So this week will be our last blog of 2018 as we take a short break from your inboxes, don’t worry though we will be back January 5th 2019 with more helpful blogs to get you thinking.
Now then today I thought I would share with you my thoughts on why people fail at their goals, in hope that when the New Year arrives you can take this on board and make sure your year is different.
Within this blog I am going to look specifically at weight loss, however this applies to any goal that you have.
Stage One- Realisation
So the first stage is that realisation that the weight you carry at present is not your ideal weight. This may bring on feelings of unhappiness or self-loathing or lack of confidence and generally begins with something as simple as seeing a picture of yourself, or not fitting into a certain dress or a comment. Sometimes it can happen because of a more serious occurrence such as being unwell due to being overweight like developing diabetes type 2.
Stage Two – Change
The second stage is the need to change the situation.
Most people reach this stage but not everyone will go on to stage three.
Stage Three – Research
At this point you will become alert to every conversation you hear around weight loss, so Jill from accounts and how she lost her weight will interest you, but so will that poster for the new gym opening down the road and those shakes you read about in that magazine at the hair dressers.
Now although not everyone gets to this stage, those that do will be tested on how much they actually want to change.
This can come in many different forms, for instance you may find a wonderful professional to help you but you may have to travel to get to them. You may wonder about the cost of seeking professional help and have to weigh up if this cost is a priority over what you already spend your money on. You may come across time constraints, for instance to get to a session may mean getting up an hour earlier or being away from home when you would rather be spending time with the family. And then then is the time that it will take you to drop the weight. This is where we are at risk of grasping for the quick fix that promises you the earth and yet deep down you have a sneaky suspicion that it is too good to be true.
Stage Four – Action
This is the stage where you begin to do what is necessary to drop the weight. Now you may very well have decided to do this by yourself or you may have enlisted a professional to help, whichever you chose though the chances are you will see some form of success. Taking action at this stage will allow you to alter how you eat and be more aware of what you put in your body and generally that is a great starting place and those that reach this stage will also feel better as they are taking control.
Yet 50% of people will fail here and end up right back at stage one which they now will feel is even more impossible and yet this stage is still fairly easy.
Stage Five – Maintenance
Now up until this stage all other stages are fairly easy and almost anyone can get to stage four.
Stage five though is a whole other matter.
Why?
Well in general we all know what it takes to lose weight and when we are honest with ourselves and driven by the realisation stage we will flow through stage 2,3 and 4.
What happens in stage 4 though is that we are faced with the realisation again that our current lifestyle is not going to be the same if we are to succeed long term.
With diet it often means that we have to accept we will become hungry, we will have to learn to say no to alcohol and sweet stuff perhaps not on all occasions but on most occasions and we will face a whole lot of people that have not even got to stage one and think we are crazy for saying no and will try to tempt us.
In realistic terms this may well be that we go out for drinks with our friends but do not drink. It’s a real test to see if going out can still be enjoyable without alcohol. I will say this though, if it’s not then perhaps you need to change who you socialise with as if you cannot go out without drink that’s more about drinking than socialising.
We also have to ask ourselves what’s more important to us the taste of chocolate and its short hit of feel good or the image that stands In the mirror that has begun to drop a dress size.
This stage is the most important of all and requires a great amount of mindset.
It is about taking away the excuses and taking ownership over ourselves, to be honest enough to say today I could have done this different and tomorrow doing what needs to be done instead of saying I will start again Monday.
Over 90% of people will fail here, because they have not worked on their mind-set focussing instead on the desperation to lose the weight. However without mind-set we will not maintain.
I invite you to be one of the 10% who succeed, one of the 10% who will not repeat the old patterns or look for an excuse of why this has not worked for you.
In 2019 will you join me in taking ownership of yourself, focusing on what needs to be done and working on your mind-set to ensure you succeed?
I have a limited number of Month passes to camp to trial out what it is we do, they would make a great Christmas present or simply use it yourself.
Each pass is £10 instead of £45 at present and its one per person and only available to new clients. Click here
if you would like a pass for 2019.
Marita ‘ hitting 2019 with the right mindset’ Moore