Take Action

Well, 2008 is here and numerous persons will make promises to themselves to better their lives in some shape, form, or fashion. Undoubtedly, the majority of these promises will be vastly unkept. Approximately 80% of all New Year's resolutions are never realized. Among these unfulfilled goals is improving health & fitness. It is the same revolving promise that has taken a backseat to busy work schedules, and hectic family lives for weeks, months and years. Many a determined soul will head to their local gym this January with lofty goals for changing their bodies. But if good intent was enough to get everyone into great physical condition, than approximately 33% of the adult population and 15% of children over the age of six in the U.S. would not be labelled clinically obese. In addition, recent studies suggest that 2/3 of the population may be considered overweight. Not only can obesity lead to well documented chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease; it is a condition often accompanied by emotional and social distress.

As they say, "only the strong survive" and long before 2008 ends, a large portion of the gym population will have dropped off. Bless their hearts for giving it the college try. Maybe it will be of some consolation to know the gym ownership will be thanking them for their monthly donations.

Now, those who manage to persist past the blooming of the Cherry Blossoms will not necessarily be better off. Time in the gym does not always equate to time well spent. The casual gym-user who quits an exercise at the threat of a bead of sweat starting to form is clearly deluding himself or herself into believing that they are actually taking an active role towards their health. Yeah, something is better than nothing, but not by much.

If you are serious about making a commitment to your health, than the first step you need to take is getting your mind right. Getting your mind right means prioritizing yourself. Stop using the excuse that you don't have time to exercise, because of your commitments to work and family. If your health starts to severely fail, you won't be able to direct much attention to either one of those important entities. Taking time to take care of yourself doesn't make you a bad husband/wife, parent, or employee; it makes you a better person emotionally, physically, and mentally. Life is full of important tasks to keep all of us busy around the clock, playing and laughing should be among them. Rest assure no one ever looks back at the end of their life and says, "I should have worked more."

So here is a plan of action for making good on both old and new promises:

Step 1 - Vision
Successful people know what they want out of life. They constantly seek and engage in activities that give passion, purpose, and meaning to their lives. People who are certain about what they want to accomplish are six times more likely to succeed in making positive significant life changes, than those who are not. Thus emphasizing the importance of clarifying one's goals. Conversely, those that are ambivalent and conflicted about their goals are more likely to:
1. Experience depression & anxiety;2. Be less happy & satisfied with their lives;3. Experience more physical illnesses, & doctor's visits;4. Be indecisive, uncertain & rebellious;5. Spend more time thinking about their goals; and6. Spend less time taking action toward their goals.To uncover the true motivation of a goal, you must answer the question "why?" Keep asking yourself "why" until you have identified a specific reason(s) to act. Then you can establish appropriate goals for modifying your behavior.

Step 2 - Strategy
Throughout the years I have witnessed countless gym members wandering aimlessly through the gym, clueless. They sporadically go from one piece of exercise equipment to the next with no rhyme or rhythm to what they are doing. Consequently, these are the same gym members that have been working out for years, but look the same as they did the first day they walked through the door.

Lofty visions without a compelling strategy to accomplish specific goals can lead to self-pity, hopelessness, and inconsistency. Successful people are flexible thinkers who engage in both higher level visionary thinking, as well as lower level strategic thinking. These people tend to accomplish more than those who think at either level alone. Properly setting your personal goals channels effort in the right direction, thereby boosting motivation while enhancing performance. After setting well refined challenging goals people tend to think longer, harder, and more creatively about how to accomplish them. Believe it or not, there are innovative methods to manage family, work, and other time restraining obstacles and allow time for exercise. Where there is a "will" there is a way.

Goals should be: specific, measurable, aggressive, relevant, time-bound, and approachable.Many published studies have documented that specific, challenging goals result in better performance than easy goals, no goals, or simply trying to do your best.
Measuring progress allows you to analysis whether the strategy you are employing is significantly moving you toward achieving a specific goal. This in turn encourages steady progress by minimizing the tendency to measure success in all-or-none terms. It is important to have short-term goals leading up to long-term goals, so that you stay motivated and persistent.

Be aggressive, setting aggressive goals tends to accomplish more than setting modest goals. Setting goals at the upper end of your ability will elicit much more effort, than setting goals that are easily achieved; making success that much sweeter.
Goals should be relevant in that they outline specific actions consistent with your vision or ideal. People strive toward goals with greater enthusiasm, consistency, and confidence, when doing so brings them personal satisfaction. This leads to enhanced performance, perseverance, creativity, and self-esteem.

Achieving a goal is also heightened by setting a specific time-frame in which the various parts of a plan are to be executed and completed, both long-term and short-term. Otherwise, achieving long term success may seem too arduous a task to tackle. This can produce feelings of "why bother, I'll never be able to do that."

Finally, goals should be approachable in that they focus on desired ends to move toward, rather than negative states to avoid. Being disciplined should not be about what you are losing, but what you are gaining.

Step - 3 Belief
You have to believe in yourself and the decisions you make for your life. Pulling from my martial arts experience, I'll share with you this ancient quote. "Destiny is decisions within the space of 7 breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break right through to the other side." However you define belief, it is one of the most powerful products for change and success. If you believe you will be successful, you will be more likely to:
1. Work harder, achieve more and perform better in many different areas such as academics, sports, career, relationships and keeping New Year's resolutions.
2. Be happy, while effectively tackling problems of depression, anxiety, burnout, alcoholism, smoking, and obesity.
3. Set more goals, and set them more effectively.
4. Persist vigorously in the face of adversity and obstacles, while viewing setbacks as a source of motivation.
5. Attribute failures to changeable causes (i.e. poor strategies) rather than unchangeable causes (i.e. not being smart enough).
6. React better to difficult circumstances, including poor grades, career setbacks, stressful life style, paralyzing accidents, and chronic illnesses.
7. Use more effective coping mechanisms, such as humor, regular exercise, and preventive care.

Step 4 - Persistence
Successful people view setbacks as a temporary state that lets them know there is yet a better course of action to be taken. As I have mentioned before, "if you get knocked down 9 times, than be ready to get up 10 times." It has been reported that people who successfully maintain their New Year's resolutions for a period of 2 years admitted on average 14 slips. But they used those lapsed moments to strengthen their commitment. Occasionally someone will be shocked to see me eating food that is clearly far away from the healthy base of the Food Pyramid. So I remind them that I am a trainer, not a saint. It is human to make mistakes and occasionally give into your vices, so don't beat yourself up over slipping from time to time. Good practice over a period of time will help make it easier to cope with moments of weakness, and incidental slips will occur less frequently.

Reward yourself for success. This can be a powerful tool for aiding in weight loss, smoking cessation, battling depression, boosting self-esteem, and adhering to medical regimes. This can be as simple as treating yourself to a smoothie for not missing any scheduled workouts during the week.

Create a supportive network of friends and family to aid you in your efforts to do well, and help you bounce back quickly when you have setbacks. Successful people readily solicit the support of friends, family, and same interest groups. Consequently, they achieve more, live longer, and derive greater personal satisfaction from life, than those who isolate themselves.
You should expect success, but when setbacks due occur have a coping strategy in place to deal with them. Simply talking to a sympathetic friend that is aware of your struggle can help you get over the hump.

Step 5 - Learning

You should self-monitor yourself, by recording aspects of your behavior and measure the progress towards your goal. It is crucial to know if the strategies you are implementing are causing significant change. If the answer is no, then course correction is needed. Thus, self-monitoring provides valuable feedback on whether a strategy is taking you toward your vision, and lets you know when corrections are needed when they are not.

If you are tired of unfulfilled promises piling up around you, know that it is generally not the result of being lazy, weak, having a lack of will-power, or a fear of success. Rather, it is the result of using flawed strategies to achieve success. Those who achieve more use the best processes for change. These individuals identify more techniques for change, and use those techniques longer, more frequently, more consistently, and more thoughtfully.

So let 2008 be the year that you stop making promises and make a plan instead!