**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 have set goals to start Extreme Transformation (new book) for many reasons 1 I turn 50 in May. My goal and girtnto my self. is my party with cake!!! And I hope my husband and I can be happy and healthy together.
I’ve been sitting here for a few hours now trying to figure out what to write. Not wanting to sound cliche or trite, With a simple I want to lose weight and promise to eat better and work out X times a day. I’ve been there done that and it’s never worked for me. I want to lose weight, and I intend on eating better, and hitting the gym at least 3 times a week, and doing home workouts on the days I don’t go to the gym. But for me it’s so much more then weight loss, eating better, and getting fit. It’s a dream of growing my family, and the includes the aformentioned things. When my husband and I first got married we had tried for over a year and a half to have the baby we had both dreamed of, then I felt God tell me I had to lose weight and get myself healthy, so I spent the next 9 months working out, eating better, and losing weight. Chris was my virtual/TV mentor. It was through his facebook, youtube videos, and of course Extreme Weightloss that I found that push that helped me get through those times when I wanted to quit. Then when I was about 11 weeks pregnant, I got the pleasure of meeting Chris while he was in Palm Harbor filming a reveal episode of the show. I will never forget the look on his face when I was able to tell him my story in person. My son will be 4 in March, and since having him I’ve gained more weight and am now weighing in at more then when I was 9 months pregnant. A few months ago my husband revealed to me that he felt ready to have another child, and as I continue to struggle with my weight I feel like I am failing him, because I know I need to get back on track with weightloss, and getting healthy so we don’t have to spend years trying to concieve and achieving a healthy pregnancy. 2015 has been a rough year for my husband and I in our finances, and our marriage, as my husband lost 2 jobs last January, found work for about 3 months and then was let go from that job. Thankfully he was able to find another job fairly quickly, and we are starting off 2016 in the right direction. Winning a space in the dietbet challange would be the kick that I need to get my weightloss/healthy living going in the right direction! So here I am with my resolution, yet again- Weightloss. But this year I WILL make it happen & I make the promise to myself that I will stop letting my emotions control my choices, and I will eat food to fuel, not to feel
My new year’s resolution ultimately is to get off my ass and do something about this weight i’ve been carrying around and adding to for the last 10 years. yo-yo dieting, stress/emotional/binge eating, divorce and being a single mother who has no car and no job… pretty much leaves you at rock bottom with no ladder and only a shovel to dig deeper. but i don’t want my daughter’s to pick up on the things that i sabotage myself with, so i want to change big time. however, my previous attempt have all crashed and burned. so this time i’m going to take it one step at a time, make one healthy change a day/week whatever until it becomes a habit and not try to tackle it all at once. involve them in becoming active and preparing meals/cooking/choosing meals, etc. time to do it right and permanently. happy new year!
I would really really like to just remember to wear my name tag daily at work. Sounds like an easy task but I am so forgetful. I would also like to wake up on time (if not early). And finally stick to something anything that will improve my health. 2015 was hard I healed mentally now i need to work on my physically self.
My goal is for my daughter to understand that STRONG is healthy and the only important thing is to LOVE our bodies because we are all
Different but amazing. There are so many negative advertisements and comments coming their direction. I want her to know now she has a choice and it’s OK to love herself!
Your an inspiration Heidi! I’d love to be in your dietbet game! It would make me stick to my goal! I did it once before, then had a baby so have to do it again. My goal is to get to a weight where I can be healthy enough to keep up with my 3 kids and get some of my health numbers in proper standing and avoid the diabetes that affects over half my family! I have 2 promises to myself if I make it. My first one is to wear my very first bikini in my life. My second is to take a few weeks off work the first summer after and spend it with my kids at beaches, camping, and doing stuff with them that I just don’t have the energy for now!
My resolution for 2016 is to love myself more and to enjoy all the new possibilities that arrive every day.
In 2013 I lost 100 pounds and it felt amazing! At the end of that year I had my gallbladder out and fell back into old habits. I have since gained it all back and then a little. My resolution is to accomplish that goal again in 2016. My promise to myself is to lose at least 20 pounds every three months.
This year I resolve to get healthier. Ok I know that I’ve said that in the past, as many people have. I recently had a baby girl (she’s 5months old now) and have a 12 year old son. I struggled with my weight my whole adult life and have tried and been unsuccessful many times before. Since having our baby, my husband and I have gained weight and have a lot of financial issues too. So this year I resolve to finally get healthy for my babies and my hot hubby! I also resolve to dig us out of this hole that we are stuck in. I promise to get my booty moving every day whether a brisk walk or a work out video. I just finished my second teaching credential in special education and am in my last masters class. So this is going to be a wonderful 2016!!! I watch EWL with my hubby religiously and look forward to having Dietbet as a personal support for my journey!
Hi Heidi,
Tonight I am registering for the 2016 Portland Marathon! It will be my very first marathon. It’s going to take a lot of work and dedication to train but I am promising (to myself) that I will do whatever it takes to make it across that finish line. I need to shed some extra pounds so I’d love to join your diet bet and get a jump start. Tomorrow is a new day, a new year and a new opportunity to make and keep promises to improve my health.
Happy New Year to you, Chris and the Powel Pack!