Sunday, February 10, 2013

Now Factor

I was watching a Nick Saban interview one day back during college football season.  Nick Saban is the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide and arguably one of the greatest coaches in college football history.  He has 4 national championships with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.  So when he speaks, like most people, I listen.  He mentioned two words that really pulled my antennas up.  The words were "outcome oriented."  When you become outcome oriented you lose your edge.  Focus on the now and thrive or focus on the outcome and you will take a dive.  This also came to light in a Mark Twain quote I read recently which stated, "the secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming task into small manageable tasks, and then starting the first one."  Again focus on the now and not the outcome and then one day it will come if you truly put effort into it.  

I see this in clients all the time.  They want to lose weight and instead of focusing on their workout and nutrition they are focused on what the scale says in the mornings when they wake up.  Lose the scale and get your edge back.  I would love for the scale to drop 1 or 2 pounds a day for you but that is not realistic (even though the biggest loser tells us so).  The key to your own personal victory is in the NOW.  Do you exercise?  Do you give it your best effort? Do you track your calories or eat small portions?  Do you drink enough water?  Do you get enough sleep?  Do you handle stress appropriately?  Do you stop to breath deeply and meditate?

If you read all the questions above they become overwhelming but if you break them down into small tasks you can achieve, they all become reachable.  For example:
 Step 1 Wake up drink 2 glasses of water.
 Step 2 Have a healthy breakfast (feel free to list what you will eat and plan ahead)
 Step 3 Visualize your workout and picture yourself working hard
Step 4 Plan your workouts
Step 5 Keep your workouts quick so your energy and mental focus are always higher.
Step 6 Don't sweat the small things (getting rained on, being stuck in traffic, etc)
Step 7 Be in bed by 10pm even if you are just reading.

Your daily/weekly tasks could be shorter or longer than others based on your goal.  But try it!  Get out a pen and a journal and write down the small manageable tasks of tomorrow.

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