**Update: Here are the winners of our 6 DietBet entries: Me: Christy Cloer (Facebook), @alishabowling (Instagram), and April Sherlock (Twitter). Chris: Chelsi Byrnes (Facebook), @joshmagill (Instagram), and Carrie Sagel Burns (Twitter). We replied to your posts with the info on how to claim your free entry, so go check them right now! 😉 You have 24 hours to reply. Congratulations!
Every New Year?s Eve, Chris and I gather up our friends and family for a little resolutions party. It is without a doubt one of my favorite days of the entire year. Together, we hang out, set off fireworks, and laugh about the crazy adventures over the last year. Right before the New Year hits, we each write out individual resolutions on paper lanterns and release them into the sky. There is something so powerful about declaring your resolutions out loud to those closest to you. These kinds of promises, as opposed to silent promises, give us an added layer of accountability that we all need…including me!!
2015 has absolutely flown by, and I really can’t believe it’s that time of year again when at least 45% of us make those New Year?s Resolutions to lose weight, or save money, or get out of debt, or go back to school, or cross off that bucket list item…and on and on. Why is it, then, that on December 31st?364 short days later?only 8% of resolution makers are successful? Why do we have a hard time achieving any goal, no matter when we begin? Why is it so hard to do what we know we need to do? What quenched that burning fire we felt on day 1 of this ?fresh start,? and how can we reignite it and be successful goal achievers? It might take some trial and error to find your fire, but go for it?you?re so worth it!
Here are my six solutions for reigniting, and then keeping your goal-achieving fire burning brightly?with some motivational quotes thrown in for some extra kindling: 😉
1. Have a heart-to-heart conversation with yourself and ask?and answer?the hard questions: Why do I want to achieve this goal? How will my life be better by achieving it? If this is a repeat goal, why did I fall (because we never fail!) the last time? What will I do differently this time?
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~Unknown
The best goal has a deeper motivation?that burning fire you feel within: to get a better job, to be able to play with your kids without feeling like you?re going to die, to retire at a certain age, etc. And while a goal to fit into that pair of jeans might get you started, it?s probably not a long-term motivator. Find that ?burning fire? purpose and you?re good to go!
Purpose is the most powerful motivator in the world. ~Gandhi
2.? Prioritize:? If your calendar and to-do list don?t match up with your goal, you?ve got a problem.
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage…to say ?no? to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ?YES? burning inside. ~ Stephen Covey
Yes, you need to take care of life and the people in your life, but if your to-do list is full of too many low-priority ?other? things, you?ve lost your bigger, burning YES! Carefully prioritize your life and make sure those YESs are front and center.
3.? Replace fear with courage: The fear of failure is a huge fear we all have to deal with when committing to a goal, and the hardest part of reaching that goal is often convincing ourselves we can change even though we?re afraid! One of the easiest ways to find the courage amongst your fears is to make and keep one small Promise to yourself. Success ignites even more courage!
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. ~Disney?s “The Princess Diaries”
4.? Celebrate every single success, no matter how small: Set up your own reward system?it works for kids, why wouldn?t it work for you?! Make your rewards something tangible, motivating, and goal-related, and remember that each tiny success makes that fire burn even hotter, so celebrate!
People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. ~Tony Robbins
5.? Be realistic:
- Achieving this goal will definitely make your life better, but don?t make the mistake of thinking it will make life ?perfect.? If you do, you?re setting yourself up for a big fall.
- Be prepared to fall, and when you do, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and confess, reassess, and recommit to your goal. Remember: Falling is not failing!
- Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. Feeling comfortable is definitely a fire extinguisher!
Life is not meant to be lived in your comfort zone. ~Laurel Day
6.? Some other ways to keep that fire burning:
- Work on one goal at a time and make sure it?s a SMART Goal.
- If you don?t know where to start, do some research, ask others, and become a budding expert. For a weight loss goal, check out our Carb Cycling program?it works!
- Just begin. Focus on one small thing you can do today to move closer to your goal. Get on that treadmill for just 5 minutes, deposit $5 in a savings account, or look over your resume. One small thing.
- Prepare for and take care of small bumps in the road before they become huge roadblocks to your success.
Guys, I?ve got an amazing way for you to get a great start on that 2016 transformation goal, and it starts January 4th. Chris and I are hosting another?DietBet game??Get Lean in 2016 with Heidi & Chris Powell??and we?d love to have you on our Get Lean Team! It?s simple: Bet $30, lose 4% of your body weight in 30 days, and split the pot (which is growing every day, BTW!). What an awesome way to invest in yourself in more ways than one. 😉 Who?s in? Get all the info?here! And to give you a jump start on your 2016 transformation goals, I’m giving away three entries to our DietBet game! Here’s how to enter:
- Leave a comment below and tell me about one of your New Year’s Resolutions. And to make it really real, tell me one promise you’re going to make to yourself to help you achieve this goal!
- Make sure you’re following me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and then like this post on any of my channels. You can even share it if you feel so inclined. 😉
- You have until midnight, Sunday, January 3rd, to enter, and one winner will be randomly chosen from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and announced here on Monday, January 4th.
And remember, finding your fire and keeping it burning brightly is all up to you?no one can do it for you. You got this! 🙂
Xoxo,
Heidi
1,283 Responses
One of my goals is to meal plan on a regular basis and I plan on achieving this by trying new recipes so that I don’t get bored with the same foods.
One of my New Years resolution is to lose the last 30 lbs of baby weight. Thanks to some motivation from my last 4 dietbets…I’ve already lost 60 lbs since having my 3rd baby in April. Another of my resolutions is to save more money this year by not eating out. For me, these 2 things go hand in hand. So my promise is to workout 5 days a week, and only eat out once a month. Here’s to an awesome 2016!
Well 4 years ago by New Years resolution was to quit smoking and I kept it. I’ve never been more happier for the healthy choice this year I’ve decided to do only one goal to loose weight. I’ve been waiting 5 years to get married cause I’ve been pushing it off till next year every year to loose weight. This time I took my wedding dress I got years ago and it’s up for sale size 18 when I hit my goal size 10 I’ll buy a new dress for my wedding and look amazing in it. I got this dress cause it picked me as it was the only one in the whole store that fit. This time I’m going to pick the dress of my dreams.
My “resolution” this year is to reprioritize my life. I have a son with really severe medical issues. He’s 14, nonverbal, has autism, Epilepsy, and a plethora of other somewhat rare disorders. He has been priority #1 for obvious reasons, but then his educational needs have always been second, followed by the needs of his siblings, and then my husband. Somewhere in all of this we had a sinkhole under our home, and lost all our value. We have yet to recover financially from that. I did manage to quit smoking, which is awesome, but I gained about 65 lbs. For years, my need for immediate gratification would take over, and whether it was a drink to relax, or the extra helping of whatever cheesy dish I was eating, or a bag of chocolates, so here I find myself overweight by about 90 lbs and I hate every last pound of it. So I am not dieting. I am not trying to lose weight. I am changing my life so that I can have a life. I want to me a better wife, and a better Mom, but mostly I want to be a better me. I wish everyone else here much success in their journey!
My goal for this year is to move more, exercise three times a week. I got off track this year due to illness, and I’m going to get back on track to be able to feel better and play with the nieces and nephews!
I’ve been going back and forth with joining a diet bet again. I haven’t been successful in any of my 4 previous attempts. I had lost about 30 lbs about a year or so ago and have gained it all back. My husband is about 100 lbs heavier than me and recently had to start using insulin for diabetes. We both want to change our habits and get healthy for the long term. Not just do well for a week or two and then go back to the old ways!
My resolution is to learn to love myself again.
Over the past 2 years I have lost 80lbs and I have over came being on diabetes meds. I am stuck I am ready to lose about 20 more lbs and get more toned. I need something to help kick start this change. I know I am so ready to be the best me I can be.
I will be the most important thing in my life in 2016. For 38 years I’ve been taking care of everyone else in my life instead of myself. While this may sound selfish, I realize it’s necessary to love myself. I promise to not miss workouts, eat healthy and stay focused being around the positive people who care about me. I don’t know how you could read all these entries and decided mine is the one to pick, but I am honestly and truly invested in changing my life and I hope you’ll give me a chance. Thanks
One of my resolutions this year is to lose 75lbs and get back into the shape I was before. I just had my third baby 11 wks ago and I am ready to shed all the pounds I gained once and for all. I struggle getting back on track after a baby but I know I need to cause I just get depressed knowing nothing fits in my full wardrobe so what better time then now. I’d love to win an entry. I’m very competitive so it gets me motivated.