those toned arms like Mrs. Obama. While visualizing will help shape your goals, remember to be realistic when setting your goals!
5. Find a role model.
Identify a role model that will influence you to make the right choices in life. This is someone committed to healthy living, someone who will tell you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear. The key is to seek their mentorship on a continuous basis to help support, advance, and hold you accountable on your progress towards making a healthy lifestyle change. Any guidance from your role model should also be considered when setting your goals.
6. Develop a plan of action to effectively execute your goals.
Many people are wishful thinkers, full of hopes and dreams. People spend 90% of their time hoping, wishing, and dreaming about what they’d like to accomplish, but never in concrete terms. As a result, we repeat the same ineffective activities over and over again expecting a different result. We should spend 10% of our time developing, refining, and measuring our goals, and 90% of our time executing these goals.
Achieving your goals, even those that seem unattainable, doesn’t require a Ph.D. or pro talent. It does, however, require determination, dedication and perseverance, and most of all, a realistic action plan. If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.
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7. Put your action plan in writing.
Put your goals in writing. Write out where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow, next week, next month and for the rest of your life. The act of writing your plan will force you to think in concrete terms. Your plan should include both a meal plan and a workout plan. Break your plan down into small achievable steps and attach a realistic timeline to each step. Determine how you want to measure your progress; these measurements will be your reality check. Also, consider what it will take to reach each step (e.g., time, energy and money).
Your action plan will be a living document that you should monitor on a weekly basis to track progress and refine as necessary. It can also be used as a reference to consult with your physician and/or role model.
8. Forgive yourself.
It’s important to remain committed to your goals in making a healthy lifestyle change, but sometimes we fall short. This is where forgiveness is key to our success. For example, if you miss a workout for several consecutive days, this doesn’t mean you’ve failed and it doesn’t mean stop executing your plan altogether. The right course of action would be to pick back up and increase your level of workout that same day or resume your normal workout the following day. Remember, your goal is a lifestyle change, not a moment in life change.
9. Educate yourself.
Continue to educate yourself on healthy recipes (and portion sizes), as well as the diversity of exercise routines, and refine your action plan as necessary to suit your lifestyle and needs.
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10. Have an accountability partner.
An accountability partner is someone who shares a common vision with you in making a healthy lifestyle change, and can help you (and likewise them) remain on track towards reaching your goals. Define and implement some guidelines for what accountability looks like (e.g., how many days will you both workout together, when to check-in, weigh-ins, fitness tests, etc.).
11. Give back.
Success with making a healthy lifestyle change comes with a small cause. Find four charitable events (e.g., Breast Cancer walks, AIDS rides, Diabetes 10k) that you are passionate about where you can donate your time, money and energy. The idea is to help someone else while helping yourself! Participating in these events on a quarterly basis will help promote sustainability in healthy living all year long.
Adrian Williams, motivational speaker and health and fitness training expert, is one of the most respected and sought after fitness experts in the country. Adrian is best known for his Healthy Lifestyle Program, motivational fitness quotes and the “No Excuses” fitness video, where new mom’s work out and get fit with their babies. He is also the founder of The Next Level Fitness Company. Over the course of his 24-year career Adrian has devolved physical education programs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield along with being used as a fitness consultant for numerous companies, organizations, online websites, magazines and television shows.
Adrian has spent the past 24 years researching and developing unique motivational training techniques and nutritional programs that promote optimal physical and mental fitness. Adrian’s expertise is in lifestyle change, family fitness, weight loss management, sports performance training, nutrition and body sculpting. His programs have helped hundreds of individuals from all walks of life achieve their health and fitness goals, including a few high profile celebrities and former pro athletes.
