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Any goal we may have, such as reaching an ideal weight, requires commitment and dedication to achieve.

There is an old saying that if you aim at nothing, you will hit it with amazing accuracy.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to successful weight loss, but it does help to have key indicators that will track and measure how you are doing and the S.M.A.R.T system is a great way to do this.

S: Is the goal Specific to what you are trying to achieve

M: Is it Measurable? Can you determine if there’s any improvement i.e. clothes are looser, actual weight loss according to the the bathroom scales

A: Is it Achievable? Is there a high possibility that you will attain your given weight loss goal?

R: Is it Realistic? Like anything your goals have to be something that is within the realms of possibility. Having unrealistic goals will lead to failure, disillusionment and ultimately a lack of confidence in trying to achieve this goal again in the future

T: Have you given yourself the Time frame in which to achieve your weight loss goal? This can be be a specific date on the calendar, or a countdown of days i.e. 100 days to lose 5 kg.

However, always remember when setting you goals that there’ll always be externalities. These are factors that are outside your field of control that can have an impact on your ability to achieve your goals.

A big part of achieving your weight loss goals is to realise that subconsciously you may try to sabotage yourself and distract you and from your course of action to success.

Lastly like any goal your really need to be ready for the commitment to carry through all five steps of the S.M.A.R.T program.

Quite often the biggest barrier to achieving your goals is leaving your comfort zone.

The biggest hurdle that we confront when we are trying to make shifts to achieve our goals, be it for weight loss, improving your fitness level, general well being is the idea of going into a place where we are confronting our fears.

Ultimately this makes us feel uncomfortable and it’s a human defense mechanism to avoid anything which creates pain or discomfort.

How often have you heard that people would rather (metaphorically speaking) cut off the right-hand rather than speaking in public.

This makes the whole process of trying to achieve the goal being very challenging, we will place all types of barriers to avoid feeling any discomfort, we create legitimate reasons, that we don’t have enough time, too busy, it’s too hard, not ready at the moment, I’ll start in January next year.

While it may appear to be easier in the short term to take the easier option of inactivity, in the long-term would pay the price for not jumping over the hurdles that we create.

Maybe your goal is to change job or career however the fear of going into the unknown, of feeling discomfort and possible pain will relegate you to stay exactly where you are.

Initially we can justify not committing to a goal, for example improving your fitness level, however not having the time to exercise is like making small deposits in your health bank that accumulate over a long period of time, so the effects of not engaging in regular physical activity may have a detrimental effect on your health in the long term.

Maybe you have won in the gene pool tree of life whereby you can treat your body poorly and you will live to 100, however is this the sort of gamble your wish to take with your health.

While it is recommended that you perform 30 min. of exercise 3 to 4 times per week, for a person whose goal is to lose weight, the long-term consequences of avoiding the achievement of this goal is a predisposition to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the possibility of osteoporosis and numerous other ailments.

It’s all about taking small steps, and removing those mental barriers that stop you achieving success at every level of of the process.

How often have you heard of people placing these barriers to avoid leaving the comforts zone, ultimately it’s about removing and changing the negative chatter in the mind that leads to the proliferation of these thought patterns.

I meet a senior partner from a law firm who was a keen cyclist who road 250-300km per week which included a daily commute from his house 18km from the Melbourne CBD.

Like most of us, stuff happened and what was a healthy lifestyle quickly turned into a life of long working hours, deadlines and before you know it, something has to give, well it’s your health and fitness goals.

This person was in his 50′s with his stomach girth in excess of the 100cm waist measurement for men (85cm for woman) that places him in the high risk category for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

After chatting to him, there really was the time to ride to work, to do the weekend bike rides and to lead a healthier lifestyle but it was more about the lack of motivation.

Well after our chat, he was so confident about getting back onto the bike that I gave him some home work, I would call him in a weeks time to follow up on whether he successfully got back onto the bike.
Well to his credit, he had ridden to work 3 times and enjoyed a further 2 rides on the weekend but like all good starts to achieving goals it’s a marathon not a 50m sprint so as Mr Lawyer acknowledged, its about maintaining the momentum, something which is particularly hard.

When setting your goals write them down, statistically it has been shown that those people who write down there goals, whether in their diary, a vision board, or even a piece of paper they keep in their pocket will have a higher chance of success.

David Ogilvy was the original “Mad Man” who started from humble beginnings from a small office in 1959 on Madison Avenue with 3000 other advertising agencies all competiting for that lucrative advertising dollar. Over the course of 15 years David Ogilvy grew the business into the advertising giant of Ogilvy & Mather.
How can a young salesman who was a university drop out go onto achieve such mountains of success?

Well he wrote his goals down.

David Ogilvy wrote down his goals on a piece of paper he carried with him, a dream of being a major adverting company in 20 years with 5 blue chip clients, but not just any old clients but 5 of the biggest corporations in the world, General Foods, Bristol-Myers, Campbell Soup Company, Lever Brothers, and Shell. Today all five are clients of Ogilvy, Benson & Mather.

Well Ogilvy got there 5 years ahead of time and today has 450 offices across 152 cities, now that’s big things coming from a belief system, anything is possible:))

While it was a chilly one this morning, we were fortunate to experience an absolutely stunning sunrise. While the colder winter temperatures (2.5º) may be a little challenging, once you are out of bed, the hardest part of the mornings exercise regime has been completed.

I always like to say that moving your feet that 30cm from the bed to the floor is really the hardest part of any exercise program, once you are up and about the rest is a lot easier.

One massive benefit apart from feeling great after the session is watching these amazing sunrises with crisp blue skies and the warmth of the sun filtering through the trees.

In the 5 years I have been running boot camps, I can say that I have NEVER have had one person mention that they are cold after completing the session.
Provided that you undertake a thorough warm up & stretching regime prior to engaging in intensive exercise, you body will reach operating temperature very quickly.

Unfortunately for our Melbourne water storage levels, there is very little rain to fill the catchment areas but on a positive note it makes for more rain free days for boot camp training.