2013: The year of the Goal

Well, can you believe it? Another year has come and gone. It really flew by, didn't it? And once again we're at that point in time when so many people start making plans for the New Year. Many of those plans revolve around the positive changes that we want to make in our lives. That's right; I'm talking about New Year's resolution.

In the past I have written articles about why resolutions don't work. I still stand by that belief. However, in this article I would like to focus on something that does work. It's something that many people mistakenly believe is the same thing as a resolution, but they are very wrong. It's something that delivers results to people in many aspects of their lives, not just health and fitness. It's a tried and true method of making positive changes happen time and again in one's life. Have you guessed what it is? I'll tell you in one word- GOAL.

A goal is very different from a resolution. Let me explain why. A resolution is something that you tell yourself is going to happen. It's somewhat of a promise that you make to yourself, usually around the time that a new year begins. It involves making a change in behavior that will lead to positive changes in one's life. The problem here is that there's no plan of action. A resolution is basically just a statement that is filled with a lot of good intentions, but no logical plan to make it happen. This is why time and again resolutions never work. It's very hard to fulfill a promise to yourself, if you have no plan as to how you're going to make it happen.

A goal on the other hand is just the opposite. A goal has a plan of action attached to it that will bring a desired result. There are many different kinds of goals. There are yearly, monthly, and weekly goals, as well as daily goals. Goals can pertain to any aspect of our lives. A good friend of mine has a wonderful New Year's tradition. Every year, on New Year's Eve, he holds a party. It's usually a very simple party with a lot of close friends. After midnight strikes, he hands everybody a piece of paper, a pen or pencil, and an envelope. At that point, everybody proceeds to write a letter to themselves about what they feel they have accomplished in the preceding year and what they would like to accomplish in the following year. We then put the letter in the envelopes and address it to ourselves. About nine months later, he mails these letters out to us. When we receive the letters, we've usually forgotten about them. Our reactions range from being slightly upset to very happy, depending if we had accomplished what we set out to do. The good news is this: If we didn't accomplish something that we had written down, we still have three months left to try to accomplish it.

Thank you for indulging me in that story. I wanted to share it with you, because it points out a very powerful tool that we can use to accomplish our goals- PUTTING THEM IN WRITING! By writing down your goals, you are, in a sense, making a contract with yourself. What I've started doing for myself is writing a separate letter that I can have with me throughout the year. This way I'll never forget what my goals are. And as I said before, you don't just have to do this for yearly goals. You can also make monthly, weekly, and daily letters as well. By constantly having your goals in writing, you will know exactly what steps you need to take in order to accomplish them. You are creating a plan of action for yourself. Your letters, in essence, become "to do" lists. These lists will help keep you on a steady road to accomplishing your goals.

This year, the goals for many people will include weight loss. I think I have brought home the point that sensible weight loss only comes from an individualized fitness program including both cardiovascular and resistance training as well as flexibility training, and a smart nutrition plan. The nutrition aspect, for many, remains the most difficult principle to follow. One of the things to focus on is increasing your lean protein and fibrous carbohydrate intake.

When doing strenuous exercise, especially resistance training, it is very important to have a diet that is high in lean protein. Protein is what helps to build our muscle. When we do resistance training, we are essentially doing "good damage" to our muscles- we create microscopic tears in our muscle tissue. By eating healthy amounts of lean protein, we then repair and rebuild our muscle tissue which leads to muscular definition and shape. Let's also not forget that resistance training also burns a significant amount of fat calories.

Fibrous carbohydrates consist of fruits and vegetables. They complement protein nicely, because they help to refuel our muscles with glycogen (our muscles primary source of fuel) as well as provide us with many nutrients. They also do not convert to fat as easily as starchy carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, cereal, etc.)

Another thing to remember is that by eating up to six small meals a day, our metabolism increases and allows us to burn more calories. By including protein and fibrous carbohydrates in each of those meals, excluding fruits in the evening, we will increase our chances of weight loss and provide our bodies with the proper nutrition that it needs.

Once we create the habit of making goals for ourselves on an ongoing basis, something else miraculous happens: we create a lifestyle change. Healthy lifestyle changes only happen with discipline. By creating these daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals for ourselves and really commit to achieving them, discipline becomes a habit. Results start to become apparent. Self-confidence improves. Goals are achieved. So this year, don't set those resolutions; set goals for yourself. I promise you'll feel a whole lot more satisfied come 2014.

Michael Elder has been working as a fitness professional in Chicago for the last thirteen years. He comes from a background in gymnastics and is certified as a personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise (ACE). He can be contacted directly through his website, www.MichaelElder.com.