Posts Tagged ‘goal setting’

I’ve posted a motivational video from Will Smith before (here), but this is another EXCELLENT clip that I watch quite a lot.

“You don’t try to build a wall. You don’t set out and say ‘I’m gonna build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that has ever been built’. You say ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid’. You do this every single day, and soon you have a wall.” – Will Smith

“If you are not making someone else’s life better, then you are wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other people’s lives better.” – Will Smith

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AC

Well it’s here – Memorial Day Weekend. The official start of Summer. The great “unveiling” – when the shirts come off, the swimsuits go on and the entire World knows exactly how good or bad your dieting and exercising was for the last 3-4 months.

My colleague Jason Ferruggia has called this weekend – Judgment Day!

Are you ready? :)

If not – you have two more BIG weekends this Summer in which to dial in your physique and make a huge difference. That’s right – it’s not over — you still have two more Judgment Days this year!

Goal setting is all about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals — and T stands for “Time line”. Athletes peak for National Championships, Trials and World events. Just because you’re training for fat loss or to look better naked – doesn’t change the fact that DEADLINES are extremely effective tools.

So we’re going to set two this Summer.

Your next goal is Independence Day (for my US readers) – July 4th – only five weeks away.

With a combination of a kick start plan, a solid workout and nutritional support program and a healthy dose of motivation – you could easily be 10+ lbs leaner by then.

Your next goal is the end of summer – the Labor Day weekend (first weekend in September). This is currently fourteen weeks away. So if you’re looking a little flabby this weekend or feeling a little embarrassed about your body — you can still make amazing changes. It’s never too late.

This is an opportunity for you to look great by Summer’s end.

But you still need to start now.

Here’s the fat loss basics (if you need more info see below):

1) You need to create a caloric deficit – no two ways about it – you must burn more than you consume. But that doesn’t just mean eat less – you will have to change the foods you eat.

2) The most effective way to create that deficit is to use a combination of diet and exercise

3) Your diet should consist of lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.
Keep starches and refined carbs to a minimum.
Keep your fluid intake high (water only), and try to eat at least 4-5 small meals per day.
This will help maintain blood sugar levels and keep you from blowing your diet.
Follow this plan 90% of the time (which will allow you to have some flexibility on weekends etc)

4) Exercise – interval training and metabolic resistance training will provide the most bang-for-your buck. Steady state aerobic training just doesn’t burn enough calories for your goals right now, and a bodypart training split will be less effective than total body training for fat loss.

5) Try to exercise at least four to six days per week – two to three days of resistance training and two to three days of interval based cardio.

6) Supplements: there is almost nothing that will make a difference. Sorry.
Certain supplements can boost metabolism, or increase your energy somewhat and these may be useful – but in terms of real world “pounds of fat lost” I have yet to see anything that really made a difference. A multivitamin and a fish oil supplement are vital though – but more for your overall health. A protein shake or meal replacement powder can be useful for convenience but are nothing more than high quality food.

Get started now!

–
AC
PS -All talk of fat loss aside – enjoy your holiday weekend. But PLEASE remember the point of this weekend – remember our fallen heroes and spare a thought for all the troops who are still fighting for us today. My thanks to all of you.

I spoke to Jim Wendler a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about goal setting and best practices.

Jim mentioned that when he was playing football, everyone wants to “win the game”. Jim’s approach was to tell them — “Just win the play. Win the play and the game will take care of itself”

Great advice.

Any task can be broken down into smaller more manageable steps. Business, training, weight loss etc.

A 4 year business plan can be broken down into one year goals. And then a goal for each quarter.
Then – we can further break that down into monthly targets. Then weekly. And then daily, perhaps even hourly.

But it just comes down to this….. Take care of the next client or customer. Do that and everything falls into place.

If you want to lose 50lbs — just take care of the next meal. The next workout. The next set. The next rep. Do that and the 50lb weight loss takes care of itself.

The whole premise is similar to the “process goals” that I talked about on Facebook — just set a number of workouts to be completed in the month and focus on the process of just getting the workouts in – not necessarily the outcome that you’d be looking for. If you take care of the attention to the process, you’ll take care of the outcome by default.

The conversation with Jim reminded me of a lesson my Taekwon-Do instructor taught me (excerpted from The Total Body Breakthrough)

I can remember having to face a scary opponent in a championship match once. This guy was on the covers of all the martial arts magazines and this was my first time competing in this weight class. He was bigger, stronger and more experienced than I was.

In short, I was terrified. My instructor, Mr. Campbell, recognized this and asked me –

“I know you’re scared. On a scale of one to ten, how scared are you?”

I answered with no hesitation “ TEN!”

He smiled and said – “Ok. How scared would you be if this match was only one round in length?”

I answered” Not as scared. Maybe a seven out of ten”

He said “Well keep that in mind. You only have to fight the first round. But what if the first round was only one minute long? Would you still feel the same way?”

Me: “No. That would maybe be a five out of ten”

Mr. Campbell nodding: “Ok. What if it was just a single exchange in the middle of the ring? One time. Then it’s over. How do you feel about that?”

Me: “ Ha! No problem. Maybe one out of ten. I’m too fast for him if it’s a single exchange!”

Mr C: “Ok – let’s just attack once and then we’ll take it from there”

At this point I’m buzzing with excitement, stepped into the ring and attacked my opponent. And just repeated that single activity over and over. No fear at all.

And I won the fight.

Success is just a series of small behaviors repeated over and over. Set the behaviors in place and the outcomes will arrive in due course.

As we enter into the second quarter of 2011- take a look back at the goals you set earlier this year.
Are we on track?

What do we want to accomplish from now before the end of the year?

Break it down into smaller steps.

And just win the next play.

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AC

The gap between where you are, and where you want to be – is called FRUSTRATION.

Frustration is eliminated by Education and Action.

Step one: EDUCATION
What do you need to know to get to the next level?

Make a list and start learning.
What books do you need to read?
What seminars do you need to attend?
DVD’s to watch? Audios to listen to? Mentors to meet? People to learn from?

Make a list and then start marking them off.

If it’s a personal fitness goal – it’s the same. Figure out where to get the education you need, whether it’s fat loss, muscle building, cardio fitness etc.

Step two: ACTION
Math problem: Five frogs are sitting on a log next to a pond on a hot day. One frog decides to jump in and cool off. How many frogs are left?

FIVE. Because deciding and doing are two different things.

You have decide what you need to DO with that information. And do it.

“You can’t follow up a million dollar idea with only ten dollars worth of action”
- Jonathan Sprinkles

Education + Action = Results.

All the business knowledge or fat loss knowledge or nutrition knowledge won’t help you until you get off the couch and DO SOMETHING.

It’s not even a matter of working hard, or working smart – it’s a matter of working RIGHT.

Close the gap and get to the next level.

–
AC

Been posted before – but this remains one of the best motivational clips I’ve seen. Check it out:

–
AC

“What gets measured, gets managed”
Peter Drucker
Management Theorist,
Author of 31 books.
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In an ongoing series to motivate everyone to keep their goals at the forefront and continue to take action — here we are again… I know I’m starting to freak you out….

But it’s Feb 24th. The 55th day of 2011 … 15% of 2011 is gone forever.

15% of your New Years Resolutions should have already been checked off…

So exactly how are they looking now?

Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?

If you wanted to lose 30lbs this year – are you down fifteen percent – or 4.5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts – have you completed 37?
If you wanted to make $10,000 more this year — are you on track?

It’s amazing how time passes so quickly. Actually it’s almost scary…

Don’t waste a single second.

If your goal is fat loss – start today
If your goal is muscle building – start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) – start TODAY !

If you’re just a little behind — adjust your plan – make up for it!

15% of this year is gone forever.

I meet a lot of people in my job, and get a lot of questions via email. I’ll talk to guys who track every single macronutrient that passes their lips, and have tried just about every program out there. When I ask them how things are going — they’ll tell me that it’s great, or that the program is working well.

But rarely do they quantify anything. How many pounds of muscle gained? How much of a strength increase have you seen in real terms?

Very few people actually measure and take stock of their efforts. If you are following a plan to lose fat – are you actually losing fat? And I mean at a rate that is acceptable for your efforts? Or are you blindly following a plan that doesn’t work, and essentially ignoring that?

I know where my progress towards my goals stand because I measure it.

When I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant – the medical team took measurements of temperature, blood pressure and blood samples every 4 hours. Even if it meant the middle of the night (really!) – they knew exactly where we were in relation to our goal every 4 hours.

When we implement a marketing campaign at the gym — we track the results. We know, for example, how many direct mail pieces we send out, the cost of each mailing, how many inquiries we get, how many appointments are made, and how many people join the gym as a result. We know exactly how effective the plan is, and whether the return we are seeing is worth the investment.

We can see that for $X invested, we receive a return of $Y.

We need to know where our membership stands – how many inquiries, how many new members, renewals etc and when our busiest times are – everything is measured and tracked so we can continue to grow and serve our members.

If you remember “SMART” goal setting — one of the keys is ‘M’ – Measurable. Measure your results.

As we enter the third month of 2011, it’s time to take stock of your efforts. Has your current return been worth the investment?

Again — 15% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another three months pass, then another six — and before you know it — it’s 2012…..

Don’t waste a single second. Start TODAY.

Where will you be at the 30% point – April 20th? That’s 8 weeks away. Will you be 8 weeks leaner – down 8, or even 16lbs of fat?
Will your business demonstrate 8 weeks further growth – will you be 8 weeks closer to your goals?

The time will pass anyway….

–
AC