New Year

Motivation: The New Years Resolution

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By: Sam Ibraham

Another year is quickly coming to an end. You watch yourself in the mirror, you grin, you sigh, you shake your head in disappointment. What to do? You have played this hopeless game of roller coaster diets, exercise videos, supplements, fitness devices and all to the same end.  You ask the same questions and ponder the same things you did last year the only thing that is new is the new year….

So now what? Does this mean that you should not buy that annual gym membership that you may have only used 1 time last year. Does it mean that your looking for a new radical diet to convince yourself that this will be the year of success?

Dear reader, day after day I receive similar questions from genuine, concerned and struggling people, good people from many walks of life. They and you as well struggle to be your best, but unfortunately there are many factors that prevent you from your goal, or so you will tell yourself.  Remember the old saying “He spend his health to gain his wealth and with his might and main….He turned about and spent his wealth to gain his health again”  Like all things in life that are worthwhile, one of the most worthwhile investments is in yourself, your well being, and your health.  When you realize that everything stops and starts with you, this will come more to realization. You see we are creatures of habit, often bad habits that become harder to break particularly when they are vested in comforts such as eating in front of the tv (distracted eating) which I have mentioned in previous blogs, driving to the corner store less than 500m away, and the famous drive through after a long day as time will not allow otherwise.

Dear reader, as you know the aforementioned has never been or will never be criticisms that are made rather statements of fact that must be 1. acknowledged  2. understood  and 3. acted upon.  We all know what we do “wrong” however the New Year should be a time of acknowledging the right we need to do, understand what needs to be done through planning and act on it through small diligent efforts everyday, much like building your investments and retirement.

I have mentioned before, the approaches you take should never be radical, but incorporative. So you practice distracted eating in front of the TV and do not realize how many more calories you consume which is contributing to your weight gain. Solution, practise distracted cardiovascular fitness while the same tv is running as you begin accomplishing 10, 20, 30, and 60 minute progressive milestones that you never thought possible!  Distraction does work, the fact of the matter is finding significant and meaningful distraction to get you through.  Once completed you begin marking notches in your belt day after day as you meet those goals, improve your fitness level and the “pain” is now tolerable (mentally and physically).

Dear reader, this New Year and every year thereafter needs to be about your best, and bringing the very best of what you are forward. This is done with small daily concerted efforts which start with how you behave around the common places you visit, live and eat.  Use your “bad habits” (TV example) and begin phasing new traditions around them that are realistic, livable, and  then watch small everyday efforts transform you into a New Year you never thought possible!

To your  most successful New Year and best Health!

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Motivation: Strength in Numbers

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strength By: Sam Ibraham

I have a powerful saying and it goes something like this: “Passion endures, even when everyone stops looking”.

We are creatures of habit as well as community beings. No matter who we are we are affected by our environment and in many ways influenced and are products of it…in many cases we like and in some we do not.

My series of questions that I often get in the clinical environment during health screening or health maintenance is “How do I keep pushing forward when people stop looking”.  This was a young lady commenting on how motivated she was to maintain an excellent exercise routine and diet when in public and when being watched. As a product of our environment she dared not to stop cycling and dared not to order what she should while making smart choices at restaurants. Why you may ask?  and in the same instance you correct yourself and understand that it is the same reasons that motivates you to do the same….that fear of being judged, looking foolish or better yet failure.

So what is the remedy, we cannot combat our environment, and in many ways cannot change it, so now what?

The answer is simple, do not conform!  Use the very environment that inhibits you to help you.  Notice how you perform when you are being watched either with food choices you make, the exercise you do, the presentations at work. These can be what I call positive stressors, although uncomfortable at times it drives you to succeed as to put your best foot forward.

So what does this look like?  As the New Year comes million of gym memberships are purchased many of which will never have a single visit! This is not a ploy to boycott gym memberships but rather an opportunity to make your resolution come true. If an environment of strangers in a gym keeps you working hard of fear of looking foolish or failure try taking your friend to ease your environmental factors. Studies show we are more motivated and push through tasks when accompanied by another.  By making each other accountable you succeed together. As your confidence builds the “stranger phenomenon” will still work but now you have built yourself intrinsic motivation, sort of like building up your credit score to qualify for that big purchase.  The payout here is your health and wellness, and I know you can do it!

 

Motivation: The Routine

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By Sam Ibraham

You have heard me say it before and you likely know what I am going to say again…..

As the new year makes its way closer so does the promises of a new beginning, a fresh start and the hopes of something new and inspiring. The answers at the time you conceive them are clear however the body is weak and more so the motivation is simply not there. So what is the secret?  What is the real magic for this upcoming year and those thereafter?

Human beings are masters of repetition, we learn by it, we live by it, and sadly we also die by it through repeated errors this is witnessed on a personal and global level.

I have blogged in the past about what has and has not worked, what could and could not work, what restrains us from accomplishing our goals and ways to sustain it.  Is there really a tried and tested method?  How will I guarantee success this new year without total disappointment as in the past years?

One method to overcome this rigorous cycle of defeat is to utilize the same mechanism that often prevents you from succeeding and diminishes your motivation…..repetition.

Your goals are grand and almost untouchable as you see them so try doing something you would never expect to work.

Each time you succeed at something big or small you tend to repeat the process?  Since your method has worked why reinvent the wheel. Start with the little things as I have mentioned before and with what you can realistically commit to today. When today has been mastered start working on tomorrow, tomorrow until you can learn to handle planning consecutive days. Building on small success helps you prepare for larger success, will keep your expectations real, and help you learn and correct what your doing from today so you can carry it forward tomorrow and onward.

Repeating small successes can help you accomplish that longterm goal by realistically focusing your efforts one day at a time…

This is food for thought!

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