5 Steps you need to take to make REAL Progress

So in last year you didn’t quite achieve your desired goals and this year things are going to be different right? Well before you get started, here are my top tips on what steps to take to insure you’re best prepared.

Have a meeting with yourself.

Yes that’s right, have a meeting with yourself. You may think that sounds ridiculous but sometimes you do need to take a step back, take a few deep breaths and remind yourself of who you are and what you want to be. Until you are really honest with yourself I don’t think it is possible for you to seek the support of someone else and make a success of it. So lay your cards on the table and go over a few home truths as to why you are in the situation you are in and what is the trigger behind making you want to change. This little self pep talk is important at helping to build the right mind-set. You may well achieve your goals this year and there may well be some people that will have helped you along the way but the person that is going to help you the most is YOU! So before you start anything, have a word with yourself and make sure you’re ready and you’re clear on the reasons why.  Having this clarity will help you focus on what is important.

Set Goals.

Once you’ve been honest with yourself decide what it is you actually want to achieve. You’re obviously unhappy with something and you’ve already identified that, so what is it you’re looking for? Goal setting is crucial. Set an outcome goal that you see yourself achieving in the long term then set some progress/performance goals which will focus on the short term and ultimately build you towards your long term goal. The best advice I could give here is to be realistic. Any desired outcome that you make is likely to be challenging but make sure these challenges are attainable. The motivation and knock on effect from reaching certain short terms goals far outweighs falling short of an over ambitious goal.

Plan it.

The next logical step would be to make a plan. By making a plan I mean how are you going to go about achieving this goal. It is likely going to involve some changes to your current regime. This isn’t going to be easy and so you’re going to have to plan realistically and logically. Your short-term goals will help you decide what it is you need to do to get started. Hopefully at this stage your making some solutions to problems and not excuses. I realise that the best-laid plans don’t always go to plan so be prepared to have some bumps along the way – if you plan for this then you’re less likely to let it affect you. It is not going to be plain sailing so as long as you’re mindful that you will undoubtedly have bad days when things don’t always work out as you hoped; its not the end of the world, don’t let it affect your overall goals.

Get Support. 

A big part of executing your plan might be investing in the advice and support of a personal trainer, nutritional coach or both. Or it may just be that you have joined a group of like-minded people, or are now teaming up with a friend who has similar goals to you. It could just mean you get a little bit more support and understanding from your partner or family. I firmly believe that you should get some kind of support if possible, no matter what level you are at, we all need people to inspire us, pick us up at times when we are down, give us a kick up the butt when it is required and help us to achieve things that even you didn’t think you were capable of.

Re-evaluate. 

Whether you have reached your short term goals or not you need to re-evaluate and then decide if any changes to your approach need to be made. This might include another pep talk with yourself or it may be a discussion with those supporting you to get their take on things and how you could plan differently going forward. At the very least you will have learnt something about yourself and something about the process and will be in a better position than you were when you started. As Winston Churchill once said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.  Download our FREE 5 stage formula to help you start losing weight.