As Seen In Evansville Living January 2012

Your Guide To Finally Achieving Your New Year’s Resolution

Welcome to 2012! Did you make some New Year’s resolutions? Did any of those resolutions have to do with getting in shape or losing weight? Did you make the same ones last year? If you are ready to finally get it right and make this the last year you have to make a resolution to get in shape, here are a few tips that will help make that happen.

First, raise your standards. The inspiration for this came from a lesson from Tony Robbins. Almost everyone is currently in the shape their standards allow them to be in. There are cases, due to medical issues, where people don’t have control over their weight or fitness level.  Most of us, however, are in exactly the condition we allow ourselves to be in. Our weight, size, and fitness levels are a result of our behavior: activity (or lack thereof) and food choices.

When you raise your standards, the first thing that happens is that it turns your “shoulds” into “musts”. Instead of thinking “I should exercise today,” you think “I MUST exercise today.” Instead of thinking “I should get the baked fish instead of the fettuccine Alfredo,” you think “I MUST make a healthier eating choice.” If you start to think of yourself as a healthy, fit person and start expecting yourself to act like one too, your actions will reflect that.

Stop accepting half-hearted efforts at exercise and “kind of” eating better. You are capable of so much more. Raise your standards and enjoy the results.

Secondly, focus on the process. I talk all the time about the importance of setting goals.  A goal needs to be measurable and it needs to have a deadline. There are two types of goals that we focus on: outcome goals and process goals. An example of an outcome goal is “I will lose 30 pounds or more by June 1, 2012.” While it’s very important to know the ultimate outcome you would like to achieve, I encourage you to focus on the process goals for a while. A process goal is based on the actions that will help you achieve your outcome goal.  These goals must also be measurable and have deadlines. If you know that exercising is going to be a key part of reaching an outcome goal, a good example of a process goal would be “I will exercise for at least 20 minutes 15 times or more each month.” You can measure how many times you exercise, and you can measure a month. More good examples of process goals would be “I will eat at least one piece of fruit every day” and “I will make sure I have protein with at least two meals per day.” It’s important for you to use “at least” and “or more” because you want to give yourself the option of over-achieving.

If you spend the next year focusing on meeting your process goals, the outcome goals will take care of themselves. I hope these tips will help you make 2012 your healthiest and best year ever!