Get Serious

There’s no surprise in the fact that I spend time each and every day talking with people about their goals.  After all, as a trainer and performance coach, that’s what I do. Normally, I love this part of my work. I like nothing better than to see my clients, teammates and friends succeed.

You might be wondering, “Where’s Todd going with this?” Well, there’s a problem that I want to take head-on: I’m frustrated with people just TALKING about their goals.  Talk, talk, talk.  I want action! ACTION is what will set you apart. We’re on a mission and people on a mission are serious. Are YOU serious? ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR GOALS?

If you are, I would love to see it. I want to see your seriousness in your CHOICES. I want to see your seriousness in your ACTIONS. I want to see your seriousness in your RESULTS. I’m on a “Get Serious” campaign. Join me. Let’s get serious, NOW.

You’re reading an article written by a personal trainer so you probably have at least one goal about your health, fitness and well-being. Great. It’s all you need to start – one goal and the commitment to follow the next few steps.

Start with a personal inventory. A personal inventory is a great way to be honest about how you feel right now. It doesn’t need to take long. In less than 20 minutes, you can sit down with a piece of paper and start to write about how you feel. I did it and so can you. I sat down a week ago and wrote a personal inventory and it was a big kick in the you-know-what. If you think about it, how can we expect to get serious about a goal when we hesitate to get serious about how we feel right now? We can all benefit from a little self-reflection.

Document reality. Yeah, this is the really painful part. This is the part where you take “before” pictures of yourself if you want to lose weight. This is the part where you take the IMPACT Fit Test if you want to increase your fitness level (see Chapter 7 of The IMPACT Body Plan). This is the part where you measure where you are right now. When we measure and document reality, we know how far we’ve come when we get to the finish line and we value the results even more. Serious people know they will succeed, so don’t be afraid to take the “before” picture. The “after” pictures will be that much sweeter. It’s time to face the music, my friend.

Understand the difference between babysitting a goal and achieving a goal. Yes, babysitting. Some of us have been carrying around the same goal for years. It’s been our constant companion. Maybe you want to lose body-fat and change your body composition.  Maybe you want to be pain-free. Maybe you want to be a better role model for your children as they form their values about health and fitness. Maybe you want to start your own business. Whatever your goal is, I’m pretty confident that goals are meant to be accomplished, not carried around. So, take ACTION and get serious.

Address your weaknesses. About the time we’re teenagers, we start to see our personal tendencies. Some are strengths. Some are weaknesses. I’ll save the speech about turning weaknesses into strengths for another article. Right now, we need to make sure our weaknesses don’t get in the way of achieving results. Serious people recognize their weaknesses and address them before the damage is done. A friend of mine on the East Coast is a perfect example of this. He lives alone and says that without someone to hold him accountable, he never makes progress on his goals. He finally hired a personal coach. His coach holds him accountable. His coach is like a little bird sitting on his shoulder in a restaurant when he travels for business. And on the couch at home when he’s too tired to cook.  And at the gym when he needs some motivation during his workout. Whatever your weaknesses are, deal with them NOW. Don’t let them do you in… again.

Do the work. It has to be said. None of this is easy because change is hard. But if you do the work, change will come. If you do the work and are disciplined, you will succeed. If your goal is to change your body – weight, percentage body fat, metabolism… your overall body composition – you must do the work. Showing up to the gym three or even four times a week by itself will not bring the change you desire. Training hard is only part of the formula. You’ve got to change your nutritional habits. You’ve got to learn how to recover better. You’ve got to get enough sleep. You’ve got to do the work.  No more excuses. 

Keep your eye on key indicators. Success won’t come overnight. It will arrive slowly, but it will arrive. Know the indicators of success. Watch for them. When you’re making progress, the indicators will tell you. When you get distracted, when you stop doing the work, when your weaknesses get the best of you; the indicators will tell you. Keep your eye on your energy level, your performance level and how you look and feel. These are the key indicators of success when your goal pertains to health, fitness and wellbeing. Watch them like a hawk, because they will keep you honest.

That’s it, my friend. Only six steps to “Get serious” and you can do it. It’s time to take that goal you keep talking about and get serious about achieving it. You can win the battle. You can beat the odds because you’re not alone. We’re in this together. I’m on a campaign to get serious and I invite you to join me. We will be serious together. We will face reality. We will conquer our weaknesses. We will do the work. We will succeed and then we will celebrate. Write to me – tell me what you commit to getting serious about. Tweet me, Facebook me, or just tell me when you see me. I’m serious.

Peace and love,

Todd