For better health and physical and mental performance pick some of these new life’s resolutions. Or follow all of them. Or just keep adding one at the time:
1. Eat less red meat or go red meatless.
2. Don’t eat processed meats like sausages, hot dogs, lunch meats, salamis at all.
3. Lift weights (strength train) all major muscle parts in your body 2 nonconsecutive days per week.
4. Do cardiovascular exercise like running, swimming, rowing, bicycling, kayaking 3 – 4 times per week for at least 30 minutes.
5. Don’t drink your calories. Drink only water, teas, mineral water, coffee – all without any sugar or honey or anything sweet in it.
6. Eat at least 3 cups of legumes like beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, peas and others per week.
7. Eat some protein and add little bit of healthy fat like olive oil with every meal.
8. Eat some sardines at least once per week.
9. Have a big nutritious breakfast everyday and prepare it yourself. Muffin doesn’t count.
10. Stretch or do some yoga for 20 minutes everyday.
11. Switch to low fat dairy products.
12. Don’t eat sweets and candy bars at all.
13. Eat fish, particularly fatty fish like mackerel, sardines, herring 3 times per week.
14. Eat 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday.
15. Don’t have more than 3 alcoholic drinks per week.
16. Have always fresh fruit instead of desert.
17. Prepare your own food for work at least 3 times per week.
18. Don’t eat out more that 2 times per week.
19. Don’t eat any commercial baked goods like cookies, breads, muffins and other stuff you can buy at grocery store.
20. Have an active vacation at the ocean at least once per year.
21. Organize your house for 10 minutes everyday.
22. Don’t spend more than you earn.
23. Spend every weekend in the nature running, hiking, swimming, biking, moving.
24. Never eat fast food meal.
25. Get at least 7 hours of sleep everyday.
26. Read or listen some inspirational literature for at least 20 minutes everyday.
27. Eat some kind of leafy green vegetable like spinach, kale, lettuce, brussel sprouts everyday.
28. Don’t use sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup and other sweeteners anymore.
29. Do cardio-interval training 2 times per week.
30. Stop being that serious and laugh a lot everyday.
31. Make sure you break the rule occasionally and have some dark chocolate or whatever you want.
We are all different. We all respond differently to various situations. To really find out what works for you, you need to apply trial and error principle. I don’t want you to go and buy a bottle of vodka and drink it and than see how you feel. That’s stupid.
The next time you eat your meal, or do your workout at certain time, or have 2 drinks before you go to sleep, stay mentally aware how you feel after. How your body and brain responds.
How did you sleep after 2 glasses of wine you had at 9 PM? Did you feel well and rested next morning?
If you had a bad sleep and you felt tired the whole day, and you don’t want to experience that again, try only one glass of wine next time. Or have it at 6 PM. Or don’t have it at all.
Do you usually feel sleepy and tired after your lunch? Did you have full bowl of pasta or rice? Next time try to have more chicken breast and less rice and notice how you feel.
How did you feel all day after morning workout? How about evening workout? Did you perform better in the evening or in the morning?
Did you have your second large coffee at 2 PM just to boost your performance? How do you feel at 5 PM? Do you sleep well? If not, skip that 2 PM coffee and see if you sleep better and are rested better next day.
Stay open to notice your feelings, your physical and mental performance. If the outcome of the situation (meal, drink, workout) is great and you are feeling energized, strong, positive, than write it down.
For example: If you just had a great meal for lunch you prepared for yourself day before and you feel great, energized and still not hungry 4 hours later, write that meal down with all ingredients – the amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat.
It sometimes takes longer to figure out what works for you and what does not. But if you stay open and want to improve the outcomes, you can certainly find out what really works for you. Just stay aware and experiment a little.
We all have certain habits that are not serving us very well. Find out about them by experimenting and eliminate them. Even, if you don’t want to give up your glass of wine in the late evening or afternoon coffee, you probably should if it interrupts your sleep and subsequently making you tired.
My personal biggest challenge was to give up candy bars like twix, snickers, cookies. I felt great 5 – 10 minutes after I eat them. But than my sugar level dropped down rapidly and I felt tired and miserable. My physical and mental performance suffered greatly. I knew, I had to change something. And I did. It was not easy. Now simple sugar free, my energy level is high and I don’t even miss that sweet stuff.
I hope, you too can eliminate few bad habits you have by experimenting and trying to find out what works for you. You will be amazed 2 years later, how could you handle that stuff before.
Is to don’t wait until new year comes and start now. By the time January rolls in and you jump into that swimming pool or hit that running track, you already kept your promise for 30 days or so. That will be a great feeling of satisfaction. You will be far ahead of everybody that is waiting for that magic day to get of the sofa.
Set that new years resolution today and get going. Why wait? Hey, all gyms are empty at the end of the year.
Loose 5 Lb by the January 1-st, exercise everyday, eat better healthier diet. And than just keep going in January. Don’t stop. And then, don’t stop ever again.
They say, you need 30 days to develop a habit. When you start now, than by the end of December when you give yourself that new years resolution, you will already have your habit developed.
If you keep going for those 30 days before new year comes, you will keep going after New Years day and probably for the rest of the year and longer.
The key is to stick with it as long as you can. Longer you keep that promise, harder it becomes to quit.
There is no reason to wait for new year to come. Just hit that empty gym today and smile at everybody on January 3-rd, when the gyms are full of people who never keep their promise. They wait too long to start and they don’t last very long. Don’t let that happen to to you. Start today!
I just read these few lines from Hugh Macleod in his new book Ignore Everybody and 39 other keys to creativity. Sorry Hugh, I am going to write them here, so I will never forget them. Very eye opening – fantastic!!! Here they are, and they are really worth remembering:
Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your death bed, and all you will feel is emptiness.
Admit that your own private Mount Everest exists, that is half the battle.
We all need to climb our own Mount Everest. Your own Mount Everest, whatever your is. You know, which one it is. Go, start doing whatever you always wanted to do. Try that thing, you always wanted to try.
Escape, explore, dream, achieve, develop, jump start, discover, rock, move. But remember, it needs to be a serious attempt that will probably fell little uncomfortable and maybe it will also hurt a little.
You set a goal to improve you fitness level and to exercise regularly. You set up a training program and buy new running shoes. Than you let personal trainer give you his secret tips how to have a flat stomach in few months.
Than you start. You have pretty good plan; doing cardiovascular exercise 4 times per week and strength training 2 times per week. Exercise is your priority; you are feeling great about yourself.
Than after a week, you decide to skip your workout, because your friend has birthday party. Than, you skip another workout. Than you realize that you skipped 2 in the row and you stop. Time flies, you tell yourself as you flip the calendar to the next month. You kept your fitness promise only for 2 weeks. Sounds familiar? A lot of people give up on their quest to great fitness too soon.
Where is the problem? How come other people already reached their fitness goals and stick with it? They stay on track by using few simple principles, you can use too.
Don’t let your past destroy your future.
Do not allow yourself to dwell on unfair things that happened to you in the past. Discard your unfit and unhealthy past and move on. Don’t think about your past failures, because that is paralyzing you. Don’t think about it ever again and start all over today.
Just start now.
If you want anything, you have to act. The best way to motivate yourself is to realize what you want and than start as quickly as you can. Write that goal on the paper and than do little bit to start going toward that goal now.
I have a friend, who said the other day: “From next week, my life is going to change. I am getting my paycheck so I can buy new tennis shoes, some comfortable running shorts and I will start my serious fitness program. Milan can you design me a workout plan from next week?” He just seems to be stuck in preparation phase and is probably just satisfied with the thought that he will start next week.
Don’t wait until you buy new running shoes or a new gym outfit to look good. Do it now! Start now! Buy new shoes, or whatever you want latter. Just start. Go for your run today with whatever you have.
Avoid extreme challenges.
Part of your motivation is derived from matching your skill level with a task that’s doable. You can stretch your limits a little bit, but if you put yourself in a situation that’s extremely stressful, that’s way beyond your ability, you aren’t going to be encouraged by the rough experience and that will kill your motivation.
Start slowly. Stretch yourself a little. This will be motivating. But, if you push too hard too fast, the experience is going to diminish your self-confidence and thus your motivation.
Minimize outside stresses.
If you really want to do well in getting to the gym every afternoon, part of preparing for that is to make certain that most of your life is in order. If you have lots of catch up in the afternoon you forgot to do day before you won’t make it to the gym or to the running track.
In life, it’s almost impossible to arrange everything to go perfectly, but you need to at least try. Do everything you can to bring order to your personal life. When you are setting that particular exercise goal, don’t pile on unnecessary additional social, family and work obligations and stressors. Being too busy and stressed will result in lost motivation.
Realize, that you can change other people lives with you fitness lifestyle.
When you exercise and stay healthy and fit, your kids and other family members will notice. They will want to do it too. Especially kids are the fist ones to fallow. This is one of the best things you can do to show your lowed ones great example. You can be a great influence in their overall fitness and wellness development.
Learn to say “no.”
To get fit and stay fit takes time. You need some time blocks, at least about 15 – 45 minutes. When your friend asks you to watch his kids or help him move, or just listen some negative talk about unfair word, say no and explain why – I am sorry I can’t, I finally committed myself to exercise regularly and I don’t want to break the commitment with myself. They will understand. If not, that’s ok. Your health is more important.
Surround yourself with successful fit people.
Stop spending time with lazy couch potatoes that always find an excuse to protect their comfort zone. Let yourself be pulled in by that fresh, fit mind set of fit and successful. One way to do that is to join the closest health club or sign up for a marathon and join the group that trains for it. Make a commitment to show up regularly. If you stick long enough, soon you will become one of them. Just don’t quit!
Get fit persons mind set.
What happens to the super fit person, if you give him 150 pounds of fat over night to total weight of 310 pounds? He will wake up in the morning breathing heavily, looking in the mirror, seeing his over sized body, feeling bad and unhealthy. After a quick thought about what happened over night he gets to work immediately to get back where he was before – fit, lean, strong, feeling great.
He will be applying everything he can to get back to his lean 160 pounds. He will use huge force of fit persons mind set. That force, focus and persistence will get him back to the shape in very short time.
What if you used the same principle? Imagine that you were a very fit person yesterday and some fat loving aliens injected you with extra 70 pounds of fat now you have. What are you going to do now? You are going to work on loosing that fat and that’s going to become your N#1 priority.
Cultivate your enthusiasm.
If you are like most people, you can get yourself motivated to exercise once in a while, but than you sink back down to your lover level of mood and you find it hard to continue.
How easy is to start new thing, like exercising or eating healthy foods when your motivation is high? And how difficult is it to continue once your enthusiasm fades? I know, it seams almost painful to do your 3 mile run if you are not motivated. When you are highly motivated though, that run will feel like a play.
Read inspiring books like biographies and other, articles or listen some inspiring audio program at least 20 minutes every day. Don’t watch TV news and skip the main section of newspapers. They feed your mind with terrible and negative stuff.
Write few of your favorite quotes or phrases on the small paper. Keep them in your valet and read them several times a day. I personally carry these always with me:
“Everything you want is just outside of your comfort zone”.
“You have to go after what you are afraid off.”
“Blame no one, expect nothing, do something!!!”
“There is anything worst than ordinary.”
Unless you are naturally hyper person, your enthusiasm is going to need daily reinforcement. Constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm for all day.
Get motivated by fear.
What people fear the most? It’s public speaking. I don’t think that, that’s going to kill you. You should fear other really scary things like – cancer, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, broken hips.
I don’t want to scare anybody, but it is healthy and sometimes very helpful to realize that we are all not invincible to these kinds of illnesses. What if I told you, that you are surely going to have a heart attack in 1 year if you don’t loose 50 pounds of fat in 7 months? It’s set, if you don’t loose it, you’re dead. You will be in the gym tonight if not sooner. And I am pretty sure, that you will be 50 pounds lighter in probably shorter time than 7 months.
Fear can be a great motivator. I am not trying to say, that you should live in a fear. But keeping somewhere in the back of your mind, that we can prevent all kinds of life threatening conditions with regular exercise is a great way to stay motivated.
The greatest athletes in the history of sports and some of the greatest people in the history of the world became great for no reason other than the possession of these one trait.
Perseverance, and the ability to face all adversity and keep trying; sticking to it no matter what, is the finest quality for achieving your goals.
It is difficult to see the hardship and struggle of somebody who has to go through to achieve that greatness. It takes time, lot of hard work and lot of determination.
Through that determination to keep trying, you learn to conquer the overwhelming odds along the way. The confidence that is obtained from those struggles is what propels you to greater heights. You will fear little because you have faced and conquered much.
Many people give up after 3 or 5 unsuccessful attempts. They cannot see down the road any farther than immediate reward they are suppose to gain from their effort and when they don’t see them, they quit.
No matter what your big goal is, realize that it will take 10 years of hard work to achieve it and than don’t quit.
20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain
