Simple Steps to Achieving All of Your Goals

Before you can lose weight, get in shape, or accomplish any goal in life, FIRST, you have to believe it's possible for YOU to achieve that goal.Before you ever pick up a weight or step onto a treadmill you have some work to do in laying a solid foundation that will support the goals you desire to achieve.Chances are if you're reading this, you've struggled in past attempts to get in shape and at this point you're frustrated and don't know what to do next. Or maybe you're just beginning your fitness and health journey, and in that case, in reading this you'll avoid much of the struggle many experience without this knowledge.If you have a good fitness coach who has a solid program in place addressing strength training, cardiovascular training, and nutrition, if there are frequent measurement to assess progress, support, accountability, and education in place and you're still not achieving the goals you desire, then it's likely your goals are being rejected by your own self image and limiting beliefs.Self image is the key to living without limits! Your self image controls what you can and cannot accomplish. Many times we attempt to accomplish a goal with shear will power, even though deep down we really don't believe we can accomplish the goal or deserve the goal. It's this conflict between what you desire and what you truly believe is possible or deserved that is holding you back.Will power is NOT the answer... self image is!No matter how hard you try, you cannot outperform or escape your self image. You must understand that success is achieved from the inside out, and self image controls success.VisualizeNot to worry! There is solution for this problem and it's been backed by decades of proven scientific studies and statistics. Daily visualization must be done to program your brain for success.You will become what you think of most!You might be skeptical at this point and that's okay, I understand, but I'll ask you to trust me and stay with me because I can personally vouch for the power of visualization and the life changing effect it can have on your life.Science has shown us that our nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a real experience. Therefore mental practice is just as good as practical application.When you see something clearly in your mind, your creative success mechanism takes over and does the job much better than you could do with conscious effort or will power.Before you can change, you must see yourself in the new role as if it's already a reality.Here's what I want you to do... Set aside 30 minutes daily to exercise your mind.Now you might be saying, how am I going to find 30 minutes to do this. I would say to you if you want something bad enough you'll find a way, if not you'll find an excuse. Maybe getting in shape isn't that important to you right now. I understand timing is everything, and that's okay, just be sure and take ownership of that and hold off from starting your fitness program until it's a priority and you're willing to make time. Fail to do that, and you'll set yourself up for certain failure and I don't want that for you.4 Steps To Creating Your Dream LifeStep 1: Write down your mental movie on paper first. I want you to imagine your ultimate dream life. Include details, sights, sounds, smells, images, feelings, how you look, your energy, etc. Whatever you want, don't hold back!Step 2: Play your movie on repeat. Now, during those 30 minutes daily I want you to go to a quiet place with no distractions and imagine you're in a movie theater and the feature film is your dream life playing on the big screen. Replay your mental movie over and over with all the details you wrote on paper.Step 3: Gradually manage and develop your movie over time until it's exactly as you desire.Step 4: Replay your movie every day until the movie becomes reality. Consistency, just like in fitness, is crucial to achieve success. You can't do this every once in a while and expect it to work. It MUST become a part of your daily routine.Don't worry about how it works, try to act a certain way, or force change to happen with effort or will power. Your nervous system will take care of everything automatically without trying, IF you keep practicing.Stop Comparing Yourself To OthersNow you're heading in the right direction...You have a clear and concise image of what you want to achieve. You're visualizing daily as a part of your fitness routine, exercising your brain as well as your body to strengthen your belief system, but, WARNING!, there's another major pit fall you MUST avoid!Two of the most common problems I see daily in the fitness industry are (1) good folks taking action to make change happen only to sabotage it all by having unrealistic expectations and (2) measuring themselves against others.NEVER set expectations based on comparisons to others and what they've achieved!Measuring yourself against others will always end up with you being 2nd best. Sometimes we think, believe, and assume we should measure up to someone else's normal, when we don't... it results in negative beliefs that will NOT support your desired goals. You begin questioning your ability, doubting yourself, thinking you're not worthy, and can't do it.This inferiority is not real!!! It's simply a self imposed feeling, or limiting belief, keeping you from being at your best.Everyone is different, and what someone else achieves in 30 days might take you a year to achieve. The timelines to achieve the desired outcome MUST be removed. Failure to remove the timelines is setting yourself up for failure before you ever start.You are an individual, unique, and not supposed to be like anyone else. Be the best YOU can be, and measure yourself only against yourself!What's to be taken away from someone else's success is simply that the desired goal is possible and nothing more! NEVER under any circumstance directly compare yourself to others or measure your success against theirs.The Success Formula RevealedOkay, now I have for you a step by step road map to ultimate achievement!Step 1: Decide. Identify the desired outcome or goal you want to achieve. Make a decision that YOU WILL achieve the goal no matter what. No excuses.Step 2: Ask yourself why. Get clear on exactly WHY you want to achieve the goal, why it's important, and most importantly what the ramifications are if you fail. (This is a very important step, CRITICAL for staying motivated! See my article from May here for more details on this step.)Step 3: Forget about the goal. Focus daily on the small incremental steps necessary to reach the desired goal, NOT the desired goal itself. Each day determine a 1% improvement you'll make the next day to be a little bit better than you were today, and focus on nothing else but the achievement of that 1% improvement. A 1% improvement completed daily over 30-90 days will change your life! Those who focus on the end result (50 pounds, 10 inches, etc.), fail to take the daily steps necessary to support the goal and ultimately always fail. This is because they are too distracted by what they're not losing instead of what they're gaining with the daily changes in their habits and routines.Step 4: Embrace adversity. Remember this is NOT about being perfect, just better! You're going to have ups and downs, that's life and part of the journey. When you have a bad day or week, simply acknowledge it and determine your 1% improvement for the next day towards getting back on track. As long as you're still committed (review step 2), you'll get there in time. Remember timelines must be removed.Step 5: Measure progress. Consistently stop and reflect on step 1, the desired goal and the progress you've made toward its achievement. You must make sure that you don't waste valuable time and the efforts you're making are moving you closer to the desired result or maybe you've just started going off track a bit and need some minor course correction. Sometimes you realize the desired goal isn't really as important as you thought, and you'll need to re-evaluate step 1. Remember this is measurement of YOUR progress, NOT a comparison to someone else's achievements.