It's Either My Goals or Someone Else's: I CHOOSE MINE!!!

For those of you who know me well, one of my most recent "upgrades" as a person is to really work on personal development, in particular, goal-setting in order to achieve the life that I imagine I am capable of living (for our purposes on this blog we'll refer to this upgrade as Maria 2.013).  My most recent purchase was my very first audio-book, "No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline" by Brian Tracy, and three chapters in, I'm feeling like a new person.

I woke up late today primarily because I didn't sleep well the night before, and my body and mind were exhausted.  I needed to be at work by 10, so I didn't have quite enough time to fit in my scheduled workout. I am someone who does well with getting my exercise in early in the day, or else it might not happen at all.  Well, as I was leaving work, I was having the typical mid-afternoon battle with myself about whether or not I was going to workout, I turned my car on, hooked up my iPod, and resumed my audio-book from yesterday.  It moved onto a chapter about goal-setting, which I have been actively working on over the last month, and with all of the results I've been seeing, I am super passionate about how effective this lifestyle becomes.  In it, Tracy states, "In life, you either work toward your goals, or toward someone else's.  Which will it be?"

Light bulb.  A lot of my goals are career driven, but I always want to be better physically, do more, move more...just be better.  Firstly, that moment was my, "Yup, I'm working out before dinner with my husband."  Secondly, it made me reflect on my current job: A bartender at a family-run, high-end steakhouse.  The yearly gross revenue is in the millions, and it hit me like a bus: I have been working toward someone else's goals.  Holy crap, I have never realized this before.  Do you know that only 3 percent of adults write down their goals??? 3 percent!!!  And...by just writing down your goals you multiply the probability of achieving those goals by ten!

So here's where I'm going with this whole rant:  Accountability.  To yourself, to your loved ones, to a fitness community.  When we take our 'before' pictures, when we commit to a program, when we write down our 'goal weight' and size, we are stating with clarity: "I am going to actively work to change myself!"  Stop working toward someone else's goals, and start working toward yours!  You want to be healthier, more fit, feel better?  Well, join a community of people who also want that, for themselves, and for everyone around them!  Everything else in your life aside, sometimes to get back to healthy (physically and emotionally), all you need is one goal:  "I am going to make it through these 90 days of workouts.  No excuses!"  You don't typically set your goals so large that you shout out, "I am going to change my life forever and become an overall better person."  I am telling you, from personal experience, and from meeting hundreds of people who have also achieved personal success, that if you commit to any program for your health for 60 or 90 days, you WILL change yourself for the better.  SO...STOP!!!  For a moment look at your life and ask yourself, am I working toward my goals, or someone else's?  There is nothing in the world I want more than to have other people feel the way that I feel right now.  I don't have all the money in the world.  I have bad days.  I don't always walk around with a smile on my face. But, you know what???  I am better.  I am better than I was one year ago, 6 months ago, two weeks ago.  BE BETTER!  Start your journey today.  Come join us in the Beachbody community. Start with your health, and go forward from there! UPGRADE YOURSELF!!!

<3  Maria
www.beachbodycoach.com/MLBARCLAY