**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
In 2015 I am going to focus on becoming more healthy. I wont say that I am going to lose weight because that is not all that I want 2015 to be about. I want to have healthier relationships with family and friends so that will be something I am going to work on and see them more. I want to have a healthy outlook on life and see what nature has to offer. I will go on more walks and just spend more time outside. I do need to loose over 150+ pounds of weight but I am going to focus not on a number, but on how much I sleep better, how well I feel when I wake up, actually be tired for bed because I did stuff. I will focus on the good things losing weight will help me achieve. Overall I want to be able to say by December 31st 2015 that I AM HEALTHIER AND I AM PROUD OF MYSELF!
Joined Diet Bet. 200 lbs over weight. My family has committed to working to get healthier with me. Our Strategies.
1) No more eating out or fast food. At least no eating out
during the challenge, and no more fast food Ever! (We started this 3 weeks ago. I already feel better)
2) Just bought a new bike.
a)I’m riding it the 3 miles to work,
3) My boys and I agreed no groceries come into the house unless we ride to the store to pick them up. 1-3 miles.(This we’ve been do for 5 days.)
So far, so good!
I am new to all of this, just finishing reading Chris’ Choose More, Lose More, bought all my groceries and signed up for Diet bet. There are 8 promises I am going to accomplish daily: Remind myself, Nobody will do this for me, eat breakfast morning upon waking, Drink 1/2 my weight with water, 20 bench leg lifts and 12 arm lifts(or some type of exersize), minimize my junk food to maybe a handful once a week, park my car far from door, say no thank you, I don’t need this and finally tell myself that I AM WORTH IT!! <3 Thank you for putting yourselves here for us!!
I am going to focus on my diet and work to change my poor eating habits, using carb cycling.
I am going to focus on my diet and work to change poor eating habits, through carb cycling.
Hi Heidi! So adore you guys! The one thing that I am doing in 2015 to reach my goals is to self talk myself when I feel like giving up. I have given up so many things because of this or that or this person or that person. I have not held myself up first. I have tended to get depressed and then let go of the diet, or exercise, or illness, or anything I am doing. By doing that, I am telling myself that i don’t trust myself. So, I – even in the last week of having a horrible bronchitis I am doing this with illness too – have not let myself fall into despair. I say things to myself like, “All is well, I am blessed” so that I am putting good not only into my body, but my soul. Because I think that while I have corrected diet things, I have never corrected my mind and soul. So I self talk. I was so ill this week and instead of letting it get my down { as it’s been the holiday and my bday too} I told myself every minute if needed, ” You’re okay, all is well” and then I list what I am grateful for …even if it’s only hot shower water! It is starting to make such a difference in feeling that I can cope and not be defeated. I am still fighting this bronchitis, but I am grateful to be able to talk to you here. Thanks for all you do. Melissa
What am I doing differently this year? I have spentt the last month or so reading.. And re reading choose more, lose more for life. I have my motivation board. My menu, and my accountability partners. I am doing the work to be successful and not just the “I want to lose weight” and not the work that it is going to take to get where I deserve to be. A lot of this years work is head work. I know my body can handle it. But my head gets in the way every time!!
Love the diet bet idea and look forward to doing one this year!!
Thank you Heidi and Chris for all of your inspiration and down right honesty!!
Lots of love to you and yours!!
Here’s to a kick A$$ 2015!!!
for 2015, my goal is to get back on track. I lost it after finding out my Dad had stage 4 lung cancer, I gained at least 40 pounds that I had lost. He lost the fight November 13. I need to get healthy for the long run. Eating healthy, more water, consistent exercise is crucial.
I am going to focus on healthy eating while I am travelling both for work and during holidays.
I am working on eating better and exercising more this year. I have already lost over15 pounds and hope to lose more. I have been able to do this before but never could stick to it. Once I lose the weight I want to make sure I keep it off. I think having all of this helpful advice and support really helps.