**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 am going to worry less. I have recently realized that worrying about everything makes me feel like I have some control over the situation I’m worrying about. However, that is the opposite. It just makes me more anxious about the situation and takes up valuable energy I can use in other areas of my life. So i’m going to stop worrying about things I can’t control. This will hopefully make me more positive and maybe I can start believing I can actually achieve my goals this year.
Thanks for the Inspiration:) My goal is to work out with my hubby so we can keep each other accountable. I am post menopausal and am ready to get this extra weight off my midsection.2015 is the year!!!!!!
2015 is the year for me to get back on track. I had lost quite a bit of weight 2 years ago and now find myself back to where I was before 🙁 Several things derailed my new found Fitness as I had to change jobs and then within those same 6 months my mother passed away from Alzheimer’s. It seemed I don’t have the motivation to keep going and found myself indulging in things other then exercise. My plan is to get back to the Gym and hit the trail again for Cardio. This old routine worked well for me in the past. I heard a quote the other day which hit home for me.
“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.?
Over the years I struggled with my weight. I would lose weight and gain it back over time. This year I’m getting married and of course every girl wants to look the best for her wedding. (So i would love to hit my goal by then) But, for me I want this to be a lifestyle change I don’t want to have to get up and think about the unhealthy choices I made the day before. So this year I’m going to focus on clean eatting, exercise and trying to manage all this wedding stress by focusing on changing myself.
My plan that I wrote out and posted is to eat cleaner so I can improve my health. I was going to start by joining the DietBet because I think that the support and knowing I spent money on it will keep me motivated!
This year I vow to be kind to ME! I’m working on my body image and how I see myself so I can focus on how far I have come and not focus on my perceived negatives. I get in my own head and start to self sabotage since “what I do doesn’t work” and I’m DONE. This year I’m going to love myself, and continue on my journey to a happier, healthy me.
For 2015 goals is to finally stop yo-yo my weight and not have to struggle to mantain my fitness levels established by my military service.
I will be starting a 60 day fitness challenge January 12th. I have done this before and once the challenge ended, so did my motivation. My New Years resolution is to continue my fitness journey once the 60 days is up.
In 2015 I plan to train for my first NPC competition. I want to build my strength and positive wellness habits. I received my degree in nutrition but decided to take another path in life after college and pursue counseling. As much as I enjoy helping others, I realize I need to take care of myself first. By setting a goal to compete in an NPC competition I’ve committed myself to eating clean, drinking more water throughout the day, drinking less alcohol on the weekends, and having a structured training program at the gym. I believe the diet bet would benefit me because of the competitive nature that I have not only with others, but with myself. 2015 is my year and I know I’ll be able to reach my goals.
following you and Chris on instagram has been fun, challenging and inspirational. my goals for this year are to lose 30 pounds put on during the flare up of autoimmune thyroid disorder. I am beginning with a Paleo eating lifestyle and mild to moderate exercise. my next goal is to send birthday and anniversary cards and gif ON TIME to people I love and care about