When you’re on the right track to reaching a goal, ANY goal, at the very beginning just before you begin to pick up momentum, it’s easy to get swayed by nay-Sayers, disbelievers, negative talkers and basically anyone with a bad thing to say about your progress. Some will casually remind you of your ‘failed’ attempted history; others will drop a comment that will have you doubt you can do it. The sad reality is, some people LIKE others to follow in their motionless footsteps so when they see you’ve actually set a goal and are headed towards it, they start to make comments out of pure jealousy or fear because they don’t want you to change! Sometimes you will learn the hard way by forgetting you ever made any goals and falling right back into the old patterns and lifestyles of yesteryear: frequent drinking, skipping your workouts, eating out more often or just simply losing the bit of motivation you DID have because something someone said sets you back. While it’s normal to ‘allow’ others to affect us at times, you’re more in control than you may realize! Here are some actual ways we can be sure to stay on track.
Write down a list of both the positive AND negative people in your life who have any kind of influence on you whatsoever. The positive ones stay, the negative ones GO. It’s really that clear cut. Perhaps you’re saying that the negative person is your mother, your sister, your spouse? Limit your exposure to them in regard to your goal. If you have to be around them on a regular basis, keep your goal to yourself. Protect it! Tell ONLY the people on your positive influence list. They are the ones you need on your journey to the top. If you don’t have positive people on that list, join a group and start searching for them. They exist- WE are two of them!
Second, providing the negative people aren’t in your living space on a daily basis, write your goal on a big piece of paper and plant it RIGHT on your refrigerator. You have to eat several times a day so where better than there? Not to mention, if it’s a weight related goal, the constant in your face placement of it will be a pretty good reminder when you reach for a not so desirable food item. If you share living quarters with the negativity, STILL write it down and keep it in your car, your wallet…your bedroom mirror, your sock drawer!! Wherever you feel you can expose yourself to it. You need a commitment, from yourself!
Finally, reward yourself! Just because it’s a new year, doesn’t mean you have to suddenly wake up PERFECT. That’s NOT reality. Reality is trying to achieve a goal and in the process, having a few obstacles but getting back on track as soon as they’re recognized. Good friends in your circle who know your goal will help to remind you about it in a positively healthy way. If you set SMALLER goals, and reward yourself as you go, you’ll be much happier along the journey to the destination. Say for example you want to lose 50 lbs before June, try saying you’ll lose about 8 lbs a month in a natural healthy way. Every month when you’ve met your 8 lb goal, celebrate! Not with food, but with some personal pampering…go away for the weekend, buy yourself a new piece of clothing; something to say ‘hey, you’re doing just fine!’
And guess what, you are! I found the following on the internet…print it…post it…say it! Do whatever you need to do to keep you on track, but remember it starts with what YOU say, think and feel…once you’ve decided you won’t let negative voices stand in your way of success, the rest is just Doing.
