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First of all we will go on to explain what we are going to talk about today, and actually we will go through in a bit more detail as we go through. You have activity sheets in front of you but try not to read on ahead before we get there as it probably won’t make much sense but the 4 steps to getting fit, losing weight and toning up is what we are going to cover today.
Step 1 being to set clear goals. Step 2 is believing and expecting that you will achieve those goals as well. Step 3 is to stop getting in your own way and Step 4 is to take the first step to achieving those goals. As a result of doing all of those 4 things in that order and kind of at the same time towards your goals it will result in you being a happier, healthier and more confident you which I think we would all like to be wouldn’t we? So we are going to go through and cover all of those in more detail now.
So at first and we are going to do an activity on this as well is setting clear goals. So in the absence of clearly defined goals we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia, as I like to say it is like having a Sat Nav and not putting the postcode in. So a Sat Nav will tell you exactly where you are when you are driving but it won’t be able to tell you where to go, as it doesn’t know where you are heading. So if you haven’t got a goal and you don’t know where you are heading you are just doing the same old, same old. You are just living aren’t you and you are not trying to achieve anything. So it’s about trying to have something to focus on, somewhere where you are heading and staying on the track towards achieving those goals and getting to that final destination. We have a big accountability board that I have just started where everyone’s goals are on there, which is helping to keep people accountable and also motivated as we are very clear, so Christmas goals are around 3 months away so breaking those down into smaller monthly goals and then weekly goals as well so all the time you have something to focus on and you won’t get lost, you won’t get bored and you will always be achieving things which is nice when you can say ‘yes, I have achieved something, I have been successful’ and it’s motivating for you to keep going.
So we are going to do an activity on that. We are going to set some clear goals for you today. Some of you will have already done it and you might even have them up on the board, they might have changed slightly from when we did it last time, they may not have changed and you might want to just write them down but the more times you can think about them, write them down, and just be focused on those goals the more likely it is that you are going to achieve them so that is what we are going to do today.
We are thinking about what you actually want so there is no point writing and focusing on Christmas goals if what you want is further afield, it would be my job then to break those down into smaller chunks. It is entirely up to you, your goals are personal, there is no right and wrong so what we can do is think about long or shorter-term goals or medium term and a variety of different goals as well.
Before you start writing them down we want to think about what you want ok? Not what you think you can achieve or what someone else has achieved or someone else is trying to lose a stone so I think I should try and lose a stone. It’s not about that; it’s about what you actually want. If you want to lose a stone then great, if you want to lose 2 stone then great. If you want to lose half a stone then great. It doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t have to be weight loss either, they were just examples. So if you want to run a marathon but are thinking ‘it’s more realistic if I just do a half marathon as I am more likely to be able to do a half marathon’ then that is rubbish. You won’t want to do that half marathon because you actually want to do the marathon so you need to think about what you actually want and then we go from there. So we get specific. Think specifically about what you want, is it weight loss, is it toning, is it fitness, is it a new job, is it a new house? Whatever it is, obviously it can be health, fitness and weight loss related or what it is you want.
Make it measureable. So how much weight, how far do you want to be able to run, how many sessions do you want to do, what size is this house, where is it? Make is measureable so we know when you have achieved it. Agree it with the people in the room here, stand up and talk about it afterwards if you want to and agree it with me so that we agree that actually yeah, if you want to run a marathon but you have never run before in your life then tomorrow is probably not a realistic goal for being able to run that marathon but actually a year from now, next marathon would be a realistic goal to have to be able to run the marathon in a year from now. It has got to be realistic but it needs to be a bit of a stretch as well. So for example the marathon example, it has to be realistic as in, can you run, are you able to fit in the training to run and things like that? Will it challenge you to be able to do it? If it’s too easy and it was to run from here to that tree in back I think most of us could manage that, if push comes to shove we could manage to run from here to that tree so that is not enough of a challenge is it? It’s not enough of a stretch; we wouldn’t give you a year to be able to complete that goal. We would want it to be a little bit shorter time frame or we would want you to run quicker to make it a harder goal or we would want you to run further to make it a hard goal. We have to think about challenging you as well a little bit. That is where the agreed upon part comes in as well so I would try and challenge you and help you set more challenging goals as well.
Timed is when you are going to achieve it by. So is it going to be by Christmas? By next week? Next month? Whenever it is going to be that is the timed part of it. So think about what you want first of all and why you want it. That is what we need to be thinking about as well. What it is about achieving that goal that makes you want to do it? What is it when it is hard and it is hard work, and you are tired, or you have Christmas parties coming up and you are thinking I haven’t got time to do this, what is it that is going to motivate you to make the time? What is it that is going to motivate you to get out of bed in the morning for those 7am sessions and things like that? What is it, what inspires you, what are the feelings and emotions when you set those goals?
So I have done enough talking to start off with so your job now is to write down 3 goals, there is space on the activity sheet for three goals. They can be health, fitness, weight loss. They can be short, medium or long term. They can be whatever you want. Write down 3 different goals and then in the space below that write down why you want to achieve each of those.