Goal Setting -Stop Procrastinating

1st N Weight Loss: Couch Potato Challenge: Day 3 

This article gives you ten great ideas for successfully achieving your goals. If you struggle with procrastinating, when it comes to your goals, then you will learn something from this article.

It has been said that 60-80% of New Year resolutions will be broken within the first two weeks. In other words, a lot of people have a hard time making the changes in their life they want to make. So you are not alone. Personally, I am not a huge advocate of New Year resolutions because I believe in setting and achieving personal goals all year around.

That being said, I wanted to share with you the top ten ways to increase the likelihood for success with achieving your goals.

1. Stick to 1 or 2 important goals.

Having a laundry list of all the things you would like to change in your life can be overwhelming. Your chances for success are much higher if you stick to 1 or 2 of your most important goals. This allows you to concentrate all your energy and focus on these goals.

Once you achieve those goals, you can always set 1 or 2 more.

2. Be realistic.

It's okay to think big and want the best, but it is more important to succeed, so be realistic. Ask yourself whether or not your goals are reasonable and possible. It is probably not realistic to set the goal of never yelling at your kids again. How will you feel about your resolution when your children test you on a very bad day and you yell? Certainly one can cut back on yelling and work to find alternative ways to deal with misbehavior, but an all or nothing attitude may set you up for failure, and feeling like you failed can set you up for more failure.

Instead, accept and honor your humanness.

3. Be specific.

Be as specific as possible when determining goals. Articulate how you will measure success and exactly what you are trying to achieve. Setting a goal to lose weight is too general. A better choice would be to set a specific and manageable goal. For example say, "I will lose 25 pounds by June 30, 2018."

Be specific when answering the what, when and how.

4. Connect to your motivation for achieving your goal.

Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why now? Make sure your motivation comes from your heart, and not from your head. In other words, your goal should be something you really desire, and not something you know you SHOULD do. Really connect to why this is so important to you. Pay attention to whether or not you are being driven by fear or love. Beware of setting goals based on what someone else in your life thinks you should do.

Your resolutions should come from your authentic self.

5. Examine your belief in your ability to achieve this goal.

What do you believe about your ability to achieve your goals? If you have tried to reach the same goal many times before without much success, your confidence could be wavering. You could be feeding yourself negative messages without even realizing it. Be conscious about positive thinking. Remind yourself that you are capable of doing anything you set your heart to.

Tell yourself every day that you have the ability to take the steps it will take to reach your goal.

6. Create a detailed plan to achieve your goal.

Lets say your goal is to eliminate the clutter in your home. But how will you start when the clutter is overwhelming? It may be helpful to break large goals into intermediate, manageable steps. Make a list of each area you need to tackle. Then break each area into even smaller segments that can be tackled easily. For instance, set time aside to clean out old clothes, then to organize sweaters, then to throw out old shoes, and finally arrange clothing by color or type. Don't forget to specify a time limit for accomplishing each of the smaller steps.

Before you know it, the larger goal will have been met.

7. Recognize that you may encounter obstacles.

Most people give up on their goals because they run into some type of obstacle along the way. Obstacles can be internal or external. Examples of internal obstacles include negative self-talk, limiting beliefs and discipline issues. Some external obstacles are the lack of time, money or resources.

Know in advance what hurdles you may have to conquer.

8. Identify a plan of action to overcome obstacles.

If you are trying to give up chocolate (I would never try this!), what are you going to do when you get a craving for chocolate, or when all your friends are chowing down on chocolate cake? Maybe your plan would be to carry a sweet substitute with you at all times. Or perhaps you could involve yourself in a fun activity when the urge strikes.

If your obstacles are tougher and you need more support, consider hiring a life coach to help you work through your blocks.

9. Enlist the support of an accountability partner.

As you work towards your goals, it can be very helpful to have someone in your life to be your support partner. Consider asking your partner or friend to help you stick to the goals you have set. Use this person when you are struggling and set up a plan to check in regularly with him/her. As a coach, I have the privilege of trading coaching services with my peers.

My coach helps me achieve my goals, overcome any obstacles, and celebrate my success.

10. Celebrate success along the way.

One of the most important things you can do for yourself is celebrate your small successes as you work towards your larger goals. Dont wait until the end to reward yourself. You deserve to be recognized for your efforts and your commitment, especially when your goals take a long time to achieve. If you dont celebrate on your journey, you will lose your motivation.

So celebrate, celebrate, and celebrate!

Achieving your goals can be tough work sometimes, but it is also very rewarding. If you fall off your path, remember you can always get back on. Its okay to take a few detours. Its also okay to take a break to rest. Don't beat yourself up or give up hope. Start again where you fell down and before you know it, you will be a pro at accomplishing your goals.

How To Jump Start Your Day

1st N Weight Loss: Couch Potato Challenge: Day 2

When you jump out of bed every morning, all fired up with enthusiasm, motivation and eagerness to... Huh?

What's that you say? You don't do much jumping in the mornings?

Well, okay, when you ease out of bed every morning, all eager and enthusiastic to... Huh?

Say that again? You don't do that either?

Well, okay, when you're lying there in bed every morning wondering why the heck you should bother to get up...

Does your mind flash on all the things you'll get to do today, or is it filled with all the things you've GOT to do today?

What's the difference, you ask? Aw c'mon, any ten-year-old kid can answer that one. It's the difference between waking up thinking "It's Christmas Day" or thinking "I've got Final Exams today."

And face it, most of us live as though we're facing final exams every single day. Each sunrise brings more battles, more struggles, more dogged trudging, more frustrated attempts to deal with our chronic burdens.

Meanwhile, a few happy folks really do wake up eager. They're rarin' to go as soon as the light hits their eyeballs. But how do they do that? What's their secret to jump start their day?

Would you believe they don't have any secret? They just find it in their heart to love what's happening to them. Even the so-called "bad" stuff is treated with respect and dealt with as a potential learning experience -- something to profit from -- maybe even fun (with slight adjustments in attitude).

But they don't make any secret of it. What they do is right out there for the rest of the world to see. The only trouble is, the rest of the world is terribly busy not seeing. Not seeing the sunshine around them that so completely fills the lives of the eager-awakeners.

Those living in the darkside are tuned in to the dim, gloomy, depressing aspects of every event. Every day brings them the exact same occurrences that their bright-side neighbors receive, but since they're stuck in the dark-side, they must experience it all in shadows.

You have a radio, right? And when you turn the knob, the station changes. All those programs, every one of them, is in the air around you. But when you dial the radio, you're selecting just one from among all those thousands of signals.

And when you wake up in the morning, your dial can be set wherever you want it. Happy; sad; eager; dreading; energetic.

So is your mental dial stuck on station K-R-A-P or K-O-O-L? On W-O-R-M or W-A-R-M?

If you're not quite satisfied with the daily programming you're receiving, it's not that hard to change it.

No kidding... it's not. But you do have to do it yourself. Nobody -- I mean nobody -- is going to come in and reset your dial for you.

Now, you've read enough pos-think books and listened to enough tapes, you have a pretty good idea how this works. Let's stop kidding ourselves. You do know WHAT to do. But you haven't had much success with it. But there's one thing in all those techniques you're NOT doing.

When you do your exercises for a while, whatever it is you select during your journey, you get up afterwards and go about your day looking for signs that it's working.

And when you don't immediately see those signs, you start wondering why it's not working.

BBZZZZZZT!  Wrong move.

Instead, you're supposed to be thinking how thankful you are that it IS WORKING, even though you don't see anything yet. You fill your mind with strong thoughts about what you want the end result to be like, and soon you will see..

Now isn't that simple?

Once you start seeing them for yourself, it sure will make a difference in the way you wake up every morning.

This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Action Steps For Success In 2018

Think back to the beginning of 2017. Like most, you started the new year with many goals. What goals did you set? Maybe 2017 was the year you were going to lose weight, get a better job, make more money, meet someone or quit smoking.

How did it go?

2017 has come to an end. How many of those goals did you accomplish? It's ok to admit that you did not accomplish what you thought you would or even worse, what you knew you could have.

Recognizing last years failure is the first step toward creating positive changes.

New Year after New Year you reflected on the past and promised yourself that this New Year would be different. You had goals and you made resolutions that you would accomplish what you failed to accomplish in the past, and yet you repeated the same behavior and did not accomplish your goals.

Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results" Why do you expect changes if you keep setting goals the same way? Are you really expecting to accomplish them? You need to take a different approach. Unless you are willing to change your approach you will be ending 2018 the same way you have ended 2017 and, once again, nothing will have changed.

Though setting and achieving a goal does not require the start of a new year, it does have a psychological effect. You feel like you are given the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. The reason you want to wipe the slate is because of what you did not achieve. Individuals who achieve their goals dont want to start fresh; they want to remember and continue to build upon their past success.

As successful individuals achieve their goals, they are constantly setting new goals and forward momentum is maintained, producing endless results. You do not need a new year to get into action. What you need is to be resolved to produce results in your life. That is what making a resolution means, to be resolved to change behavior.

In the past you did not achieve your goals because you wanted to get the results without changing your behavior and following the steps to success.

This New Year, let's start forward motion by achieving goals continually. Here are the action steps to achieve your goals and produce success in your life:

1)Start out small. Don't think about huge sweeping changes that you want. Pick small goals that you can achieve in the next 30-60days. That is why you should try the "Couch Potato 21-Day Walking Challenge". Its not only small, but its simple, and by finishing, it can give you a sense of accomplishment, and motivate you to do more.

2)Become resolved and committed to your goals by writing them down and signing your name to them.

3)Read your goals out loud every day and ask yourself what behavior and actions are needed today to achieve them. In the past you made goals and got busy and those goals were quickly forgotten. Remind yourself daily.

4)Take the action you decided on that day. Every inch you move forward gets you closer to your goal.

5)At the end of your day, read your goal again out loud and ask yourself if you did everything you could to achieve it. Make necessary adjustments on your actions the next day when reading your goals again.

6)Achieve your goals within 30-60 days.

7)After achieving your goals, immediately make new 30-60 day goals and repeat the process.

Follow these seven steps to success and at the end of 2018 you will be celebrating a successful pattern of behavior that will bring you endless results for years to come.

Prior to beginning any physical fitness activities, individuals must consult a physician for proper diagnosis and/or treatment.

This article is intended to be used for informational purposes only, and is not a guarantee that you will be successful following this routine. Results vary by each individual, depending on their effort, and following a strict low calorie diet, throughout the 21-days