New Year's Note 2013

Posted on Bacerra Academy FB page:

Resolutions are meant to be broken.  Or really, people have a tendency to make unrealistic goals for themselves and then don’t follow through on them.  Goals should be challenging and yet reachable and realistic.  It should make you work for them and get you outside your comfort zone.  As the old adage goes, anything worthwhile doesn’t come easily.

If goal-setting and reaching for those goals through consistent activity is already an ingrained habit for you, then great!  Keep it up!  It took some time for me to develop those habits, so if you’ve already developed it early in life, then all the better for you.  If you haven’t, then I suggest you start doing something about it.  Most of you on this page are relatively young, so it’s not too late to change your habits.  For those who have been around me long enough, you know certain basic things about goal-setting, that it takes a whole lot of effort to achieve your goals; that consistent effort bit by bit is better than large effort once in a great while; that you should have an overall goal and a number of mini-goals and milestones leading you up to that major goal.

Losing weight and getting fit is a common goal.  One of the highlights from this past year for me was losing 20 lbs.  I had to work-out hard and I had to cut back on certain foods.  It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution but in late January, I was motivated to act when I saw pictures of my fluffy self in Puerto Rico.  I made my decision and I knew I was in for a crazy ride.  Then I made an end date so I didn’t prolong the process - I will weigh 170 lbs by June 30, or lose about 4 lbs a month, a realistic monthly goal.  There were a number of things I had to do to make sure I kept to my goal: have a few family members keep me accountable, have a number of mini-goals for myself (which changed often, by the way), and keep track of my progress (myfitnesspal helped a lot).  There were days when it was enjoyable and I made it as fun as possible.  But there were even more days when it was just not fun at all!  Regardless of my feelings, I HAD to push through.  This is the rub for most people - when it stops being fun, they give up.  Understandable, but it’s just not a good excuse.  My sisters and cousin helped a lot and seeing students who successfully lost weight with my guidance motivated me to keep going as well, especially when it was so easy to let myself go!  Even with injuries, getting a cold, and being stressed out at work, by God’s grace, I was able to pick up my activity level, control the eating, and lose the weight.  In the final two months, I was a little behind, but knowing I needed to reach the goal, I worked even harder and the whole experience was even WORSE!  The last week before June 30 was the craziest week of the year physically for me because the last three pounds for two weeks didn’t budge.  Finally, on June 29, a day before the end-date, I reached my goal of 170!

So to summarize what I did:
- motivation (negative, seeing a picture of my fat self, or positive, a mental image of my fit self)
- set a goal - with a date
- set up the help that you may need, preferably people who will encourage you to follow through
- make mini-goals to reach your overall goal, which may change over the course of the program
- “dig deep” as coaches would say, when things get tough

Goal setting, keeping healthy, martial arts training, are not just good ideas and hobbies, they’re lifestyle habits.  They become part of what you do normally and it’s not just an extra thing you do.  If it’s just another activity for you, fun or not, you’ll most likely quit by February.  So if you’re going to make a resolution, it shouldn’t just be the superficial activities.  The best resolution to make is in the change to your mind as you incorporate the new lifestyle habits.

What will you do this year to create a lifestyle change that will develop you into someone better than you were last year?