“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” – Zig Ziglar
From experience I know this quote to be true. So often in my previous efforts to lose weight when I was in college was almost pointless. I would just say, “Hey, I’m going to try to lose weight starting today.” but I never had a true target. As such, I mindlessly went to the weight room and performed random exercises and maybe a ate a little better, but when the scale didn’t move within a couple days I just quit.
Why? Because I was aiming at nothing! As a result I hit my mark every time… Nothing :-(.
If we’re honest, human life seems to always want to go towards ease and comfort. One day goes into the next day, and despite our great intentions we never seem to really put our intentions into action.
Sadly…as a result our good intentions remain unrealised. Mainly because they are too vague. In this case our big Ideas represent moving targets, they are almost impossible to focus on.
What are the moving targets in your life?
When I was struggling with my weight, I know I always wanted to eat more healthy. What about you? I know many people right now want to get rid of the winter weight that just kind of crept up on. Perhaps it’s simpler, maybe you just want a regular workout routine that you can stick to this time.
Regardless, with the help of Zig Ziglar, there are two tips I’m going to give you today that will help you be successful regardless of what your goal is.
These two tips are: creating a steady target and creating momentum.
Creating a steady target.
Imagine a sharpshooter trying to Bullseye a long ways off. Just as he get ready to squeeze the trigger, the target moves. Frustrated. He aligns himself, gets set up again, and begins to pull the trigger, and the target moves again. Now the sharpshooter is really frustrated, so he quickly sets himself up, puts the sights on the target and pulls the trigger…of course…the Sharpshooter… misses…he hit what he was aiming for…nothing AND as a result he gets even more frustrated.
Does that sound frustrating? Can you relate to this poor sharpshooter? I’m betting you can.
I’m making the case, that you need to create specific goals. Good intentions are moving targets. I get it, you would like to lose some weight, maybe even feel better, you likely want to change your diet. To do all that you need clearly defined goals and a plan (I can help with the plan part : ).
This is one way to help steady your target.
- Define your goals and WRITE THEM DOWN!
- How much weight would you like to lose?
- What changes would you like to make to your diet?
- How many days do you need to exercise per week?
- What old clothes would you like your body to fit into again?
- Etc…
The point is, once you know where you want to end up, the chances of you getting there go up as well.
Now, you have to start taking action and actually start moving towards your goals. This is where momentum comes in.
Creating momentum
So this is going to take some of you by surprise, but I’m kind of a book nerd. Ever since graduate school, all 98 credit hours of it, I love reading books. I love reading books for pleasure and I love reading books to find out and discover new things. Anyway, there’s this book called, Eat that Frog, by Brian Tracy. In this book he discusses the Momentum Principle of Success.
Tracy States, “This principle says that although it may take tremendous amount of energy to overcome inertia and get started initially, and it then takes far less energy to keep going.”
You probably can relate to the wisdom of his words from your daily experience. Most of the time the hardest part about reaching a goal, about cleaning the bathroom, is just getting started.
I remember when I was in college, I hated cleaning the bathroom. I’d write it down every week, I need to clean the bathroom, and every weekend I would look at that task and think, “This really stinks.” and literally and figuratively it didi :-). However once I got started, I was done in about 30 minutes to 45 minutes, that’s really not that bad. But in my mind starting was by far the hardest part.
In the same way, the first time doing something different kind of sucks. The first experience of not having that yummy dessert that you normally have, or skipping that frappe with all kinds of sugar isn’t that much fun. In fact, it could be somewhat daunting at times.
So the question becomes, how do you keep your momentum going?
This is going to blow your mind, but accountability is the answer. You need to have someone else involved in your efforts, it’s that plain and simple.
As you’ve experienced, changing lifelong habits on your own is extremely difficult. The truth is you need someone keeping you accountable and reminding you of why and guiding you from point A to point B. You need someone to help you set deadlines, make commitments, maybe even enter into a contest, all of those items can help provide external motivation and get you through the tough times.
And as I stated earlier, once you find your momentum and start it becomes easier and easier to keep going. The hardest part is starting.
So here’s the big secret.
START NOW!
Take a few minutes right now and write down what you want!=
Make sure that your goal isn’t to broad, I want you to be specific.
Then start brainstorming ways you can get other people involved. Who can help guide you and keep you accountable and focused on where you’re trying to go?
Now, go be awesome!
KELLEN LAKE – Success is within your reach : )
PS – Oh, and remember, I am here to help, use me : )
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