Count Down To Fitness Success And
Keep Your Motivation Drive Alive
By: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA
www.BurnTheFat.com
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com
There are many fantastic ways to get focused and motivated to begin
a diet or exercise program, but often the most difficult thing to
do is keep that drive and ambition alive for more than a few weeks
and see your goal through to completion.
Within just weeks of starting, many people have already hit their
first snag or setback, and as a result, have slipped backwards in
the mental focus and motivation department. Setting goals in writing
is an essential step to success, but how do you stay focused on
them? One technique I have used ever since my very first bodybuilding
competition 18 years ago, is...
The "contest countdown calendar."
I have used it ever since, through 28 competitions and it will
work for you too, for any fitness goal.
I purchase a desk or wall calendar - the type that shows each week
stretching horizontally across the page with an open block of space
for each day.
After I set my goal and place a deadline on it, I do NOT stop there.
I take out my calendar and start counting backwards from my target
goal deadline to the present day.
T-minus 117 days....
T-minus 116 days...
T-minus 115 days....
I also fill in my workouts for the entire 3-4 month period, which
is the typical length I allow for my mid-range goals like contest
prep.
you would be shocked - pleasantly so - just how focused this keeps
you. Even better still, you get MORE and MORE motivated with each
passing day you countdown because the deadline is getting closer
Deadlines are absolutely critical to your success. Little gets
done without deadlines.
There is a saying in management and psychology that "work
will always expand to fill the time allowed for it's completion."
Remember term papers in school? when you were given a term paper
assignment and you had the entire semeseter to do it, did you run
home that first night and get crankin on it?
How about after a week? two weeks? A month? TWO MONTHS?
probably not, eh?
If youre like most people, you put it off until the last minute
and you barely got it turned in on time. In fact, there are always
a few people who pull all nighters the night before!
Alas, the power of the deadline!
In your fitness endeavors, if you dont have IMPENDING deadlines
that give you that twinge in your stomach that says "take action
now, or else!" then you find it very easy to say to yourself,
' I have plenty of time so this one cheat meal doesnt matter...
it doesnt make much difference at this point if I skip this one
workout... I have time to make it up..."
And then, just like the term paper, you are scrambling at the last
minute to reach your weight goal. But in the case of a your body,
the consequences are more severe and painful than just a bad grade
or late penalty.
Inevitably, you succumb to crash dieting and overtraining or other
unhealthy fast-weight-loss madness, which eats up your own muscle
like a hungry cannibal and sends you spiraling into the dark pit
of metabolic damage and the inevitable plateau and weight gain that
follow.
But the solution is so simple: Count your way down to success!
Don't stop with setting goals. Put your goal countdown on paper,
review your goals every single day, AND know, every single day,
how many days there are until your target goal date. You will stay
more consciously focused and even better, your unconscious mind
will go to work for you in keeping you motivated, on track, and
on schedule. You'll come in for a landing on your goal deadline
date like an F-16 landing on an aircraft carrier.
I just did my countdown calendar earlier this week... T minus 117
days til my next bodybuilding competition, and thanks to this simple
but powerful technique, I'm already focused like a laser beam and
have been making steady progress without so much as a hiccup...
Don't under-estimate this simple technique... Give it an honest
test... because it's often the simplest motivational techniques
that are the most powerful of all!.
Also See: Burn
the Fat Feed the Muscle
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified
personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist
(CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat,
Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and has been
featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and
Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For
information on Tom's Fat Loss program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com.
To learn more about Tom's Fat Loss Support Community, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com
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