Make Success Inevitable

For many of us, we have something in our lives that we want to change or improve; whether it’s our nutrition, our relationship, our sleep, or our fitness regiment, there is that one thing (at least) that we think about when we lie in bed at night.  It’s easy to think about that “thing” with worry or intimidation, thinking, “I can’t believe I haven’t done this yet—I know it would make me happier.”  We can quickly become sucked into self-defeating thoughts of disappointment and frustration, and each time we think about what we want to change/improve; those thoughts tend to get more and more negative. This often becomes an ingrained habit—we have followed this train of thought so regularly, that we don’t even realize that we’re doing it!

Sound a little too familiar?  Luckily, there is another way!

Knowing that there is something we want to accomplish opens a door of opportunity.  We can view the change we wish to experience as an exciting opportunity for accomplishment!  We can create and develop these thoughts into a goal and take small action steps, one at a time, progressing towards achievement.

Oftentimes, the problem isn’t that we don’t have a goal, but instead, that we do not know how to develop it to a point that provides us with action steps.  We have decided to think about those wants and wishes with positivity and excitement, allowing us to develop those ideas into concrete action plans that set us up for success!  No more negative self-talk, no more self-defeat; just a well laid-out plan to finally achieve the change or improvement that we’ve been considering for a long time!

Did you know that…

• Only 3 out of every 100 adults write down their goals down on paper?
• 83% of the US population do not have goals?

That’s the bad news.  Here’s the great news…

• People with written goals are 50% more likely to achieve than people without goals.
• Sharing your goals with a close ‘confide’ is proven to increase the chances of you achieving your goal.
• Specific goals which are time-bound and measurable work best.

Our Goal-Setting Experience

2016 was quite the year for us!  We moved into our new fitness home and expanded our fitness family.  This journey was not without its challenges, but we learned so much throughout the process.  As we reflect on the past year, we made ambitious, yet realistic goals for the New Year, targeted towards our education, the gym’s expansion, and strengthening the relationships we have with our fitness family!

This process of goal-setting helped us to recognize our successes.  In the mix of day-to-day to-do lists, it’s easy to notice all that you have left to do, instead of everything you’ve already accomplished.  So many of you have succeeded in learning something that took a major investment of time and effort: From achieving your first strict pull up or push up to losing a great deal of weight on the Whole30.

Goal-Setting Process

1. Build momentum by reviewing your past accomplishments: Make a list that you can continue to add to. Keep it somewhere close that you’ll see every day to remind you that you can accomplish anything you invest yourself to achieving.

2. Set a goal for yourself: Is it SMART: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound?

3. Breakdown your goal into small, concrete steps: Large, ambitious goals can be overwhelming, and the thought of the work ahead of us can cause us to freeze. Challenge yourself to breakdown your goal into as many steps as possible!  The more steps, the better; small, clear, action steps can be quickly achieved and will help you to gain momentum.

4. Take the first step – TAKE ACTION. It doesn’t matter how large or small; just take one step towards your goal.  Even the smallest of steps brings you closer to achievement.

5. Share your goal: Help others help you! Hold yourself accountable by sharing your goal with the people close to you, that will provide encouragement and understanding, helping you to stay on track by reminding you of the reasons for which you’re working towards your goal!

6. Review and discuss with fellow goal-setter(s): No matter how different the goals, the process to achievement are more similar than you might think!

7. Make adjustments as needed: Life is fluid, and flexibility is a must! You will hit some walls and reach some dead ends.  Now that we’ve warned you, prepare yourself to change directions if needed.  View challenges as opportunities for growth.

8. Be patient, this is a marathon, not a sprint: Patience and understanding go a long way in supporting yourself along the path to improvement!

We want to note that there is a reason we waited to send this email until after the first of the year: goal-setting should occur at any time, during any month, on any day of the week!  The process of “New Year’s resolutions” can include negative pressure, in which it feels like a failure when your progress, inevitably, does not follow a straight-line path. The great thing about progress is that you can still be headed in the right direction, even if you do not see daily improvement.  You can think of your progress as an upward spiral; some days you do not improve, but overall, you’re getting closer and closer to your goal!

2017 is a blank slate for you to create your masterpiece. We all, every one of us, has the opportunity to do everything we want this year. We can all look back at the end and say “This was my best year yet”.

Remember, simply writing down your goal(s), sharing them with those close to you, and reviewing your progress with fellow goal-setters drastically increases your chances for success.

Lastly and most importantly, let’s do this together! We are lucky to have a strong community of supportive individuals around us. We can take this opportunity to help one another in this journey towards goal achievement. Our idea is to create a goal group that meets periodically to share our goals, our progress, keep each other accountable, and help one another work though road blocks along the way. It’s kind of like working out in class versus by yourself. I know I get a much better workout when working out in a group. It’s so motivating to have friends around me who are pushing themselves and encouraging me to do the same.

We want to take that same strategy and apply it to our goals.

Right now we are just gauging interest. If this is something you want to be a part of, let us know -> [email protected]. If there are a good number of people interested we will coordinate a date for the first meeting.  If you want to be a part of the group but don’t have a specific goal in mind yet, that’s OK.