If you
know anything about Mint Condition Fitness, you know this: we are all about habits.
You can do anything for the next six weeks and make tremendous progress toward
your goals, but if you have not established the habits necessary to keep you
moving in the right direction, then all your work will go to waste. Of all the
habits you could work on, however, there is one that lies above the rest. It
may not be sexy, but if you become good at this one thing, you will not only
find yourself at the weight you want, you will be able to achieve any goal you
set your mind to. What are we talking about here? Planning.
If
there is one thing that separates those people who find success from those who
do not, it is their ability to plan. This becomes clear when we think about how
most people attack weight loss goals. First, they feel inspired and motivated
to change. They know that there are five different things that they need to
work on to reach their goals and so they jump in head first and try to change
all of these things at once. Then, when it becomes too much to handle, they get
frustrated and give up. Or maybe they reach their goal, but realize that they
cannot sustain these changes, so they slowly revert to their old ways. Either
way, their lifestyle (and eventually their weight) has not changed much from
the time before the changes.
Action
Without Planning…
The
first and most important issue comes down to willpower…of which humans have
very little. The power of the will is highly overrated and you will find the
more you try to will yourself to do
anything, the harder you will fall. Once we accept that willpower is not the
answer, it becomes a matter of planning that will make the difference in the
end.
So
let’s think through how we might better PLAN our weight loss goals. Step one,
what do you want to achieve? Let’s say it’s losing 10 lbs (or even better,
losing 2 pants sizes). Okay, what needs to be done? Exercise more, eat better.
Excellent, how are we going to do that? To exercise more, I will find a gym
that is close to home and I will find a buddy to go with, to keep me
accountable. I will make sure that the timing will fit into my schedule and I
will put it on my calendar so that I do not overbook myself and end up missing
my workout. To eat better, I will plan my meals for the week. I will think
about what I need for those meals, go shopping on Saturday, and cook half of my
meals on Sunday. I will then cook the other half on Wednesday. I will plan to
go out to eat two times per week, where I can loosen up on what I eat. I will
not buy any junk food to keep in the house. If I get hungry for a snack, then I
will figure out what snacks I want to have available. If I am out and am not
able to have the meal that I had planned, then I will make sure that I know a
couple restaurants where I can get a good meal at.
As
you can see, there is a lot to think about when you start planning out how you
are going to achieve a goal, but what is the alternative? If you really want to
reach your goal, isn’t it worth putting in 1-2 hours on a Sunday, thinking
through how you might actually get there? It’s not enough to just think of a
goal and start taking action; there are too many obstacles that will come up.
Why do you think you are where you are in the first place? Because of obstacles!
So here are a few questions that you should run through before starting to work
toward any goal:
1)
What is my goal?
2)
When do I want to reach my goal?
3)
What has kept me from reaching this goal in the past?
4)
Have I tried to reach this goal before and made progress? If so, what worked?
If not, what did not work?
5)
What obstacles will I face that could keep me from making progress?
6)
What are my backup plans for getting around these obstacles?
7)
What about my current situation do I not like? What would be GOOD about
changing?
8) What
about my current habits do I like? What would be BAD about changing?
9)
Who can I turn to for support when things get hard? Who will keep me
accountable?
10)
How can I change my environment to support my goals?
11)
What will I do, once I reach my goal?
12)
What about my current life am I unwilling to give up?
If
you can take the time to think through these questions, you will be fully
prepared to attack whatever goal you may set. As you will notice, two of the
questions focus on the good and bad side of making the changes you are about to
attempt. This is important as you must first understand why you do what you
currently do and why you want to do something different before you can hope to
make lasting changes. Self-awareness is often overlooked in the habit changing
game, but it can be the most important.
Too
Many Changes
The
second issue that comes up when making changes is our inability to judge how
much we can handle. While making a few simple dietary changes and adding in
exercise may sound simple at the start, there are countless barriers that come
up for which we cannot plan for. If you are trying to change too many things at
once, this will usually just lead to more frustration and disappointment than
actual change.
The
other issue with changing everything at once is that even when you do reach your
goal, you are unable to keep up with your new habits. And that’s just the
point: change must be sustainable. I can’t tell you how many people say, “I’m
going to just drop the weight and then maintain.” That’s like saying, “Let me
just cheat on my entrance exam and THEN I will start studying.” It doesn’t work
that way. Because even if you do lose the weight, how will you have any idea
what it means to maintain? Maintenance implies that you have healthy habits
already in place, and this takes consistency over a long period of time.
Game
Plan = Game Change
So
this is it. You have your goal; you have answered your questions; you have a
plan. Now it’s time to take action. Once you start, though, you must go back
and use your newly developed game plan to guide you along the way. New obstacles
will arise, unforeseen barriers will hold you back, but keep looking over what you
wrote and modify it as needed. It has taken years for you to establish the
habits that you have today, so don’t think that this is an overnight
transformation. If you really want to change the game, know that you will have
to adapt your plan as well. But know this: as long as you decide today that
your life will be lived on purpose, and not by chance, you will find success in
whatever it is that you strive to achieve.
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