How to Achieve your Dreams!

                                                                               

Should it matter which season is almost upon us?

Instead of us putting off to next season what we could be getting started with this season, why not heed the words of Dawson Trotman and get started Today? Trotman said “The greatest time wasted is the time getting started!”

“The Greatest time wasted is the time getting started!”-Dawson Trotman

If I think back to when I was unfit and overweight, I felt more fatigued and more likely to waste my days in front of the TV, or spending time under the duvet. All very nice, if you want your life just to fly on by! I fell asleep at the wheel of life for 10 years and they were gone in the blink of an eye. I was a Heart Attack looking for a place to happen and I knew I had to change. Are you happy with your Life, in particular your Health and Fitness or are you seeking change?

Remember your Health is a Gift and there is no second chance should you abuse it. If your heart is disgruntled and attacks you, you may survive but the quality of your life will be compromised. Funny thing is many people work themselves to a standstill in pursuit of money and worldly treasures, compromising their family and their relationships but no amount of money in the world can repair your body if you abuse it by being idle and living an unhealthy lifestyle.

The height of insanity is doing the same things this year that we did last year, expecting a different result. Truth is if we do the same things this winter as we did last winter, we will actually have slipped a little more and entrenched our bad habits even more. Remember this, if you are not consciously focussed on developing good habits, then you will sub consciously be defaulting to bad habits.

So let us focus on what we can do… to change, to cultivate good habits, to reinvent ourselves? Firstly I will focus on the Why and then I will focus on the How!

The Why? Besides the fact that you will feel better, look better (and your friends will tell you so you before you properly notice the change) and have more energy, a key reason will be for your health.

Exercising, even just a little, will improve your health, but it can also go a long way in preventing the onset of several life-threatening conditions. Looking at a few of the benefits….

Your Heart
Exercising regularly will raise your heart rate AND very importantly reduces hardening of the arteries, which is a major cause of high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure can lead to heart disease and stroke. Exercising regularly lowers your resting heart rate which implies that more blood is being pumped per beat and now your heart won’t be working as hard as it once was. Exercising regularly also lowers and helps control your blood pressure.

Mental Health
Exercising regularly also reduces stress and anxiety. Some Medical studies show that exercising regularly decreases the likelihood that you will suffer from depression or insomnia and improves your overall quality of life. Looking better and feeling fitter boosts your self-esteem and confidence. It teaches you about good habits, motivation, setting goals and commitment, which can be transferred to other areas of your life, such as your career, your studies, your family and your relationships. I find exercising gives me time to plan and to think, enabling me to be more effective in the workplace, which also leads to a reduction in stress.

It gets a little worse before it gets a whole lot better!

More options
The fitter you are, the more options you have in life. How often have you turned down the option of doing something adventurous with your children or friends because you thought you may not be able to keep up? By exercising regularly it opens up new options and you are able to accept invitations or to take up challenges that you previously thought impossible. As you progress you will start new activities, which will lead to you meeting new people and exercising or playing sports with friends, or newly found friends, which helps transform your life.

It is highly recommended that healthy people build up to 30 minutes (or more) of moderate exercise three or four times per week. But remember to speak to your doctor before starting an exercise programme. Hopefully the above is sufficient reason to want to know how, so let’s consider a few tips.

The How? Before we move on to the How, I would like to encourage you to find a quiet place for half an hour, be it the Beach, under a Tree, away from traffic, people, amongst nature. Then allow your mind to wander, to dream, to think about the future, to think about your present and your past. Then on a pad jot down what you don’t like about your current lifestyle and what you would like to do, to become…. This is the start of something very important in life!

Imagine you were told that you had 24 hours to live? What didn’t you do? Who did you not get to be? Did you live out your Dreams? How many things did you tick off your Bucket List?

Vision

You need to have a Vision and the best definition I’ve heard is from Bill Hybels in his book ‘Courageous Leadership’ who says “Vision is a picture of the Future that produces Passion!” What is it that could possibly do that for you? What will give you sufficient Passion to want to get out of your Comfort Zone and Transform your Life? Whatever it may be, don’t go to your grave with the dance still inside of you. We were all gifted Talents from God, our gift to Him is what we do with those Talents and I’m not talking performance here, I’m simply talking about being fit and healthy, leading us to be better Fathers, Husbands, Brothers.

Dreams

Dreams are like clouds floating aimlessly in the sky (a wish), unless you commit them to a Plan (a need). Hence the reason I suggested jotting down your thoughts on paper, just very broadly at first as we need to understand Goal Setting before we set Goals on how to get there. In time a Journal will prove to be one of your biggest and best aids, as you plot and plan and record your progress. A Journal helps you to remain super focussed and what you focus upon you get in time!

Goals

Once we have a Vision, you need to set some Goals, S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound. The key here is to set an Achievable Goal, but one that is fairly challenging that it excites you enough to want to try and achieve it. A Goal is simply a Promise you make to yourself, so make sure you can keep the Promise!

Once you achieve the first Goal, you are making Progress and it is Progress that fuels our Motivation. It’s the first step to becoming Successful in Life and Success is doing what you said you would do. Period!!

So be wary of setting Goals that are too ambitious, just less than a Decade ago I set myself a Goal of running 30 minutes 3 times/week. Initially I could not run 20 minutes without stopping, but in time I achieved what now seems like a simplistic goal (I weighed a Ton then and it seemed like a Mountain) but that freed me to start dreaming of bigger things such as completing an Ironman.

Perseverance

Sometimes we are very close to achieving our Goals, but we don’t Persevere and we quit and this becomes a habit, it becomes part of our make-up. So if you do decide to chase a Dream, a Vision, a Goal it’s important to understand that it can take 14-21 days to break the shackles of bad habits, which in a short space of time can become good habits and enjoyable ones too. The key is being bold enough to take that first step.

As much as you won’t feel like it at times, just put your kit on, get outside or into the Gym and take that first step, as that is the hardest part of the whole equation….. The First Step to getting started and the First Step to every scheduled exercise session, if you can do that you will be successful. When faced with agonising decisions, things like TV (over exercise) or Muffins (over weight loss) simply stop and ask yourself will this take me closer to, or further away from my Goal? If you are focussed, the right answer wins the day so ask yourself often W.I.N. (What’s Important Now?)!

When the going gets tough, it’s time for you to toughen up and persevere and if you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of each day and say ‘I did what I set out to do today’, then Failure becomes an Impossibility and everything else in Life becomes a distinct Possibility.

Summary

-Cast a Vision, your Dreams for your Life.

-Commit it to paper (plan) and keep a record of your progress (Journal).

-Set Achievable Goals and work your way up the ladder.

-Just get started as it all starts with that very first step.

-Persevere, every storm will pass.

-Ask yourself W.I.N.

-Look yourself in the Mirror and Smile…. You are a Winner!