For several years I’ve been trying to get healthy. Doing so proved to be one of my toughest goals. Years of workaholism and semi-regular travel had taken its tole. I found myself 30 lbs. overweight and struggling to keep up with my kids during basic yard games. My mental focus had deteriorated. I struggled to find motivation to eat, sleep and exercise well.
For 4 years I set fitness goals and for 4 years I came up short. I embraced a few new strategies in 2019 and have finally made significant progress. In 4 months I’ve dropped 23 lbs, exceeding my goal of loosing 15lbs in the first half of the year. Upon reflection, the 4 strategies I deployed to get there are applicable to achieving all of the toughest goals.
Narrow your focus.
It is difficult to accomplish your toughest goals when you are striving to accomplish too many at once. Be selective if you want to succeed. For years I set 10 goals per year and accomplished 6 or 7. Of course, my fitness goals, which was not nearly as exciting as the others, was the first to go. This year I set 6 and I’m on track to meet every single one. The less you try to accomplish, the more effort you’re able to put on the toughest goals.
Embrace the prerequisites
When you’re short on sleep it is difficult to work out consistently . Your body simply doesn’t have the energy to exercise. For years I tried to work out consistently on a sleep deprived body. I spent 6 months revamping my sleep schedule and a month cleaning my eating habits before my body began to respond well to exercise. The more deliberate you are putting the building blocks for success in place, the more successful you will be.
Find your motivation
It’s really hard to accomplish tough goals if you lack intrinsic motivation. The reality was I knew I should get in shape, but, I wasn’t very excited about doing so. I tried everything from working out at home to getting a personal trainer but regardless simply couldn’t get excited about exercise. It wasn’t a LifeTime Fitness opened 10 minutes from my home that I got excited about working out (that place isn’t a gym, it’s an experience)! Instead of willing yourself to success, dig deep and find the motivation that get’s you intrinsically motivated.
Recruit meaningful accountability
For years I looked to my friends for accountability. They checked in periodically but did little to actually hold me accountable. As a result, I tried something totally different his year. I enrolled the help of those motivated to make a difference. First, I made sure that Cheryl, my EA, new how important my wellness was to me. Given that she manages all of my priories, her assistance was able to ensure that my sleep and workouts weren’t the first to go. Similarly, I have 3 friends with similar fitness goals. Instead of just asking each other for help, we made a significant bet that has proven to be motivating.
The toughest goals in business require smart strategies as well
Stepping back, these four strategies work on the toughest goals regardless of whether they are fitness or business goals. Whether you want to sell more, be more productive or get into shape, consider what you can do in order to narrow your focus, embrace the prerequisites, find your motivation and recruit meaningful accountability.
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
Purest Gold: God's Refining Fire in our Lives »
After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
How to Achieve Business Excellence »
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before Kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Proverbs 22:29
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Most of us youth in today's fast moving world are easily thrown off by difficulties and worries.
The theme of conversion is a thread that runs all through Lent, but conversion takes on different aspects throughout the phases of Lent. The first two and a half weeks focused on the interior turning of hearts; the liturgy urges the faithful to reflect and examine consciences thoroughly.
Saint Josephine Bakhita »
Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
When Your Faith Is Put to the Test - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon»
Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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