After a busy holiday season of thinking about other people, it’s time that you start to think about YOURSELF!
If you are looking to make a change this year and you would like to join a community of like-minded individuals, we have created a 10 week transformation program called “SHREDCity” to help you realize your true potential. If you are not able to join us physically, you can still use these specific tips to help you strive to become the best version of yourself.
Identify what you specifically want to change and WHY
The first step requires you to do a little self reflection. Identifying ‘WHY’ you want to change will give you a purpose, which you can use as motivation when the process becomes challenging. Making any behaviour change or achieving a performance goal can be both physically and mentally exhausting. Having a good understanding of exactly WHAT you want to accomplish combined with WHY you want to accomplish it will set you up for success.
Write your goal down on paper and complete a gap analysis
First you must write down exactly where you want to be at the end of the process. You must know exactly where you are today and what the gap is to where you want to go. It is very important in this step to look at everything that will impact your success of achieving your goals including internal gaps, environmental gaps, support system gaps etc. This will provide the necessary information to develop your plan and start working on the process.
Develop a plan
Every step is important; however, we believe this is the most crucial to your success. “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. If you do not create a plan it will be easy to make excuses or let obstacles get in your way and push you off your track to success. Develop a weekly schedule and MAKE YOUR GOAL A PRIORITY EVERYDAY!! Writing out a specific plan removes uncertainty and provides an anchor when you are faced with difficult decisions that will impact the success of achieving your goal.
Visualize your goal “See it, believe it, achieve it”
It is important for you to visualize yourself completing your goal, eg. If you want to lose 50 pounds, spend time thinking about what you will look like 50lbs lighter, how you will feel, how much energy you are going to have, etc. Seeing yourself accomplishing your goal helps to build confidence and helps you to believe your goal is possible. This helps to increase the probability that you will achieve it!
Focus on the PROCESS ‘identify and celebrate mini milestones’
Rewarding yourself helps to reinforce that you are making progress and capable of change, this helps you build confidence and with increased confidence you are more likely to achieve your next milestone which will ultimately help you achieve your final goal. If your goal is to lose 50lbs, initially this number can seem overwhelming, however, if you are realistic with your expectations and set ‘mini milestones’ you will increase your success of achieving the final goal. Healthy weight loss is considered .5-2lbs per week. Understanding this you should break your goal into a weekly (.5-2lbs) or monthly (2-8lbs) target, once you achieve a mini milestone CELEBRATE!!! This doesn’t mean going out and eating anything you want or drinking a lot of alcohol, but establish a reward that will not negatively impact your final goal. Eg. organize a nice dinner or games night with friends or family, have a day the spa.
Share your goal, plan and milestones with friends, family, coaches
This will help provide support and stability throughout your process. This will help you stay accountable when you are having a tough time as you can lean on these people for support! You may find that someone wants to join you on your journey which makes the process even more enjoyable and the likelihood of success greater. Working together can be a very rewarding and encouraging experience!
Prepare for set backs and relapses
This in combination with creating a plan are the most important steps in the process. We are human beings and we are going to experience set backs and have relapses, but the best part about this is that we are in full control of how we respond to these situations. The best advice for this is to work on identifying what triggers these setbacks and relapses and focus on not letting a single set back or relapse derail you completely from your plan. During the planning process it is critical you come up with strategies for responding to set backs and relapses that allow you to refocus and keep you on track. We are not perfect and we are never going to be, accept this and don’t let it be the reason that you do not achieve your goal. Remember the very first step you identified ‘WHY’ you want to make these changes and this should help you refocus and get back on track!
This process is something can be applied to simple or complex goals and is crucial to your success. Realizing your potential and achieving your goals and behaviour changes requires tremendous ‘Dedication, Character, Commitment’. These words have taken a special place in the philosophy that DEPTH Training is built upon. If you focus on these 7 tips and practice them regularly I promise that as Eric Thomas says ‘you can make the rest of your life, the best of your life!’ I would like to wish you all the best in your pursuit of your excellence and hope this post provides guidance, reassurance or motivation to keep pushing yourself to achieving your goals.
Written by: Dave Edgeworth, Founder of DEPTH Training
