What Are You Truly Fired Up to Focus On?

There may be several areas of your life that you’d like to improve by setting goals. You know that you’d feel happy when you completed them. But what’s the one goal that you really want to accomplish? What’s the one that fills you with excitement and makes your heart beat fast as you dream of the possibilities?

You want to pursue goals that excite you because you’ll be more motivated to achieve them. When you encounter roadblocks, you’ll be more likely to find a way to overcome them. Passion is the fuel that will drive you forward and enable you to keep going when things are tough.

What one thing, if completed, would be the tipping point for everything else you want to do?

You can transform your life by pursing a single goal. Think about the weight loss transformations you see in magazines or the inspirational stories of employees who built their dream business while working full-time. It all started with a single goal that changed the direction of their lives.  

Why is this goal important?

Once you know what your goal is and you feel passionate about it, you need to dig deep to discover why this goal matters to you. This is important because you have to know what’s motivating you. On the bad days when you encounter setbacks, your motivation will have to be powerful enough to give you the strength to keep going.

Your motivation doesn’t have to be about you. For example, if you’re an obese parent, maybe you’re afraid that you won’t live to see your child graduate high school unless you change how you eat. In this case, your motivation is your child. So when you’ve had a horrible day and want to do emotional eating, you think of your child in his or her graduation gown.  

What's the first step?

Now that you know what you want, it can be helpful to make a list. You should write down all the ways your life will benefit when you’ve achieved your goal. This list can help you stay motivated and give you the courage to keep going after your dream.

While you may not realize it right now, setting and achieving one goal that’s important to you should be the start of your brand new life. It will transform you into a different person, one that’s more confident and happier than before.

If you have trouble coming up with a goal that you’re passionate about, download this helpful bonus workbook.

Using A Pedometer To Get Your Walking In

Setting aside some time to go for a 45 minute walk isn’t always easy. We all live busy lives and between family and work, fitting in a workout isn’t always possible. What if I told you that you didn’t have to dedicate a set block of time for your walking workouts? What if you could get the same health benefits by working in a little more activity here and there throughout your day? And what if there was a fun little gadget that helped you keep track of it and motivated you to move more?

There is and it’s called a pedometer. You can pick up an inexpensive model at your local super store or order it from Amazon. Or you can go with something a little fancier like a Fitbit for example. But before you head out to spend any money, check your smart phone. Many models have a pedometer built in. All you need to do is download a free app and you’re good to go.

The pedometer will track how many steps you take on any given day. It will also track how many minutes you’ve spent being active and how many miles you’ve walked. In other words, it keeps track of how much exercise you get during your day. And the good news is that it doesn’t matter if you head out after work for a 45 minute walk, or if you work out in little spurts here and there throughout the day. Maybe you start your day by parking a little further away from the office and walking a couple of hundred extra steps. Then you take a quick stroll during your lunch break. You wrap up your day by walking around the park while your kids play. And just like that you’ve gotten your exercise in without having to block out any additional time.

Give it a try. Put on a pedometer, or start tracking with that phone you’re always carrying around anyway and see how much you’re walking around any given day. From there, try to get a little more active as time goes by until you hit your stepping goal. For most of us 10,000 steps per day is a good long term goal, but if you’re feeling more ambitious than that, go for it.

Keeping track of your steps is very motivating. Looking at your pedometer and realizing you’re 2,000 steps away from your daily goal may be just the motivation you need to head out for that after dinner stroll.