Achieving Personal Goals » Tips

Three Good Ideas for Fitness Goals

Mike Warren — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:14:18 +0000

We know that one of the keys to staying fit is to keep moving, and the other is to eat well. Whether it’s jogging, working out at the gym, walking in the evening or just cleaning the house, the more we move the more fit we’ll be. Eating good foods, in the proper proportion, is also essential.

With those two ideas that in mind, here are a couple lazy suggestions for staying fit. Maybe one of them will strike you like a good idea:

1. Eat By Design
We eat for a hundred reasons, but most of them aren’t related to hunger. We eat for social gatherings, for distraction, to console ourselves when we’re down, to connect with others, and many other reasons.

What if you made a conscious choice to only eat when hungry, and do something else for those other occasions. Want to get together with friends? Women: Go shopping, go to the gym, do a spa day. Men: play golf or tennis. Picking some other activity instead of going to a restaurant will make fitness an easier goal.

2. Make Exercising Convenient
Instead of always planning 1 1/2 hours out of your day for working out (which makes it a major event), try adding mini-workouts throughout the day. When you’re on the phone at work, stand up and stretch. If you have a wireless headset, walk around while on those long conference calls. Watching TV at home? Do a few situps, pushups or toe raises. There are a hundred options to do things that can help us stay fit, if we look for them.

3. Get Enough Rest
There are plenty of studies that show when we’re tired, our bodies don’t function optimally, we don’t think we well, we don’t move about as much. We’re a sleep deprived society, and that helps neither fitness or productivity. Get your rest! You deserve it, you’ll make better choices and you’ll get more (and better) exercise.

Goals and Clarity

Mike Warren — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:33:44 +0000

Clarity

The clearer we are about the goals and objectives we set for ourselves in life, the more efficient, and effective, we will be in achieving them. Clarity has as much or more to do with success and happiness as hard work, because once we’re clear about exactly what needs to be done, we produce far less wasted effort and motion. Having clear, written goals allows us to accomplish far more in a shorter period of time we would otherwise ever imagine.

Setting Priorities

Our ability to set priorities on our time (and again, they should be clear and specific) greatly impacts the entire quality of our life. To achieve great things, we have to concentrate on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to our life and work, and pursue them one at a time. See my recent post on the myth of multi-tasking for more along these lines.

Making Choices

Here’s another truth I believe: Before we start something new,we need to discontinue something old. Our ability to get control of our life occurs only to the degree to which we stop doing things that are no longer as valuable or as important to you as other thing you could be doing. There simply are only so many hours in the day, and as we learn to replace less important activities with more important ones, we move closer to the outcomes we desire. This leads to a sort of continual improvement of the investment of our time, replacing less beneficial activities with more beneficial ones.

This Will Accelerate Your Goal Progress, Guaranteed!

Mike Warren — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:21:04 +0000

You know your goal. You have created a plan to reach that goal. You spend time every evening planning the next day, laying out the next task(s) you need to perform to reach your goal, and you do this activity daily. But what is one thing that could be added to this process that would make it even better?

In fact, what I’m thinking about can make it seem like you’ve put your goal seeking efforts on steroids (if that were legal, which of course it’s not – nyuk!).

The final piece to this process of managing your goal seeking efforts is so simple that it’s easy to overlook, yet so critical that without it your chance of failing increases with the difficulty of the goal. The missing element?

Time for simple, undistracted, clear thinking. Setting aside time each evening, or the next morning, to think “big picture” about your goal, without distraction. Giving yourself time to consider the progress you’re making, recognize any new obstacles that may require a change in your plan, or just getting a new understanding of what’s required that allows you to improve the plan.

Thinking time is the most valuable time you can spend each day, yet “physical” busy frequently wins out over quiet thought.

Taking just 15 minutes each evening, maybe less, to focus in a quiet place, without distraction, on what you are trying to accomplish can be invaluable. It gives us an opportunity to consider new thoughts about how to do it better, faster, cheaper, easier or differently, and can be the best possible use of our time. It’s like your personal “board of directors” meeting, the time when you step back and think about the big picture and assess your progress toward your goal, the steps you are taking, etc.

If you keep a journal, you’re getting your thinking time then. That’s one of the huge benefits of journaling. But if not, you can vastly improve your progress and reach your goal sooner by spending time on a regular basis thinking about what’s working, what’s not, how to deal with problems and ways to overcome hurdles.

Franklin Covey calls it “planning and solitude”. Some call it prayer. Some call it meditation. Some simply call it quiet time.

Whatever you call it, it needs to be done daily. In my humble opinion….

Great Idea, What Next?

Mike Warren — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 20:46:10 +0000

Did you just have a ‘light bulb’ moment? You know what I mean, one of those “hey, wait a minute!” moments when things suddenly became clear? If so, what did you do next? Like most people, did you just forget about it and let it slip away, or did you write it down somewhere so that you could refer back to it later?

Today’s post is about two things:
1. The importance of capturing those ideas, by writing them down immediately.
2. The fact that ideas not manifested through action are worthless, no matter how great their potential.

These are important lessons for each of us to learn, to really “get” that ideas are things. Every great movement, every great invention, every cure for disease or solution to a problem, started with an idea. But the next step is to realize that ideas, without action, have no value. It’s only when ideas are married to action, and consistent effort is applied until they are developed, that the value of an idea is realized. Which leads us to a simple, but surprisingly powerful, formula:

Idea + Action + Focus Until Finished = Benefit

Simple, right? Let’s break the formula down:

THOUGHTS (IDEAS). This first step is sounds easy, but the fact is that most people don’t like to think. Henry Ford said “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” That’s why, when you are thinking and you get a good idea, it’s such a loss to let it slip away. That’s why many great leaders, inventors and successful business people carry a notebook with them all the time. But as John Maxwell tells us, most ideas are not conceived fully formed. Many ideas still require development to reach their full potential, and this step requires time and patience. The way to reach the goals you set, starts with ideas.

TAKE ACTION. For your idea to move from being just an idea, you have to begin taking action. For some, this is an exciting stage, but for others it’s stressful and they never reach it. Starting any new challenge may make you feel excited, apprehensive or nervous, but if you believe the idea is a good one, take action. Don’t let your good ideas go to waste.

Not sure how to start? Sometimes it’s best to just get going. When you actually begin to take action, frequently the path will rise up to meet you. If you can, it’s always better to make a clear plan for how you’ll start, but if not and you believe strongly in the idea, you must start regardless.

FINISH IT. If thinking is hard, and taking action is challenging, staying focused to the finish line can be downright difficult. In a way, it’s nature’s test to determine who deserves the rewards of the goal, by seeing who can not only take action, but stay focused, committed and on track until the goal is achieved. The good news is that most people don’t, or won’t, which means that if you are willing to be that person who stays the course until your idea is completed, you will have set yourself apart from the crowd.

Every worthwhile thing you have ever earned started with an idea and the willingness to take focused, continuous action. It requires hard work and perseverance, the determination to stay engaged until the job is done. This simple formula is effective though, and the good news about it is anyone can do it.

So, let me ask you again, did you just have a ‘light bulb’ moment?

Keeping Things Simple – part one

Mike Warren — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 04:05:27 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again when we all take stock of the past year, where we are today, and what we’d like to change or improve for next year.

I know there’s a tendency to scoff at that, because we so frequently fail to attain our New Years resolutions, but I’m going to resist that.

I think that there’s a good lesson in that simple fact alone – just because we’ve tried something before and failed doesn’t justify or mean we should not try again. Is there anyone, anywhere, who got “it” perfect the first time they tried. I doubt it.

And so it goes with developing new habits, setting and achieving goals, and making meaningful changes in life. The smart money says that you should start working toward your goal with the knowledge that we’re going to fail, and if we quit as soon as we experience failure we won’t get very far.

“Succeeding is not really a life experience that does much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.” Michael Eisner

There’s a smarter, better way to approach your New Year’s Resolution. I think it’s best expressed in a quote from Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM::

“The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”

The very spirit of this idea is that failure, or mistakes, are inherent on the path to achieving anything. Rather than expecting to get it perfect the first time, a better idea is to try, fail, learn that lesson and then try again… quickly.

There’s no question that this approach correctly mirrors the activity of almost any successful business. Facebook didn’t start out looking like it does today, but they got better as they went along. So can we!

Tomorrow’s post: “Keeping Things Simple – part two”

Get A Small Success

Mike Warren — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 01:50:15 +0000

One of the best ways for any of us to get motivated is to see something work. Seeing is believing, and there’s no shortage of occasions throughout history where a once seemingly impossible achievement is conquered, it became almost common for people to achieve it.

For example, Roger Bannister (who is still alive, by the way) breaking the 4 minute mile in 1954 seemingly opened the flood gates for the feat. While athletes have certainly benefited from improvements in training and nutrition, it’s still surprising to me at least that although no one had accomplished the feat prior to that time, since then 955 runners have achieved the impossible dream accomplishing the feat an incredible 4700+ times. Belief makes many more things possible.

My point is that having success, however small or insignifant it may seem, breeds success. How should that affect our actions today? Achieving some smaller goal or milestone, however minor or insignificant, to build on makes reaching the larger, more difficult goal much easier.

Want to start a workout program? Successfully take a 2 block walk for 5 days in a row to get started. Want to get out and meet more people? Take one evening to attend one event of your choosing (church, singles related, some club, etc) to get the ball rolling. Build on small successes.

It’s so common to look at a goal, particularly a legitimately large goal, and feel like it’s overwhelming which then stops us in our tracks. But if we can get that first small success under our belt to get some momentum going, and to help us begin to believe the goal is really possible, the chances of reaching it improve greatly.

Start small, and get some success toward your goal each day.

The Self Help Formula

Mike Warren — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:42:33 +0000

OK, here goes. I have a confession to make ……

I have a vice. No, it’s not drugs, or alcohol, or gambling. For me, it’s probably more powerful than those things.

I am a self-help addict. Whew! There, I said it.

I am interested in, and fascinated by, all the great literature, leading speakers and successful ideas that have come from the field of self-help.

Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich). I’ve got most of their books, and I make it a habit to read them regularly.

Now if you’re skeptical, let me suggest that at it’s core, self help is based on a simple concept. The basic premise of self help is this: Success leaves clues.

We have been on the planet for centuries, and we’ve been dealing with most of the same human nature problems over that time. The answers to most of these problems have been worked out centuries ago. As Jim Rohn likes to say, “There are no “new” fundamentals”. Fortunately, we now have that information at our fingertips, if we choose to learn the lessons and practice the behaviors.

But I’ve recently come to realize a dirty little secret in the industry, it’s something no one wants to say, but it’s true …..

About half of what is published in the Self Help literature doesn’t work. That … is a fact, but there’s a logical explanation. Let me make my case.

Consider this example:

One guy is a perfectionist. Give him a problem and he’ll analyze it, study it, develop a comprehensive plan to attack it, have the plan reviewed and updated. Everything but actually get started doing something.

On the other hand is impulsive guy. He can’t wait to get started. His idea of a plan is 2 points jotted down on the back of a napkin, and that’s 1 point too many. Forget planning, full speed ahead.

Perfectionist guy needs to hear messages like “fortune favors the bold”, “seize the day” and take action.

Impulsive guy needs to hear messages like “look before you leap”, “failing to plan is planning to fail”, etc.

Buy wait a minute – This is confusing! Those two messages are diametrically opposed.

And if you ask me which principle is correct, I will tell you…. IT DEPENDS!

It depends on what problem you have, on where I am on the continuium. What problem am I trying to solve?

If you are a perpetual procrastinator, you need the advice to take action.

If you tend to hop on every bandwagon that comes along and get started before you are even sure where it is you are heading, messages about planning, strategy and foresight are required.

But we tend to pick up a self-help book, read it and probably like it’s ideas, but if they’re not the solution to a problem we have, they won’t produce any change.

So you see, it’s really not that one approach or the other is wrong.

It just depends on where you are, what you need.

One size does not fit all; one piece of advice does not solve every problem.

The wisdom is not just in the message, but it know which message you need to embrace

That’s why it can be helpful to have a trusted friend, or spouse, or coach, or counselor, who can help us identify clearly which problem should be solved, so we come up with the right solution.

THAT’S PART ONE OF THE SELF HELP FORMULA

Even when we know ourselves, and we seek out and find the right message to change a situation in our lifes for the better, we still have to turn that idea into a habit.

And habits require repitition.

And we generally don’t stick with anything long enough to make it into a new habit.

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” Henry David Thoreau

So my message to you is this:

1. If you choose to embark on a journey of self-improvement, be careful and choose the right messsage for the change you are seeking, and

2. Understand that having the right information is only part #1 of the solution. Part #2 is spending the time and energy necessary to make that thought, belief, or behavior a habit in your life, so that you can reap the benefits you were seeking.

I’ll leave you with this thought:

Comes from Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famous lawyer who served as an :

“The great thing in the world is not so much knowing where we stand, as in knowing what direction we are moving.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Justice on the Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932)

If you want to change the direction of an area of your life, get the right solution to your problem, and repeately hold the thoughts and behaviors in your life until they become habits, and self-help can enable you to make meaningful changes in your life.

Eureka! Breaking The Code To Achievement

Mike Warren — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:46:02 +0000

I was listening to Darren Hardy’s excellent book (audio, in my car) “The Compound Effect” when the pieces of the process of goal accomplishment really seemed to fall into place. Obviously from my interest and effort into this website, I spend alot of my time thinking about and practicing the habits, processes and ideas of goal setting. As I was listening to the Compound Effect though, all of a sudden each of the pieces seemed to fall perfectly into place, and a way I hadn’t quite seen before.

I know that all sounds a little vague, but the following outline is the progression of the steps that seemed all the more clear to me. These steps, executed consistently, will reliably, predictably lead to achievement. And isn’t that the purpose of having goals in the first place?

We see each of these ideas in the outline I will reveal below, and on their own each is completely valid. Just like saying “without gasoline, the car just won’t run” is true, but it’s also true that you better have 4 tires with air in them too. And the driver must also know how to drive a stick shift, and must also know how to reach the intended destination. You get the idea.

So talking about a key principle or tactic is clearly relevant to achieving goals, especially if it’s a principle that you’ve overlooked, have not been implementing, or weren’t aware of. If it’s the missing piece to your puzzle, then you may feel like you’ve struck gold, that this is the most important piece of information you’ve ever received. To some extent, that’s true – but it also may be unique to your situation.

But what if that totally valid, legitimate piece of information is not the, or one of the, missing pieces of the puzzle for you. What if you’ve got a full tank of gas, but the emergency brake is set and you don’t have the knowledge to release it. What if the tank is full, but you’re in San Francisco trying to get to Pebble Beach without a map?
Even more valuable than a single, key piece of information, is to have the entire process laid out, and having it include not only WHAT to do (fill the tank with gas, put the car in gear, drive to your destination) but also HOW to make each of those elements happen.

Once everypiece of the puzzle is followed, then the beauty of the “compound effect” begins to take effect. I genuinely believe this is the key missing element for most frustrated achievers, because it’s effects are not readily apparent even though you may be following your plan perfectly. Albert Einstein called the principles behind the compound effect the most powerful force in the universe, and the examples are evident everywhere.

Now the “formula” for achievement is complete, and a complete formula invariably leads to the intended outcome.

In the same way that a recipe for chocolate cake that omits one key ingredient (butter?) cannot produce a good cake, a formula for success and achievement that omits one of the steps, or doesn’t include directions for HOW to perform each step, may leave you trying to figure out why your cake tastes … well, bad.
The steps below are the comprehensive outline for not only WHAT to do if you want to make an important change in your life, but also HOW to make that change occur. It’s the completed puzzle. If you omit part of the process, just like your chocolate cake when you forget to add water, you aren’t going to get hte end result you were expecting.

I’ve Got A Problem: Recognizing there’s something in your life you want to change (financial, weight, relationship, fitness, career, etc)
Begin With the End In Mind: Getting specific about exactly what outcome you are seeking Motivation: Understanding clearly what the benefits, the payoff is
Skills/Strategy: Figuring out how to get there
Choices: Staying aware of what you need to do each day to make that happen
Consistent Awareness: Keeping it on your mind continually
Actions / Behavior: Until it becomes a Habit
Secret Ingredient: Record your activity

What’s Holding You Back?

Mike Warren — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:42:22 +0000

Anyone who wants to achieve a personal goal is in one of the following phases of the process of making that change in their life:

Feeling frustrated or dissatisfied with the way things are (weight, career, relationships, etc)
Deciding on a solution that will satisfy the problem (lose weight, change careers, work on being a better friend, husband, etc)
Create a plan that will produce the results you are seeking
Take the steps necessary to implement the plan
Assess your results

If everything works the way you planned, you’re now losing weight, getting better grades, performing better on the job or otherwise achieving whatever goal you initially intended.

But what if you experience the more likely result, that things don’t go the way you intended on your first try?

Step 6 in the process (not shown above), and the one that generally eludes most people, is this:

Figure out why you didn’t get the result you wanted

In any endeavor, whether it’s Thomas Edison trying to invent the lightbulb, finding your significant other, or trying to lose 20 lbs, there are likely to be setbacks.

What most people tend to do, at least initially, is see that they’ve failed to reach their personal goal and stop there. We don’t like the feeling of failure and disappointment, and after one, two or at most three setbacks virtually 90% of us will say ‘that’s enough’ and stop. Wrong!

The CORRECT approach is to move into “why didn’t this work?” mode. What went wrong, what’s holding me back from achieving the outcome I wanted?

Did I lack sufficient motivation to even get started? Did I start thinking it won’t really work? Did I not make action on a daily basis to start moving toward the goal, because I didn’t make time in my day for the essential activities? Maybe you did everything you said you should but it just didn’t work, i.e. the plan needs to be revised. Until you come up with a satisfactory answer, you should be asking “why did I not get the results I wanted?”.

Unless you’re trying to suspend the laws of gravity and float in mid air, there’s probably a solution to your problem. The right way to handle coming up short in the pursuit of any personal goal is to examine what you did (that’s why we track our progress), and figure out what’s holding you back.

How do you think this should be solved? I’ll give you my answer to that question in my next post.

5 Sacrifices to Reach Your Goals

Mike Warren — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:44:48 +0000

We know that a critical part of achieving a goal is to take regular action each and every day to move closer to it. Making time for those activities generally requires that we make some sacrifices.

The following is my list of the top 5 sacrifices that, if you identify them as potential time wasters up front, should make your daily planning easier and greatly improve your progress toward your goal.

Turn off the TV

The statistics on how much time we spend, or rather waste, watching TV are astounding. The TV is a fine creation and a nice way to unwind and relax, but we all know that 15 minutes of TV can turn into 2 hours before you know it. There are plenty of ways to relax and unwind, and leaving the TV turned off will put more time back into your week for goal related activities that can change your life.

Beware of the internet

There, I said it. Advice to turn away from the internet, delivered on the internet (kind of ironic, ain’t it?). I’ll admit that surfing my favorite web sites and drifting off to research some less than critical idea on the web are two of my greatest time wasters, so much so that I just have to consciously make myself close the browser window.

Of course, this advice includes Google searches, surfing, FACEBOOK(!), YouTube, blogs and all the rest. We’ve got important work to do, things that can change our lives and the lives of others. Accomplishing those things generally doesn’t involve surfing the internet.

I appreciate how hard it is to manage this, and that’s exactly why it’s #2 on the list. It helps me to remember that we’re looking for progress, not perfection. Less surfing, more goal activity.

Poorly Planned Day (no list, objectives)

Not having a to do list, agenda or set of objectives for the day is just another opportunity to end up chasing unimportant or unnecessary tasks, instead of those that will move your life and outcomes in the right direction. Having a list of key things you want to get done each day, and working on those tasks first until finished, dramatically improves personal productivity.

Saying “Yes”

Someone is standing in front of you, it’s not a big request, should only take 30 minutes, and you don’t want to say “no”. It happens to all of us, sometimes many times a day. If we say “yes”, we stop doing what we need to be doing, venture of in a different direction, and when we come back it takes 10 minutes just to get back into what we were doing.

The only useful antidote for this time waster is awareness. Staying aware of the list you created in time #3 (above), knowing the important things you need to accomplish today, are essential to making the right decision when someone is trying to divert your attention.

Telephone

Stephen Covey describes the 4 quadrants of activities are those that are:

Urgent
Not Urgent
Important
Not Important

Most of the time, the telephone is classified as a Not Urgent, and frequently Not Important. I know that sales people and other professions are required to spend time on the phone with clients. Time spent talking to real clients about real problems is not what we’re talking about. This time waste involves time on the phone with friends, family, co-workers, you name it – just chatting or killing time. I’m not advocating seclusion, just throwing up red flags for those things can can silently derail your progress and ultimate success.

Summary
I know that we each need time to relax, and that’s a critical part of a well balanced day. But web surfing, chatting on the phone, taking interruptions or zoned out on TV can be time wasters whose use result in diminishing who and what you can become. No one’s advocating that they be eliminated, but they are “high risk” zones and should be approached with extreme caution!

You have three great resources: Your time, your money and your energy. Use them all wisely.