There seemed to be a common theme last week amongst the incredible people I am surrounded by. Some are in the middle of making a career change, some are trying to start a family, some are working hard to lose weight and some are trying to get their finances on track but all are feeling like what they are trying to accomplish was not happening fast enough. With that comes feelings of anxiety. Feelings that they will never be successful. Feelings that the harder they work the farther from their goal they are. Feelings that it would just be easier to give up.
I had coffee with a good friend yesterday and she was confiding in me that she feels like she is not doing enough to get herself to where she wants to be and then I reminded her that she is doing her best and then listed all of the things that she has done, and is doing, to move herself forward. Sure she has setbacks, daily, but rather than dwelling on those setbacks, she needs to figure out what is causing them and then make changes. Sometimes our accomplishments can be missed when all we are focused on is our failures.
Losing weight is hard, especially when you have a lot of weight to lose, and focusing on the end product can be discouraging. So, take your long term goal and break it down into days, weeks, and months, which looks something like this:
Month Goal: 6 pound weight loss
Week Goal: 1.5 pound weight loss
Daily goals for week 1: 7-8 hours of sleep each night, 30 minutes of daily exercise, 3 servings of fruit and 7 servings of vegetables, no processed foods and 3 liters of water
Next, at the end of each day, check off the goals you have accomplished and put an X beside the ones that you didn’t. Doing this will provide you with information as to why you hit, or didn’t hit, your weekly goal. If you didn’t hit your goal that week, it is most likely because your daily goals were not met so create strategies to ensure these goals are hit the next week while at the same time increase the challenge of the goals that you did meet. This ensures that you stay positive, focused and challenged which will prevent you from just giving up.
This strategy is not specific to losing weight. Whatever you are trying to accomplish in your life, take the big picture and break it down into smaller and smaller pictures. Then take it step by step, rejoicing in your accomplishments and learning from your failures because it is when we fail that we learn how to be successful.
If you are struggling with reaching your goals or need help on figuring out where to start, I am only an email away.
Here's David Beckham out in London today after a workout.
