Posts tagged new year's tips
30 Days of Motivation: Beware of Short Cuts
Day 4: 30 Days of Motivation
Quote of the Day: “VICTORY doesn’t come in diet pills, shortcuts, tricks, gimmicks, fad diets, surgery or drugs. Victory Starts With opposition, and requires good old-fashioned hard work, dedication and perseverance. ”
Scripture of the Day: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
Bring Your Gym Bag, Your Muscles AND Your Brain
When I show someone an exercise, I believe it’s important to tell that person what we are working, why that exercise is working that muscle group, and how they can make the most of that particular exercise to get the results they want. Not only will they understand the importance of that exercise, and know how to do it correctly, they will be more motivated to do it when they understand what it will do for them.
Sure, I could easily just point to a machine and have them go through the motions. Shoot, if I did that, they’d HAVE to keep coming back to me for help. Maybe other people consider that good job security. Some trainers have the mentality of, “don’t teach them anything, or they might go off and do it themselves”. But, if I just told people what to do, although it may change their body, it won’t change their mind.
Here’s my philosophy. People need a mind make-over. People need more than guidance, they need education. They need to make better decisions when no one is around to tell them what to do. The more a trainer empowers people with knowledge, the more lives they can change. The more success stories, the better their reputation will be – that THEY were the one that helped so many people reach their goals.
Sadly, some people just don’t want to learn. Often times people resort to short cuts or programs that tell you what to do because they don’t want to think for themselves. While joining a program that directs you is a good thing, beware of spending hours being told what to do without learning anything. Don’t be afraid to think, to try to understand, to invest time and energy in learning.
We are supposed to LEARN from our hard work. Dedication and discipline is supposed to challenge us, grow us and teach us how to persevere and overcome obstacles. Don’t look for short cuts, look for the right path – no matter how long or hard it looks. The right path is where you will learn the most, and you’ll learn how to stay on track once you get there!
Don’t look for shortcuts, sometimes the hardest routes teach us the most!
Motivational Quotes to Motivate You
- The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. Thomas A. Edison
- Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Peter Drucker
- Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Newt Gingrich
- Enjoy your sweat because hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but without it you don’t have a chance. Alex Rodriguez
- Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. Sam Ewing
- Talent in cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. Stephen King
- Young people are threatened… by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire. Pope John Paul II
- For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work. Jessica Savitch
- All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work. Thomas J. Watson
- You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself. Alan Alda
- Temporary success can be achieved in spite of lack of other fundamental qualities, but no advancements can be maintained without hard work. William Feather
- No great achiever – even those who made it seem easy – ever succeeded without hard work. Jonathan Sacks
- Opportunity looks a lot like hard work. Ashton Kutcher
- A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. Colin Powell
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A New Approach to New Year’s Resolutions
So you need to lose weight. You aren’t alone. Millions of people are making New Year’s Resolutions right now to lose weight in 2013. However, some people think that making New Year’s Resolutions sets people up for failure.
I believe that NOT making New Year’s Resolutions sets people up for even greater failure. Sure, if you really don’t want to fail, then don’t even try, but what if you made progress in the process? Here are some tips that may help you change the way you think about New Year’s Resolutions and change the way you think about failure and success.
A New Approach
A New Year’s resolution doesn’t have to be black and white. It’s not a pass/fail test that is graded at the end of year. When the year is done, our success is whether we made progress or not – and it’s hard to make progress if you don’t ever try.
Making a New Year’s Resolution is like choosing a new path leading to a new destination. This path, like any road, will have its share of perceived failures – detours, road blocks, accidents and distractions along the way. Once the path is chosen, it’s up to you to decide how you handle these obstacles and whether you will remain on that path or not. This will call for a plan of action – a road map if you will. It’s time to map out your 2013.
The Path to A New You
1. Write it down. Before you can decide what path to take, you have to choose your destination. Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? What do you want to look like, feel like, perform like? Be as detailed as possible. If you have a lot of weight to lose, don’t stress out about it. You just need to lose weight – it doesn’t matter how much, or how fast, it just matters that you start losing it. Be realistic and honest with yourself. You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to make improvements – and ANYone can improve.
2. What is your first step? What do you need to get you there? Do you need a gym? A trainer? Healthy food? Motivation? Supplements? A friend to support you? Do you need education – or maybe you need a plan to follow? Right it all down. You may not be able to get all the resources you need at once. But, like this journey, you can collect them along the way. Whatever you decide you need, line it all up, decide how you will use what you can, and plan to try it for at least 60 days before you try something else.
3. What will you do? This doesn’t have to be complicated. If you aren’t in a workout routine, make it simple but make it routine. If your goal is weight loss, focus on burning calories with cardio. Set a goal to do a specific exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, like running or doing the elliptical. Set a goal to do that as many days in a row as you possibly can to help you get in a routine. If you don’t have time to do all 30 minutes at times, make a decision that you will do what you can – even if it’s only 10 minutes.The routine is the most challenging part, so once you are in a routine, you can build your fitness routine from there.
4. When will you do it? Let’s save a lot of time right now and just agree with me that you HAVE time. You just need to MAKE the time. Decide now, when the ideal time will be to workout and set that time aside as if it is a paid job you have to show up for. Hint: It IS a paid job – if you show up, it will pay off.
5. Decide now that quitting isn’t an option. Possibly the greatest tip of all is not what you will do, but what you will think. Since a certain level of failure is inevitable, decide now how you will respond. If you fall, you have to know how you plan to get back up, and what will your mindset be afterwards. Your attitude will make you or break you. You have to realize that the only way to make this work is to never stop trying. So, no matter how often you fail this year, focus on how often you keep trying.You can fail, over and over, but failing doesn’t make you a failure. QUITTING makes you a failure, so quitting simply can’t be an option.
This year can be different, but it requires a different mindset. A physical change starts with a mental change. This is YOUR year to make good changes, both in your mind and in your body. And, no matter how big or small your progress is this year, progress IS success – and that’s a very realistic goal this year. #getafterit in 2013!
