“Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you HIGHER.” ~Oprah Winfrey
Who’s going to be there for you if you’re not even there for yourself?
I’m going to lay out 3 essential components for every lady out there who is looking to get their bikini body. Without these you may as well go back to the Ben and Jerry’s!
1. Setting the actual Goal- I consider myself a very driven person. I set goals and make a serious commitment to achieve them. For me, that’s what keeps me going. Passion, drive, commitment, and enthusiasm-these are all very important aspects that contribute to my overall happiness.
I’m going to go ahead and assume you have either set a goal and are in the process of obtaining it, or you are thinking about setting a goal for yourself. Maybe this goal is related to health and fitness. If you are currently on that journey, way to go! I’d love to hear about your goals and your experiences thus far. If you are thinking about taking the plunge, I have one question for you:
What are you waiting for?!
You see, we are not getting any younger. Why wait another day prolonging being the best possible version of you? If now is not the time, when will THE TIME be? If you don’t have a legitimate answer, then you need to take a look at your life, what ultimately makes you happy, and where you want to go. You have got to set that goal.
2. Create your very own Support Team- Once you make the commitment to change and you set a goal for yourself, there is one thing that is absolutely crucial to your success. I have been lucky enough to have this on every journey and each success I have reached in my life- SUPPORT.
Yes, you might be saying that you are driven, hard-working, prefer to do things on your own, blah blah… I get it. There are things I like to do on my own as well. But you know what? We ALL have our days… I don’t care who you are-sometimes things are just hard-harder than we feel they should be. Maybe you don’t want to get up in the morning and go to the gym, or it’s someone’s birthday in the office and there is cake in the kitchen that is calling your name.
What about when everyone is going out for drinks after work and you haven’t been to the gym yet, or you have a healthy dinner planned but a friend calls last minute and wants to go out for pizza? You get it- these are all what I like to call “hiccups”. Something unplanned and it may be big or small… but it’s those little hiccups that can often derail you and lead you on a path that takes you further from your goal.
This is when having support really comes into play. When things get tough and you start doubting yourself you need someone there to pick you up, motivate you, believe in you, and tell you that you can do it! Sometimes we doubt ourselves. I know I do. It is then that we need someone to tell us how much they believe in us and show us how strong we are when we don’t believe it ourselves. You know what? This goes for everything in life. I often wonder where I would be in my life now if I didn’t have support when I needed it.
A perfect example…
In August of last year, my husband moved away to New York City. We got married less than 6 months before that and he was moving 11 hours away for an entire YEAR! I knew it was coming, and I had told myself for months prior that is was going to be fine and I would be strong but you know what? It rocked my world. I really struggled when he first left.
I decided I needed to focus on something and set a goal for myself so I wouldn’t dwell on something I didn’t have any control over. Since I really love learning about nutrition, health and fitness, I decided I would train for a bikini competition. Why not challenge myself in a completely new way? The thought of getting up on stage and being judged on my body was completely uncomfortable to me, but the training and diet aspect of prepping for the competition was something I felt like I would really benefit from. So…I decided to do it and I took the plunge.
3. It’s all about Accountability baby- The very FIRST thing I did when I made this decision was that I told two of my closest friends and my husband what I wanted to do. Even though I had made the decision to do it I kind of phrased it as “…Well I was kind of thinking to maybe, possibly do this bikini competition thing…” and you know what they all said? “You should absolutely do it!” I also workout with the same group of people every day and their continuous, undying support from day one to competition day was absolutely crucial in helping me stay focused on my goal. Boom. I knew I’d have the support and accountability I needed to succeed. At that point I already knew I was going to reach my goal. Now it was just a matter of enjoying the ride.
I did it…I reached my goal, and I never looked back! Was it hard? Yes. Did I have some days where I was literally kicking myself for committing to do it? Yes. Would I have given up if I didn’t have other people holding me accountable? I really think I would have. But you know what? Because I had the SUPPORT I needed to reach my goal, I reached it. I am proud to say that I placed in my first NPC Bikini competition because I had an AWESOME support group. My very best lifting buddy even followed my first prep diet with me! That is some kick ass support if you ask me. It was an absolutely awesome experience and I don’t regret one second of it even though at times I wanted to quit.
I truly believe having support and being accountable to someone is imperative to be successful if you set a lofty goal. Can you do it? Absolutely! Do you have to believe in yourself? You betcha! Do others have to believe in you? It sure as hell helps!
My advice to you:
Pick a goal- Do you care about reaching this goal enough to make a serious commitment to achieve it?
Tell someone else about your goal- you must recruit support if you want to be successful.
Lean on your support when you need it.
Reach your goal (‘cuz you will)
Repeat.
If you are looking to make a change in your life related to health and fitness and you are not sure how to get there – read, ask, bother friends and family. Don’t stop until you are fully educated and empowered with the knowledge and skills you need for success. And while I’m at it I may as well throw out a shameless plug that you could always raise the bar to baller status and hire me to coach you as well . But seriously, find someone to hold YOU accountable and get the results you want AND deserve!
What goals have you set lately? What has helped you get there? I always have a goal or something I am working towards. This helps me stay on course on my never ending path to be the best possible version of me living my very best life.
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