Choosing fitness goals and how to stay accountable

In Health is Wealth by Paul MelellaLeave a Comment

SETTING  GOALS

In my last blog post we discussed WHY health, exercise and eating wisely should be important to you. Once you DECIDE WHY health and exercise is important to you… now you need to know WHAT you want to accomplish. My recommendation is to set a clear goal that you want to accomplish over the next 6 to 12 months. Maybe it is to exercise 3 days a week for the next 12 months. Maybe it is to lose 20 lbs. Maybe it is to run a ½ marathon or marathon. I recommend my clients to set at least two goals when we do this exercise:

  1. Fitness Goal
  2. Achievement Goal or Challenge Goal

runner

The Fitness Goal is something specific that you want to accomplish such as losing 20lbs, drop two dress sizes, become 10% body fat or have a six pack (abs not beer).

An Achievement Goal or Challenge Goal is something that can inspire you to perform at a higher level. It keeps you determined to train, exercise and work out consistently because most people will remain focused when training for a specific event or challenge. It could be a 5k race, 1/2 marathon, marathon, triathlon,  Spartan race or Tough mutter. If you don’t like to compete in races or fitness challenges… then maybe you can schedule a photo shoot with a professional photographer. Basically… it is something that you can work towards while you continue to train, exercise and eat wisely.

Every Memorial Day my wife and I have a huge party at our house… we literally have over 200 people at our party (including kids of course) In any event… it is the first weekend of the warm weather in NY … and our pool is open and ready. Our friends are now in their 30’s, 40’s and some in their 50’s and most of them have children. Exercise for most of them have not been on their top priority list… but we started this cheesy event called… The Melella Hot Tub Hot Body Contest. Seriously… I did this almost as a joke at first. I bought two huge trophies… one for the men and one for the women. The first year we awarded them to a couple that both lost over 20 lbs. each and we made a huge deal about it in front of everyone. Whoever wins gets to keep the trophy for one year… and then they must bring it back and award it to another two people the following year. I’m not kidding… we have married couples and old friends that were totally out of shape…and now they are running marathons, becoming personal trainers and exercising to win this trophy. It is AWESOME! My point is this… around December of every year we announce the Melella Hot Tub Hot Body Contest and people begin to train to either win the trophy or just to look really good for our party. That is the power of an Achievement Goal.

 

trophySo here is what I want you to do next… write down and answer these questions:

  1. If we were meeting 12 months from today… what would you like to see happen as it relates to your health and fitness?
  2. What are your two goals?
    •  What is a Fitness Goal that you are committed to attain?
    •  What is an Achievement or Challenge Goal that you are committed to attain?

DECLARE YOUR GOAL

Okay… now that you have a your two GOALS…  we are going to DECLARE it! What do I mean about that? Well … two things… we are going to announce it to as many people as we can. I call it a DECLARATION email or announcement. Let me give you an example:

11 months ago… I had ACL and meniscus knee surgery. The day I got back from the hospital I was in a full knee brace, couldn’t move and then I did these two steps … I DECIDED and then DECLARED! I went online and signed up for a ½ marathon that was 8 ½ months away. I shared it on Facebook, told my clients, students and family members. By doing that… it basically forced me in a positive way to commit to that achievement goal. In reality it helped me become accountable to my goal.

Think of any professional coach, politician or business professional that DECLARES what they are going to do over their next term etc…. you are basically sharing and DECLARING what you are going to do. So the people you respect the most will hold you accountable to your goals. Its almost like they are your personal fans that you don’t want to let down. If I didn’t run that ½ marathon after knee surgery… I would have looked so silly in front of my students, coaching clients and blog readers after declaring it.

declare picSo here is what I want you to do… take your two goals that we discussed today… and I want you to write an email to your top 10 family members, friends, co workers or clients that you respect… and I want you to start the email like this:

Dear friends and family… I am taking a coaching program with Empowered Mastery and one of the exercises is to declare what specific goals I am going to accomplish within the next 12 months. Today I am declaring that I am going to lose 20 lbs., exercise 3 days a week for a year and run a ½ marathon. I am writing to you because I respect you and know that you will help hold me accountable to my goals. Please continue to ask me how my training is going to help keep me inspired.

I will be talking more about this in our FREE Quick Start to a Healthy You Summit coming up on October 18 & 19, 2016. Sign up now!!

Live Life to the Fullest!

Master Paul Melella Jr

Tips from this article

  1. Choose a Fitness and Achievement Goal
  2. Write a description of exactly you would like to see happen over the next 12 months
  3. Send a Declaration email to family, friends, co workers to help hold you accountable

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