Welcome to the New Year! We enter it with hopes, expectations and visions of how things will turn out for us. If fitness is on your list of things to move up in 2010, then it is not going to “turn out”, you are going to have to turn up the heat on your programme and yourself. The genesis of a new year has this effect on us. It causes us to reflect and want to shift things around in our lives, and of course elevate our performance in specific areas. A fresh perspective on the pitfalls in those areas holds the opportunity to yield results that you may never have had before. How do I win the battle of the weight loss/fitness plan this year? Success begins with a plan. Setting up a solid fitness programme that you will enjoy and stick with is your best first step. Take a look at what else can give you the edge and put you into ACTION.

1. STRATEGISE — Be clear on what you want as a result. Define your goal and the time frame, put it into existence by plugging the date into your 2010 calendar AND have a visual reminder posted, such as a photo on your bathroom mirror or a rocking screen saver. So whether it’s a six-pack by June or an “off-the-charts” Carnival body, a visual reminder of your goal is a good way to keep the goal in place, regularly stimulating your inspiration in any way you can.

2. STRUCTURE — Putting structures in place is the key to getting yourself into the game. Setting aside a specific time in your week allotted to exercising, getting to the market to stock up on fresh foods and preparing healthy meals are structures for healthy living. Nobody has time to exercise, but everyone can make time to do it. Waking up half-an-hour earlier can give you time for a 10-minute skip-rope routine and some sit-ups.

As opposed to saying, “I’m going to exercise three times a week,” without knowing exactly when, where or for how long, something like joining a gym will give you the benefit of committing to a certain time, a specific day as well as a time frame as outlined in your membership contract. That is a structure which will increase your chances of Making It Happen.

3. ACTION: The only thing that can produce an actual result in reality is an ACTION. Thinking about something doesn’t give you a result, having a feeling about something doesn’t give you a result. Results are only ever produced from actions.

Look out for pitfalls…

REASONS

Wherever you never got a result that you desired in your fitness or physical well-being, you probably had a very good REASON for it. It is true that they may have been VALID, but in the world of results, they were just not real. They existed, but just not in reality, in the same way that let’s say a chair exists in the world. We can see it, touch it, feel it, because it’s there. But the “reason” on the other hand, all we can do is talk about it, it only exists in language. It doesn’t mean that reasons are bad nor does it serve to invalidate anyone’s reasons. People will fight to protect their reasons because for them, their reasons are real. So what are reasons really? They are stops. If you can begin to see your reasons as stops that you put in place to validate you stopping the result that you said that you wanted, then you have an access to taking an action in the face of your reasons as they come up.

At the end of the day, when you look back on your goal, the only thing that you will have is a lot of words about why you didn’t get the result that you wanted. Explanations as to why you didn’t take the actions, instead of an actual result.

FEELINGS

“Do I feel like going to the gym today?” Feelings are not actions, they translate into words, words that make you wonder whether to go to the gym that day or not. The result of that feeling could either be an action or another excuse.

EXCUSES

Excuses are like, “Oh, I didn’t get enough sleep last night”, or “It might rain”, or “Oh, I thought the gym was closed”, are not translated into actions, which equals no results.

CONSIDERATIONS

“Oh, I don’t think my gym buddy is going to fight this traffic tonight”, or “Boy, it looks like it may be a hard class and I may not be able to keep up with the others.” These considerations do not make any difference on the scoreboard of results, the only difference that is made is “no difference” or “no results”.

Any trainer in the world coaching anyone who comes up with their reasons or excuses will be very straightforward, “just get into action”. If you are sitting on the stands at a football game, yelling and screaming at the players to move the ball to the left, strike a goal or dodge, this does not actually cause the game to move in that direction. If you were able to get into the game, however, and be the one to take the actions, then you would have a chance at winning. Actions are the only things that will forward the game, produce a result and make any difference whatsoever.

MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

When you feel yourself slowing down, wanting to stop and the justifications begin to rise to the surface, then the only word is ACTION. Get up! Drive! Walk! Step! Whatever action word fits the scene, then start with that word, and do what you know you need to do to get the result that you want, and it is that simple. When Martin Luther King wanted to make a difference for black people, he didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he knew he could do one thing, he could walk. And he just walked, and it made a difference.

In every moment this year you have the opportunity to check yourself, “Am I acting on it now?” and if the answer is no, then you surely will find a reason why you’re not. Each day holds a new opportunity for actions and fulfilment on the promises that you make to yourself this New Year. So now that you have the know-how to plan, structure and identify the pitfalls, go into 2010 making your NEW resolution a REALITY today!