What do you want? Do you know? Is it improved health, a better build, ability to function with ease throughout your day, a smaller pant size, a Beachbody? Do you really know what it is that you want out of “fitness“? This is an important question, because the more specific you are about your desires, the easier (yes, really) it will be to achieve them—even if your goals happen to be on the side of lofty.  

If you haven’t already defined your goals regarding fitness/weight loss, then I’d like you to do that—right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait... Seriously, even if your not sure, brainstorm for a few minutes and don’t be afraid to go too far here. You’ve probably been “settling” because you‘re belief system hasn’t allowed you to really go for your fantasies. Regardless, have some fun with this list; you can always revise it.  

Now, if you’ve done this before, (and I’m aware that there’s a good chance that you have and therefore, may not put much stock in this sort of thing) that’s ok. It may have helped, or done virtually nothing. If the latter is the case, then I want to introduce you to a concept that you’ve been living most of your life completely unawares. If you feel as though you’ve heard, read and tried everything there is to hear, read and try regarding goals, only to find yourself “stuck” over and over again, take heart. There’s actually a rather ironic reason for that.  

The fact is, you think you‘re focusing on your goal, but you‘re actually focusing on your lack of having reached that goal, (deep breath here)...now read that again. What I’m trying to say is that even if you know what you want, the contrast between your desire and what you have currently, may seem rather glaring, therefore, you‘re doing far more of “noticing the contrast” as opposed to actually focusing on the end result. “Ok, great Vawny, so now what? All this time I thought I was doing it right only to have you tell me I can’t even get that part of the formula!” Ok, ok...first and foremost, RELAX...seriously. The best barometer you have for whether or not you‘re focus is in the right place, is how you feel! So, if you have this goal of getting a Beachbody, and you feel tense, controlling, bitchy...guess what? Yeah, that would be because you‘re NOT focused on the goal (having the Beachbody). It’s because you‘re focused on the fact that you want a Beachbody, but you don’t have one yet; you‘re looking at and focusing on your perceived “flaws” a lot more than you‘re visualizing the body/health, you want...yes it is...don’t argue with me until you really look into this.  

If you‘re focus is on how great you‘re gonna look soon, or better yet, how great you‘re beginning to look now, or even better than that—feeling what you’d feel like if you were already there, (most powerful) you’ll see better and faster results. Don’t tell me you can’t do this; I know you fantasize about other things—and probably about being totally fit, at least once in a while. Even if you visualize it for ten minutes every morning, you’ll see the difference. But the key here is to stay cognizant of how you‘re feeling. If you‘re thinking about your goal of health and fitness, but you‘re feeling discouraged, sad, angry, (you get the idea) then start making small changes in your thoughts until you feel relief. If you practice this little technique for a while, you’ll be shocked at what you find. Your mind habitually turns to the image of what you don’t want, rather than what you do want. Start to shift that and watch what happens next...  

The first thing you’ll notice is how good you feel—and that my friend is actually quite profound. Once there, the vision of who you want to be just flows (it’s much easier to visualize yourself in a positive light when you‘re already feeling good) and that IS how you get there. So when you find yourself in a negative frame of mind regarding your fitness program, step back. What are you really thinking? Is it something like, “I’m sick of this, it never works...” or “I’ll always be fat...“? If so, make a left turn. You‘re not gonna be able to go right to “I’m the most fit, beautiful person in the universe!” But you can make a little turn with a thought like, “Ok, I’ve done this before—even if only temporarily, maybe I CAN do it this time...” or “Now that I have support, maybe I can finally stay on track!“and you’ll instantly feel relief. That’s all you need to do in order to begin to change your thoughts and feelings from noticing “lack” to focusing on your goal. Give it a shot—let me know how it goes! I LOVE success stories...  

More on this cool topic next time, stay happy—stay fit.