Monday, January 19, 2015

Be Specific

As this journey goes along, I am learning that one of the keys to success is to never leave yourself in an open-ended goal. Never say I want to or I hope to. That leaves the possibility of failure open, and those easy outs are dangerous. Also, when you are doing your planning for the day or the week, never be general, be specific. I am getting very good at this. I don't say I want to work out 4-5 days this week, I say I am going to work out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I always decide what workout I am going to do the day before. I am very specific and goal oriented now. I am a to do lister, so when I make the list, it gives me great satisfaction to get the list done.

I also discovered that my night eating problem is an easy fix. I am very specific about what can be eaten after supper. I can have either or both a piece of bread with peanut butter on it and one packet of meat with a cheese stick rolled up inside of it. Those are the only options, and I am very specific about it.

On a very important side note, I am in such a good place. My wife Kathy has been charging ahead in getting fit and eating healthy. If the truth is told, the reason I started back going strong is that she has been getting up every day and walking out the door to the gym at 4:50 a.m. and she has adopted the mantra "No Excuses" so that she doesn't talk herself out of it like she used to. She has also made it impossible to get an unhealthy snack around the joint. I was rummaging the other day trying to find something to eat that I shouldn't be eating, and there is NOTHING! I wound up eating carrots and hummus and some peanut butter that day! It is a great problem to have though!!

2 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE this post, Shane. You've found and are continuing to find what works for you--your foundation elements. I totally relate to the very specific list of acceptable late night snack foods. 9 times out of 10, it's fruit of some sort, for me.
    Your wife out the door to the gym so early--and the mantra "no excuses," gave me the biggest heart warming smile. I'm so happy for you and your family. This is gonna be good.

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  2. Great post! I alway set SMART goals for myself, but when it comes to the day-to-day things I'm not very specific. For example, this morning I drove in to work and I told myself that after a week of slacking off last week, today I'm going to get myself caught up in my job. Not very specific, so instead I'm changing it to "I'm going to get all my emails caught up and adressed and I will get all my paperwork turned in and I will clean my office and have my task list updated with all the work I have to do this week."

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