Best Techniques For Sticking To Your Fitness Goals (Part I)

Let me ask you a question; how often have you decided to start a life-changing endeavor, start a project, start going to the gym or start anything major at all? For most of us, the answer is any time you feel motivated, but most people won’t tell you that.

This sudden increase in motivation can because of a quote we saw online, a YouTube video or even the Earth moving around the Sun (New Years Resolution). This feeling of inspiration doesn’t last very long and people eventually just return to how they were.

In my personal opinion, the mean reason most people don't follow through on dreams, goals or ambitions is that they lost their driving force or didn’t have a strong enough reason to follow through on their commitments.

The problem with this is that the initial motivation will fade eventually and you won't feel like continuing with your plans or ambitious, then you will return to your old self and the cycle repeats itself.

This phenomenon is what I like to call “The Motivational High”. It's like working based on a sugar rush, and we all know after that sugary goodness wears off, you crash are left tired and uninterested.

This isn’t to say that you can’t accomplish something over a sudden spark of motivation.

To combat this cycle of failing to follow through on things you need to either have a strong reason or a system or method of an act that keeps us on track and that what this article is for.

I intend to give a few methods for sticking to a goal or ambition in the context of fitness. Although these techniques can be applied in most circumstances.

With that said I have created a list of steps you can keep yourself motivated and focused on your road to success.

1. Identify And Understand What You Want To Achieve

First of all, you should identify what your goals are and know why you want to achieve them.

If you can’t truly understand what the goal is or why it’s a priority it will simply be a wish, and everyone makes wishes.

Take into consideration that whatever goal you choose it should be for deeply personal reasons and self-development.

If you choose a goal like getting a six-pack to impress someone then you will be extremely disappointed when they don't notice, that is if you achieve that goal at all.

To truly identify whether or not a goal is personal and impactful ask yourself two questions: If no noticed you accomplishing this goal would it still have the same impact and what internal need would this goal fulfill and why does this goal matter to you.

Try and ask yourself those questions and see if that goal is truly worth pursuing.

2. Deconstruct The Goal

Being able to do this is a fundamental part of your journey to your goal. Understanding and breaking down the goal will give you a better idea of how to get good results you’re aiming for.

This is also a defining factor in whatever or not you're going to achieve your goal or not. Most people just do whatever comes to mind and they usually end up failing.

Take a look at what the goal is and find things you can do every day that can get you closer to the end goal. For instance, your goal could be to lose X pounds in X months. Figuring out how to get a little bit of the goal done every day will give you more of a fighting chance.

To ensure you get this done find exercise routines that are good for Weight loss and try and do them every day. Each day you do the task you should be getting closer to your dreams. Once you have broken down the goal its time to implement them in everyday life.

In order not to lose focus or forget about your ambition or goals. Create a plan that consists of a daily activity that can get you closer to your goal. For example, if you want to write a book, create a plan that consists of writing a certain amount of words every single day.

For fitness goals make or find a training plan that you can carry out each day. This helps because each day that you complete your set goal for the day you are going to feel more accomplished and motivated.

Try and get up each morning with the idea of finding a way to get a step closer to your goal.

If you have multiple goals create a to-do list the night before, in the morning go over it and during the day try and complete as many objectives as you can.

Realize that every day that you complete your list your getting closer to your dreams and you are getting better each day.

3. Don't Seek Other People's Approval

People in this world will either criticize you or approve of you and your actions. If you base your happiness on whether or not people approve of you, you will end up being very depressed.

Once make a little progress it can be very tempting to tell your friends and family how well you’re doing. In most cases, they will either tell that you haven’t gotten that far and then they tell you that are doing better or they will praise you and then start relying on that approval to continue.

Realize that you started this for yourself not other people. You started working out because you wanted to be healthy, you start a project because of your ambitions. No matter what you do people will try and put you down, they will belittle your progress. Remember you started because of you and no one else.

4. Find A Way To Track Your Progress

If you can measure it you can improve it. No matter how difficult a task is it can be broken down it can be completed. The truth is we humans tend to lost track of things, like much we spend, the number of calories we consume or much time we spend watching TV.

This is only natural and is to be expected, but if you want to achieve something worthwhile you need to go against what is natural, therefore you need to track your progress.

Figure out the metrics involved in your agenda and find ways to increase them. Think of ways to increase these metrics positively every day. It doesn’t matter if you just increase one or two, all that matters is that you’re improving.

Get a calendar and a marker and cross off every day that you followed through on your plan. When you look at that calendar with a long strike you will get a sense of achievement.

You can also use an app to keep track of your progress. It is best to try and keep this up for about 21 days - habits are often formed within this time -firm.

5. Be Mindful Of When Your Losing Motivation

This is a very important component in any plan or goal if it was started because of a large surge of emotions, sooner or later that initial spark will start to fade and you would feel less like doing the thing you got motivated to do, usually, this starts from 2 to 5 months after you start your journey, although most people don’t last that long.

To keep yourself from giving up be aware of those times you put off completing or carrying out your daily goals and activities that get you closer to your goals.

The key to doing this to simply be mindful and understand the situations that make you feel like procrastinating or outright giving up.

In that moment of giving up try and understand why you feel that way, it could be because you're not seeing any progress or your feeling some negative emotions.

When you realize what is happening found a way to get yourself out of that state and take a break. If your feeling tired, rest. If you're feeling down on your luck because of outside factors try and focus on finding a way to raise your spirit.

If your not seeing progress reminds yourself of why you started and remember how far you come even if that’s a few days.

Recognize the fact that everything takes time and effort. The key to all if this is mindfulness and awareness.