**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
Through your show and previous books I lost 132 pounds. Then my husband, of 44 years, developed cancer which he fought for the last 2 1/2 years. He lost the battle in August 2015. Along the way we have had other major negative events to deal with. During this traumatic time I have gained 65 pounds and stopped exercising. My resolution is my commitment to exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. To keep myself more motivated and looking toward the good of life, I am going to journal at least one positive each day.
Hi my goal is to become the best version of me. I know this encompasses so many things so my promise to myself is to think more and consider the outcome before my actions. I owe it myself to do that. Thanks for all the guidance you both provide. It is truly inspiring.
This is the year I am lucky enough to marry the most amazing man I have ever met. He deserves the best version of me so my resolution is to develop and maintain a gym habit. May is going to be here before I know it!
My goal is to try not to be the “perfect” mom and realize that the things I’m stressing about today won’t matter in a few months. I promise that I will take a second to breathe and not get angry when he kids are stressing me out.
2016 is about me this year. I have put myself on the back burner for way to long when it comes to my kids and my husband. I have gain so much weight that I hate looking at myself. Along with taking care of our family of 6 I work full time. 45+ hours a week. When I get home at night I am so tired and hungry because I don’t find time to eat at work that I sit and stuff my face. This year I am changing that. I plan on eating better, moving more and taking time for me. I need to find me again. It is going to be a long rough road but I need to do this no matter what.
This year I made only one promise to myself. It will the hardest promise to keep. I am to put myself first this year. I’m not sure that I know how to do that. I’ve spent my life putting others before myself because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. My aunt was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. She passed in 2011. My mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. I lost her In August of 2015. My grandmother was diagnosed with cancer also in 2014. Thank God she is still with me. Even after losing both daughters, she is still a trooper. We just found out that her cancer is back and she starts radiation on January 4. All of this has really opened my eyes to my bad habits I need to get rid of, my health I need to take care of and myself that I need to love.
I want this year to be the one that works in all areas beginning with losing weight and becoming more and more healthy. I have been a fan of Chris and Heidi Powell for a few years. I am 69 years of age, and over 30 pounds overweight. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol. I am on nocturnal oxygen. I have now two books of the Powell’s and have been somewhat eating the carb cycling way for awhile. I just bought their new book Extreme Transformation, & will begin reading it and starting the new extreme carb cycle. Thank you Powells for changing so many people’s lives, I know I can do it too!
Before I got pregnant with my daughter, I lost 110 pounds. I read “Choose to lose,” practiced carb cycling, exercised and I did it! I was 5-10 pounds from my goal when I got pregnant. I exercised control, continued to eat well and exercised. I only needed to lose 10 pounds after she was born to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. But she was stillborn at 38 weeks- in October 2015.
Since then, I’ve lost control and gained some weight back.
I need to lose 30.
This year I’m going to slowly work up to the life / small goals / steps I was taking when I lost the weight to regain my pre pregnancy weight.
This year I will do what it takes to mentally and physically heal.
My resolution it to get healthy, I have spent many years not paying attention to my health and gaining weight. It is not an extreme amount but if I am getting healthy and cooking healthy it wil help my husband who is extremely over weight. I want to spend as many years together as we can. We met late in life so we were already cut short in time. My start is here with Chris and Heidi. Today I plan on joining the ewlclub and even if i dont win this I will challenge myself every day.
Heidi my resolution is to stop making excuses for why the scale keeps creeping back up. I need to get ahold of my eating and be more mindful of my portions and rid the house of all my kryptonite foods. I need to lose 45 lbs in 2016 and get back to a healthier me. I have your new book and can’t wait to start on your carb Cycyling. Thank you Cjris and Heidi for being an inspiration to so many people.
This year 2016, I Will work on my integrity and my dignity!? I Will make no more silent-promises. Each week, I will make one promise and I’ll keep it to rebuilt, slowly but surely, my self-confidence! My first promise is : I will drink half my body weight (in oz) every day this week ? So it Will be 110 Oz of water… A special thanks to you and Chris for your incredible dedication in helping us in our big journey! xox