Article
It is common when
someone who is interested in our coaching program emails or calls for a
consultation to immediately ask, What should I be doing? My response is always, I dont know. This shocks a lot of people because they
expect me to answer immediately with a detailed fitness regimen. Why cant I do that?
I cant give them
any immediate advice because I dont know what their baseline is. A baseline is a measurement of where you are
starting from. Common baselines include
measurements such as body weight, body fat percentage, cholesterol, and blood
pressure. These are important
measurements, but even more are needed.
Break It Down
Comparing your
baseline to your ideal state of physical wealth can feel overwhelming. Long-term goals are called such because they
take a long time to achieve. For
instance, if your goal is to lose twenty pounds it can take a while maybe as
long as six months or possibly longer before you have lost that weight and
feel successful. After all, to lose 20
pounds, you would need to create a deficit of 70,000 calories, and that takes
time. As Ive said before, there are no
quick-fix solutions to the enduring gains of real physical wealth. It takes time and energy to get where you
want to go. To bridge the gap from here
to there, break the journey down into measurable, achievable, short-term goals
that allow you to feel successful every day.
Using
your fitness journal, set as many three-month goals as you think you are able
to achieve. Then break those down into
weekly goals, charting your fitness routines on a daily basis. When setting your goals, keep in mind the
measuring stick of challenging-yet-do-able: set goals that are challenging
enough to produce results, yet do-able, or realistic, enough that you are
likely to achieve them.
While
I talked about realistic goals in the previous section, it is also possible to
set a goal that presents an insufficient challenge to you. Setting a goal of something you already do
most of the time, say walking the dog for fifteen minutes per day, is not
challenging. If you set a goal and you
dont feel it is somewhat of a stretch to achieve, a little bit out of your
everyday comfort zone, consider upping the ante. In the dog-walking scenario, you could add
ten minutes of exercise prior to walking the dog, for a total activity time of
25 minutes. Using the
challenging-yet-do-able measuring stick will help you to set goals that will
stretch you towards your ideal state of physical wealth, while at the same time
be realistic for your schedule and current state of fitness.
To keep you
additionally motivated, you can use motivational exercise tools to measure your
progress, such as the pedometers, accelerometers, and heart rate monitors. These monitors allow you to set specific
goals and give you instant feedback about the effectiveness of your
efforts.
Sample
Plan from Baseline to Goal
The following
sample plan will show you how to move from your baseline measurement to
achieving physical wealth. Below each
area, write your own plan.
Sample Baseline
This is your measurement of where you are starting from:
- I am exercising (walking) once per week for 25
minutes burning 175 calories per session.
- I am burning an average of 300 calories per day
(not including exercise) my job is somewhat sedentary so this is not
difficult for me and I notice that on the days I am the least active, I am
more tired.
- My heart rate range is 115-125 beats per minute
during my walk which feels easy/moderate.
- I eat only one fruit/vegetable per day.
- I skip breakfast most weekdays, which makes me
ravenous at lunch and I over-eat.
- I eat cookies in the evening when Im stressed
this tends to happen Monday through Thursday when my workdays are most
hectic.
My Baseline:
- _____________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________
Be sure to congratulate yourself for
the progress you make along the way, and seriously consider giving yourself a
reward. People often find it motivating
to hold out a prize for themselves when they achieve their short-term goals,
ranging from a new outfit or book to a spa treatment or evening out. Additional motivation never hurts! Remember, you deserve at least a pat on the
back from yourself youve set and achieved important goals. Youre moving along the pathway to physical
wealth!
