How Do You Eat An Elephant?

I'm sure many of you have heard the joke, "How do you eat an elephant?" The punchline....wait for it..., "One bite at a time." OK so not the greatest joke in history. But it is a nice segue into my topic today about the importance of taking a journey to achieve and sustain great health.

Today, we live in a society of instant gratification. Order something online and before you click "confirm order," the item is on your doorstep. It's no different with people looking to lose weight or get in shape. Here's a fact that probably won't surprise you, "80% of New Year's Resolutions Fail by February!" Now in full transparency, that's not just those of us who diet & exercise. This includes all types of resolutions. However, if you've ever been to a gym in January and are still going in February, you will agree with the fact above. During January, most gyms are packed! So much so, people have to wait for equipment. But come mid-to-late February, regardless of when you go, most likely, you will have your choice of any equipment at any time. What happened in such a short period of time? Well, lots, such as not having a plan and not establishing goals to name a few. But the biggest reason people drop out so quickly? They weren't "seeing" any results. What? In other words, "It took you how long to put on that weight or get totally out of shape?" And your "realistic" expectation was to lose it all and be "buff" in 4 weeks? Yup! The expectation of instant gratification clearly at work.

Hey, nothing wrong with instant gratification for some things, but when it comes to making a sustainable, healthy transformation, the goal is slow and steady. When most people start a new "Diet & Exercise" program, they expect to go from Point A to Point Z in a week. Trouble is, they aren't learning about themselves, how to develop healthy habits or avoid barriers (fast food). I know because I did the same thing for close to 20 years. I like to say that as Americans, we don't have a weight loss problem. The real problem we have is keeping the weight off! WHY? One of the biggest reasons is that we don't experience the journey! Here's where the Elephant joke fits. So, how do you experience this journey...One step at a time! Every journey always starts with the first step. The most important step if you ask me. When I started my journey a year ago, I was determined to try things differently and be open to taking my time. I also established some criteria to help me stay on track and check in with myself as I progressed towards my ultimate goals. Here are my 5 criteria:

Know What I Want: I must first understand what it is I want (specifically) and why I want this, so that when difficult times arise (and they will), I don't get easily distracted. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve?

• How will I achieve this?

• Why do I want this and what are the benefits?

• Why is it important to work towards this vision?

Identify Potential Obstacles: What are some of the most common things that could tempt me into thinking I can't achieve the goal and how will I avoid or address them when they arise? Ask yourself:

• What temptations could sidetrack me?

• How will I handle these temptations?

Establish Guardrails: I established a set of rules about what I will and won't do. Such as, "I'm not looking for Perfect," if I have a bad day of eating or not exercising, I'm not going to beat myself up or quit. I am just going to allow it and move on with my objective." Here are a few questions to work through:

• What are things that I choose to do?

• What’s absolutely off limits that I choose not to do?

Have an Accountability Team/Community: This was critical for me. I am so used to "Doing it on my Own" that it was important for me to announce to people I trusted what my intentions were and to have them hold me accountable. During difficult times, being able to have people support you allows you to progress through your journey. Consider the following questions:

• Who could support me along my journey?

• How could they support me?

• What exactly would their role be?

Have a Reward System: In order to keep me moving forward, I created small (non-food) rewards for achieving certain milestones or avoiding certain temptations. These were as simple as buying a new workout t-shirt or getting a massage.

It was important for me to recognize that to be successful long-term, my journey needed to take a slow, steady approach and make sure that I was able to slowly...I repeat...slowly, develop healthy habits along the way. I needed to begin to focus on myself starting from the inside, understanding my thoughts, actions & reactions. In other words, learning to become more mindful and aware of what I was doing before I actually did it. If I found it was an action/reaction I needed to change, I could begin to identify healthier habits to replace it with. This process has truly been wonderful and has opened up so many new learnings (and healthy habits) for me, and I am confident that if you are looking for a different way to approach your transformation for success long-term, it might just work for you as well.

Let me know your thoughts, comments or questions?

I created a Facebook page for anyone interested in sharing ideas or asking questions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2313929212027567/ or drop me an email at nextlevelperformanceinstitute@gmail.com.