When it comes to reaching for our goals – there may seem to be big hurdles to overcome – more than one in fact. Indeed it will require some work, but we can use certain mindset shifts and activities in order to kill that fear of “climbing a mountain”, and make it more realistic and manageable.

1. Understand And Accept That It Will Take Weeks/Months, Not Days

Impatience will be the death of your progress. You will need to set your mind to know that what you want will take longer than you think for it to happen. Probably weeks or even months longer. Sure, you can decide to do a quick fix/crash diet/do a 30day challenge, yet what happens when the challenge is over? Most likely the results you have obtained may not last because they haven’t been backed by long lasting habits to keep them.

Results happen after pushing for weeks – and most importantly – results are KEPT after pushing and working for months. This doesn’t mean that nothing will happen for this period of time – increase in mood, energy levels, appetite and better sleep can happen within a week.

It is also during this period of time that other important aspects are being built; building good habits, finding exercise and healthy meals you enjoy and learning to love the process and yourself for pushing through.

2. Get Used To Thinking Ahead

Living life on the fly with no preparation of thought of the future is a way to increase chances of failure due to the inevitable challenges, distractions and difficulties that happen daily. Planning for the future doesn’t have to mean planning every single thing in your life, but you can put in place strategies such as meal planning, grocery shopping and avoiding keeping trigger foods and foods that are easy to overindulge in your home.

Such strategies set you up for success and you will have more good than not-good moments and will drive you closer to your goal rather than sabotage you.

3. Pick An Active Hobby

Sure most of us love the social aspect of gyms and aerobics classes, however it is also wise to adopt a hobby that involves physical activity eg swimming, hiking, cycling etc. Keeping physically active in a variety of ways decreases how sedentary you are and improves your overall health.

It is easier to maintain your desired weight when you keep active in non-formal ways that you enjoy too – rather than stick to a gym routine only as a way to keep active. The aspect of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is a way of measuring how active in general you are. The more active you are, the better – for your goals and your health.

4. In Tough Times Think Of What You TRULY want

Whenever the alarm rings in the morning and you’re supposed to go to the gym, or you get home from work exhausted and feel like emptying 2 bowls of cereal and downing 500ml of Coke – think of what you TRULY want. In the moment you may “feel” you want it because it will give you that dopamine hit – and it will.

However 5 minutes when you are done and that feeling of guilt comes it – the feeling of guilt comes because your actions are not in line with what you truly need – which is nourishment and hydration. Your subconscious knows what you need and the feeling you get after taking an action is an indicator of whether you are acting in true accordance with what you need.

There will be moments where we give in to our urges and have the whole box of oreos, however make sure to keep these occurrences to a minimum – and listen to what you truly need – and give your body that.

It takes setting up some good strategies to have a good chance to reach for, achieve and sustain good goals. It is important to be realistic in order to give yourself the best environment and create the proper mindset to reach your goals.

Thanks for reading, subscribe below for more updates 🙂