Plan to make your dreams your new reality

Last week I wrote about renewing yourself and your motivation for spring. Today’s column is a continuation of that theme.

“Do not be afraid of the space between your dream and your present reality.” 

This is where patience and courage comes in. What is your dream or your goal? Do you want to lose 20 pounds? Do you want to run a mile? Do you want to eat a diet that energizes you? Do you want to play and keep up with your grandkids? Do you want to complete a long challenging hike this summer that you could not do last year?

Do not let the distance you have to cover cause you to give up before you even begin. Recognize that this will take some time. Every single fit person you know started somewhere short of where they are now. How did they get to their present condition? By taking it one day at a time, celebrating every victory and getting up when they fall down. You can do the same and there are so many people that will encourage you to keep moving forward.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”   

Have you ever heard of the tyranny of the urgent? It means that if you don’t have a plan, the matter that seems to be the most urgent at the time will get attention, at the exclusion of the others. Without a plan, your own health will always take a backseat to what seems the most important at the moment. Having a plan will keep less important things from creeping in and sabotaging your efforts.

Before you even start, you must decide: When and how you will get physical activity, what foods you will eat and how you will ensure that you have access to those foods and how you will arrange your schedule so that you get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Plan on succeeding. Take some time right now to jot down some ideas to overcome the obstacles that you know will arise.  Be prepared for them, and you will breeze through them.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”

It is no secret that the biggest predictor of whether you succeed in your new health efforts is whether or not you are held accountable. I’ve said it before, but it needs repeating:  getting healthy is not easy. If it were, I might not have a business. If it were easy, more people would be doing it!  In order to make sure you succeed this time, get some support. That support could come from a few friends who are making a new beginning with you, a personal trainer or an instructor.  

The people in your support system will be genuinely interested in how you are doing. They will encourage you when you lose your motivation. They will cheer when you get up early to exercise. They will talk you out of eating those brownies. They will expect you to tell them how you are doing. And they will not let you fade out of the program. They will come after you if you start slacking.

Whatever your goals happen to be, a new beginning is within reach.

Liz Whalen is a personal trainer and health fitness specialist who lives and works in Libby. She also blogs at lizwhalenhfs.com.