**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 decided that 2015 is my year. This year is all about getting my health in focus which includes learning to eat better without dieting. So this year I will be making a lifestyle change, all in the name of better health and wellness. One of the things I am doing is surrounding myself with positive influences such as Heidi Powell’s facebook page so that each day I have information on how to stay healthy as well as motivation on this new journey.
Two things I plan this year to reach my goals are 1 to develop smart goals I have found that the goals in the past have been to broad and unattainable. So, I plan to exercise atleast 4 out of 7 days by trying a fun activity, like dancing. Second, I WILL drink atleast 8 cups of water a day.
Great blog! Thank you for sharing all this helpful information!
My goals this year are too get healthy. In years past, I’ve set weight loss goals and never met them. I know being healthy and fit is far more than how much I weigh on a scale. So this year my husband and I are aiming for health and fitness. We are watching our portions, eating healthier meals and snacks and making sure we move everyday! This year we have a color run planned with our family and friends, the kids just love it, and also my husband and I are training to do our first Sparta run! I am totally not ready for the run, but I’m not going to give up trying to be ready for it!
Thank you for the opportunity to enter the giveaway! 🙂
One thing I’m going to do this year is try to be positive about anything that is thrown my way. I tend to let things get me down easily but I’m very blessed with 2 beautiful children and many other things. My job with Child Protective Services is extremely stressful and I tend to let that get to me. This year I’m just going to focus on being happy, that will surely help with my weight loss goals. 🙂
Instead of starting this journey alone I am including my family. They are my passion after all. My girls and husband inspire me and I hope to do the same for them. So excited to start s healthier life with them!
Hi, I am looking for a weight loss program that can help to motivate me. I belong to a gym but rarely go because I recently began grad school and cannot find the time. I want to focus on my health and weight loss, as this is the only area in my life that I am unhappy with. I just turned 39 and would locw to tackle this goal before I turn 40. My body hurts doing everyday tasks. I need to do this.
Love you guys. Thanks for your help!
I’m setting new fitness goals, like a half marathon and running 400 miles. In also doing a food journal and I’ve joined a few fb groups to get motivation and hold myself accountable!
I cleaned all the processed food out of my house and started working out!! I’m meeting with a personal trainer next week!!
I resolute to continuing my lifestyle change, lost 70lbs in 2014 and more to go. Thanks for your inspiration and work you do to help others. The Dietbet would help jump start my 2015.
I really set one large resolution with several subsets.
This year I resolve to spread the spark and fab the flames. This involves the following:
1. Talk to strangers while out in public. Too many people in this world just walk right past each other without ever connecting with another soul that day.
2. Share my passion for running and love for fitness and it’s benefits whenever the opportunity presents itself. That also means focusing less on setting PR’s and assisting others to reach their goals.
3. Smile. Happiness is contagious and you never know who needs that ray of hope right now.
4. Be the best model possible for my 3 children. I can’t control what they are exposed to in the world. But I can control what happens at home for the most part.
5. No excuses. Everyone has “reasons” to not get the workout in or make the healthier choice. But when I make the healthier decision and put my health first; I look, act, feel like a better Person for it.
That’s it folks! Sweet and simple. Spread the spark and fan the flames!