Set a Goal for Your Fitness Success

By Suzanne Zacharia

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One thing that most would-be exercisers never get around to is specific goal-setting. It is one thing to want to be fit, but without a clear goal to aim for, it is hard to stick to it. And without clear goals, motivation can be strong at first and dwindle to a stop.

Just being fit is too general a goal. Think about it this way. If you want to buy a car, you would think about buying a car. You would probably visit car showrooms or answer ads for used cars, depending on your budget and preferences. You may read about different makes of cars on the internet or ask friends for advice. You would not only think that you want to travel or journey, you would specifically think of getting a car. After all, to travel or journey can be done by bus, train, or plane.

So be specific about your goal and immerse yourself in it. For example, if your goal is to lose or gain weight, write down your goal weight. Get pictures of people at this weight. For example, if you want to build muscle, get pictures of fit and healthy muscular role models and put them up on a special fitness board somewhere you can see them. If you want to lose weight, get pictures of healthy slim people and put them on a special fitness board where you can see them. If you want to run a marathon, get information and pictures about the marathon in question and put them up on your fitness board. If you want to learn how to swim, get a calendar and write your achievements on it as you go along, for example, you can say that you learned to swim the breast stroke, or that you completed 6 lengths in the pool. Write down your goal. Write down in your diary when you are due to go for training. All this helps to cement your goal in your mind.

If you know what you are aiming for, it is then easier to do it. If for any reason, you cannot get yourself to set a specific goal, that is a sign that there is an emotional block. This can be resolved with EFT. A simple way to tap for clearer goal-setting is as follows.

Setup
¨Even though I have this block to setting my fitness goal, I accept myself anyway.¨
Reminder
¨Setting my fitness goal.¨

Tap these statements over and over again until you get a clear goal in mind. Then go about constructing a fitness vision board to cement this goal in your mind. Add to it daily for about 3 weeks. Keep a diary of your achievements, but never record any negatives, only the positives. For example, if your goal is to lose weight by eating better and swimming twice a week, and one week you did go swimming but gained a little weight, only record that you went swimming twice that week. This keeps your energy concentrated around the positive and encourages you to see your positive progress. The weight will follow.

If you find yourself ignoring your fitness vision board, that is also a tappable issue. You can then tap ¨Even though I am not doing my fitness board, ...¨

Next comes breaking down your goal into easy chunks. For example, if you want to buy a car, you would think about buying a car. You would probably visit car showrooms or answer ads for used cars, depending on your budget and preferences. You may read about different makes of cars on the internet or ask friends for advice. So you would take steps along the way to buy a car. You may save the money or the deposit over a three-month period, for example, saving a certain amount each month. Then you may test-drive a car or get a second-hand car checked out by a mechanic. Then you would sign the paperwork needed. Every step along the way is part of the plan. When we break down our goal into smaller mini-goals, it becomes more realistic to achieve.

I have come across clients who at first said they wanted to lose weight, and when I asked what steps they could take with regards to eating and exercise to achieve their desired weight loss, they had little idea. And so we worked together by breaking down the big goal of desired realistic weight loss into weekly do-able chunks of exercise and specific aims to improve eating habits.

Three of the biggest over-eating habits that I tap for with clients is:

• Drinking too much alcohol (alcohol is laden is excess calories or kilojoules)
• Finishing your plate after feeling full
• Sweets cravings

Three of the specific exercise challenges that I help clients with are:

• Finding exercise that fits in with the client´s personality and lifestyle
• Formulating an exercise plan
• Sticking to an exercise plan

So be specific about your goal and break it down into mini-goals. For example, if your goal is to lose  weight, write down your realistic and healthy goal weight. Then decide how much you are willing to lose per week, within health guidance standards. Then work out, given tables freely available on the internet, what steps you will have to take to achieve this goal on a weekly basis. Then tap on whatever comes up for you.

For example, if you drink three glasses of wine a day, one mini-goal is to limit your drink to two glasses of wine on a Saturday night. Imagine yourself in the coming week doing exactly that. Ask yourself, on a scale of 10-0, where 10 is No Way and 0 is OK, where you feel you are with this mini-goal. If anything above a zero, then tap for it until it goes down to a zero, Repeat this tapping every week until you have achieved your fitness goal. A simple way to tap for it is to use the following statements.

Setup
Even though I cannot yet drink only two glasses of wine a week, I accept myself anyway.
Reminder
Two glasses of wine a week.

So, decide on a goal, break it into mini-goals, and tap on whatever comes up. And you can soon be fit, motivated, and feel a good deal healthier.

Enjoy your tapping journey and improved fitness!

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Author's Bio:

© Suzanne Zacharia 2010.  My name is Suzanne Zacharia and I am committed to spreading the word about health options. I believe that the more and better options one has, the more choice there is. And of course, you are advised to consult with your medical practitioner before embarking on any course of alternative, complementary, or beauty therapy. Want to use this article?  You can, as long as you credit me with it and invite your readers to get my FREE "EFT How-to for You" and regular free EFT Tapping script samples in my newsletter at http://www.EFT-Scripts.com - New to EFT? No worries, just get your own copy of "EFT How-to for You" and start EFTing with ease very soon!

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While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.

In addition, the articles on this site represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, nor the owner of this web site, Stefan Gonick.