Are You Ready to Change?

We are the eternal multi-taskers: food shopping, prepping meals, cooking for the family, working on our own stuff, shuttling kids around, helping out around the house, laundry, workouts, socializing with friends, family get-togethers, running around constantly, working on our careers, etc etc etc…and the list goes on. Sound familiar?

Everyone is motivated. It’s just that not everyone is motivated in the direction of health and fitness. Well, for all of you out there who are doing it all and managing to dedicate yourselves to the gym and clean eating full time, bless you. But I suspect you are few and far between. Because one of the most overlooked aspects of getting results is lack of FOCUS. And if you don’t always feel 100% focused on your fat loss goals, you are not alone, and in fact, it’s pretty darn normal. You must harness the focus needed to get results, and the amount of “other stuff” must, by definition be kept to a minimum. You simply cannot have your time divided up a million different ways if you want to be truly balanced and focused on your health and fitness goals.

Here Are a Few Tips to Help Channel Your Focus:
First DECIDE what you actually want, what is most important to you Is it to be a great mom? Is it to achieve the body of a top-level figure competitor? Is it to create financial freedom in your business? Etc. Get clear here (often the hardest part). I recommend narrowing this down to TWO things at the most!

Based on your answer to #1, schedule your day according to those priorities Makes sense, yes? If you say your priority is losing 20 lbs by your wedding in August, you better have prioritized prepping your clean meals and working out daily. If you are serious about body change, then actions and behaviors that are not in line with that simply need to go. Sorry. But that is what getting focused is about, so instead of a “to-do” list…

…Create a “To-Don’t” list I love this concept. How many times do we get caught up doing things that are not in line with what we really want. We will actually talk ourselves out of what we really want. For example, we really want to workout after work because it is in line with our prioritized physique goal, but we justify not working out a million different ways–I’m too tired, it’s too late, I worked out yesterday, I will get up early and do it tomorrow, etc etc. If body change is what you REALLY want, then the idea of NOT working out is an impossibility.

You can’t have your cake and lose fat too This is the dirty truth when it comes to body change and as much as we try to rationalize otherwise, there is no getting around it. If fat loss is truly what you seek, you must first make the decision to give up that which is not in line with that goal, and begin forming NEW habits around your new goal. Instead of happy hour, you hit the gym. Instead of watching movies on Sundays, you prep food ( which could be done while watching the movie:). Instead of sleeping in, you get up and do cardio. Hard choices, I know, but unavoidable if you want to focus on your physique. You can victimize yourself through the process (“I can’t believe I have to eat chicken when everyone else is having pizza!!’) or you can suck it up, positively affirm your choice (“Eating chicken and veggies tastes good, and I know I am one step closer to my goal!”) and get over yourself! 

Hopefully these tips can help you get started. Fat loss is not a sprint, it is a marathon–as some say, “the faster it comes off, the faster it goes back on”–so take time to THINK about your goals, THINK about how you can SCHEDULE YOUR DAY to be more in line with those goals, and then SIMPLY PRACTICE. Then PRACTICE AGAIN. And then PRACTICE SOME MORE. And before you know it, you have created habits aligned with a brand new motivation.


Have a Happy and Healthy Day, Cheers :)