**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
I follow you and Chris a lot and love watching EWL. I struggle with motivation and want to lose weight, not just to feel good for myself, but to reach my ultimate goal of becoming a police officer. I already work in law enforcement, supervising sex offenders, and find it hard to find time to focus on myself. So in 2016, that is my goal. To take time for myself and care for me first…not others. Which may sound selfish, but it’s all I’ve been doing and my own health has been pushed to the side. Exercise and self-care is needed for me this year and hopefully it will help me reach my goals! Your diet bet will be one of the first steps
Hi Heidi – this year my most important resolution is to feel proud of my body again and to feel good in it by getting fit and losing weight.
My promise to myself is to do 5 minutes of core twice a day everyday, once in the morning and once at night.
I posted on your Facebook page for support recently and you told me to start small 🙂 I feel inspired to take these small steps and look forward to keeping you posted about my success!
Hi Heidi
I am excited for 2016 and excited to finish what i started two years ago. I am making a promise to myself to not only finish what i started in regards to my health but to show more empathy and be in the moment more. January 2013 i decided to make a complete health change because i lost my uncle, grandma, and father within 2 years due to diabetes and cancer. I had never worried about my health until this happened. I just told myself im done being overweight and unhealthy and i refuse to get diabetes or cancer so i started seeing a nutritionist and cutting all processed foods out. By the time august 2013 came i was down to 182lbs! I felt mentally better and my health risk went way down. Fast forward to this year, i let life happen and started putting myself on the back burner and ive put about 20lbs back on. Once you introduce sugar and all the chemically induced foods back in your diet it messes with you mentally and i dont like that roller coaster feeling. My original goal was to get healtheir before i turned 30 and to get down to a size 8 or 145lbs whichever happened first. I am going to finish that goal this year and i am excited to join the dietbet challenege. Love your show….happy new years!! 🙂
Hi Heidi,
One of my resolutions this year is to make myself a priority which will in return, make a better life for my family. I’m someone who always says “yes” to helping someone out, even if it sets myself back. To help me reach my goal, I will ask for the information, give myself time to process it, and learn to say “no” if need be.
I would love to win a spot!
<3 Happy New Year!!
My main goal is to do what it takes to get back to a person who believes it IS possible! With hard work, determination, and the living support from my husband I can accomplish anything I set my mind to do! I may stumble, fail momentarily, and cry, but I will become a better me!
I promise to dedicate more time to myself in order to achieve this goal. I am worth it, and want to prove that to myself again.
I am going to start placing me first. Going to make it a priority to exercise consistently , and eat healthy. Too often I have placed everyone before me literally leaving no time for myself. Have a cakander where I scheduled my time to exercise. By taking care of myself it will allow me to show my children a healthy lifestyle and that taking care of yourself is important.
I have 140lbs to lose, but my focus isn’t on the numbers (for once). 2016 is the year I work on balance in my life! I have tried and failed so many times to lose weight without addressing the other imbalances in my life. This only ends up with me regaining weight, adding more weight on, and finding myself miserable and depressed. So, this year, I’m going to set the groundwork and work on my life, not just my waistline. My biggest goals are: 1) to return to school after 20 years and finish my degree (feed my mind); 2) to put time and effort into activities, events, and experiences that excite and fulfill my interests and passions (feed my soul); 3) to find more ways to incorporate my family in my life (feed my heart); 4) incorporate more healthy activity in my life, including running the Orc Stomp 5K in August (it was the trigger that started my transformation two years ago) (feed my body). Starting 2016 with a brand new challenge like a Diet Bet (I’ve never been involved in one before) would be an extra special way to kick off my new year of transformation and I would be very grateful!
I’m addicted to sugar. My goal for the first two months of the year are to limit myself to one treat a day
My goal for 2016:
I started a running program one month ago. My goals are:
– Do not quit
– Even when I don’t feel like it, get up and do it
– Stop the excuses
– Do not quit
– Drink lots more water
– Make yourself proud
– Do not quit
– Complete 5k (running, no walking)
– Continue to make my kids proud of me 🙂
– Believe you can do it
– Do not quit – no matter what
– Cross that finish line and high five myself
– Make myself proud of me
– Get that self confidence back
– Do not quit
My new years resolution is not to make a new years resolution, instead make a promise to myself to take care of myself. Make time for me. I recently joined the gym and plan on putting that to good use as well as recognize when and why I am eating. I can do it because I want to do it.