSIONATE About It!
Have you ever tried to lose weight…with limited success? Chances are very good that one of the key reasons that this happened is because you viewed weight loss as a CHORE! Weight loss for most people is certainly not a task that is easy to get passionate about. “I have to get my workout in” and other such phrases likely coursed through your mind as you white-knuckled through your day and checked off your list. In other words, your weight loss goal did not really MEAN anything to you, and you perceived it as just another “to-do” item.
But what if you could tie your weight loss goal into something that you are absolutely passionate about? You can do this by defining EXACTLY what you want to get out of your goal! What will your goal give you? For example instead of saying “I want to lose weight” you could try something similar to this, “Today gives me an opportunity to get closer to my goal of feeling sexy, energetic and positive towards myself and others. I am losing weight first for myself and also for my______(fill in your loved ones here).”
What is the difference between these two? In a word EVERYTHING! The first example feels heavy and burdensome while the latter is attached to something that you are personally invested in. Your job is to define exactly what you want in a way that is personal to you. Here is the test…you must have a sense of intense passion around your goal. If you fail at this you will fail at your goal. Once you know what want you can proceed to step #2.
Step #2: Focus On Your ONE Thing!
I have previously mentioned Gary Keller’s book, The One Thing and I highly recommend it. In short it call’s total BS on the whole “multi-tasking” virtue that all of us have seemed to have bought into. Step #1 makes this very easy because you have already focused on your goal. Your goal should be your priority… not your “maybe”. Your goal should be your priority and not your “when I get the time”. In short your goal should NEVER fall victim to anything else because it is your “one thing” that trumps anything else in that time slot. Be true to yourself and do not fudge on this one.
Step #3: “Calendar” Your One Thing
This one slips through the cracks all for most of us because we “think” that we will remember our workout, our diet, our veggies, etc. The the fact of the matter is that we don’t. How many times have you got to the end of your day and said to yourself, “oh man, I was PLANNING on working out but my day got away from me!” Well, to be brutally honest with you, you really were not planning anything because you failed to write your activity down. As silly as it may sound, you must physically write down in your calendar. No saying, “I will remember it”, because we all know that those are the famous last words of failure.
Well there you have it my friends! I can guarantee you that these three action steps will help you get closer to making the “impossible” not only possible but enjoyable! Please let me know how it goes for you and always remember…
Life is Good!
Griff