In Part 1, I looked at what can hold us back from achieving our goals, and now I want to explore some strategies for success which banish our self-limiting beliefs and empower us to make positive changes.
In my last post I quoted Michael Jordan who once said “we need to expect things of ourselves before we can do them”, and that expectation is a really great place to start to make a change.
Competing at the highest levels of sport requires grit and single minded determination to succeed but, for most of us, our health and fitness goals are much simpler; still, there are strategies which hold as true for us as the elite sportsmen and women in training for a competition. We also must…………
- Believe that we can do what we have set out to do
- Have the commitment to try, and to give our health and fitness goal a priority in our busy lives
- Enlist help, and create a support system
- Break the goal into ‘bite-size chunks’; it feels easier and is much more fun and rewarding to celebrate each of the small successes along the way (my clients know their successes as “exponential growth” J )
- Focus on ourselves; we may not have the time to be as single minded as athletes, but we’re investing in the quality of our lives, and it’s also ‘me time’
The process of change should be interesting and fun, and I don’t subscribe to an ‘all or nothing’ approach – that way usually lies disappointment and failure. It’s more about starting from where we are now and making small changes consistently. I know it sounds trite, but it really is true that little changes, like taking the stairs rather than the lift, walking the dog an extra 5 minutes, or being mindful of the amount of food we put on our plate, really can have dramatic effects on our health and fitness.
We must always focus on our reason ‘why’ – whether it’s to run a marathon, prepare for an upcoming work challenge, to play football with the kids, or to fit into a little black dress……..whatever your reason ‘why’, it should be important to you and, therefore, a great source of motivation.
We will encounter setbacks; workouts will be missed, we may overeat, drink a bit too much – we’re human, these things happen and must be accepted. Sometimes our bodies and minds will say ‘no’, but keep going with your ‘eyes on the prize’, none of these are reasons to stop trying, or to give up.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Amelia Earhart, who perfectly epitomised the human traits of grit and determination
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity”
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