A good snowball effect....

I was feeling a little sorry for myself on my birthday this year, so I decided to challenge myself.

I decided that in honor of my 48th year, I would try to get 48 workouts in by New Years eve- which translates to about 3 workouts per week on average. I started on my birthday - September 3rd- well this morning I hit workout 58 - so not only have I beaten my goal - I hit it ahead of schedule. I’m not writing this to brag but rather to explain how I met and exceeded my goal.

Goal setting is still hard for some people. I'll often meet clients who are interested in losing fat and decide that they will start daily cardio, weight train four times per week, eat six small meals, cut calories by 20% and reduce their carb intake.

These are great goals -- but most people are trying to do too much at once. The solution to this is to use the goal snowball effect. Here's how to do it:

List five or six behaviors you need to improve or change to reach your goals. What do you need to be doing that you're not doing? What bad habits do you need to kick? What good habits do you need to instill?

List these things from easiest to hardest.

"Maintain" all your other goals and focus your attention on the first thing on your list (the easiest one.) Spend two weeks just focusing on achieving that goal so that it becomes a habit and part of your daily lifestyle.

Once that change has been made and ingrained, move up to the next item on your list and focus your efforts there.

One by one, knock out these changes and/or goals.

For example: Maybe you sleep late.

First goal might be to get up 30 mins earlier every day.

Second goal might be to go to the gym as soon as you wake up - and go four times a week instead of three.

Third goal may be to make sure you always eat breakfast.

Fourth goal? Reduce portion sizes at 3 out of 5 meals...and so on.
So in 10 weeks or so - you're getting up earlier - never missing a workout, have done an extra ten workouts, and eaten breakfast everyday (which is a key factor in fat loss) while consuming less calories overall. These goals would "snowball" into a bigger overall effect with long-term success whereas trying to do all things at once would likely result in short term failure.

Instead of coasting into the New Year, why not list a few behaviors you want to change between now and December 31st. Work on the easy ones, and see how much momentum you can build into 2008. It might make for a more productive year.

Til next time.