A well formed goal a well built body

BY GARY HIMING
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2001

"For things to change around me first I must change."

When starting a training or fat loss program or even re-evaluating your current program, a resourceful "mindset", congruent with what you want to achieve, creates the foundation for success. Making changes in the body requires making changes in the mind. Having a vision of what you would like to be comes easy with imagination. Creating and actualising that vision takes more than wishful thinking. It takes a well thought out, detailed and specific plan and a new mindset to go with it. A mindset would be based on all the beliefs, values, mental strategies, and internal states (including emotional) that would be required to generate the new behaviours, skills and abilities needed, and to be able to sustain them over time. Starting a program with a mindset that has caused and kept you in your current situation sets you up for failure before you even get started.

Getting motivated to start a program is easy. sustaining and maintaining motivation over the long haul is tough. So how do we maintain motivation and stay on track with a program? First would be to record the goals or objectives you want to achieve. Then develop a well-formed and considered outcome to achieve the goals.

Make a wish

When developing a goal, start with generalised or global concepts. Write down your wish list no matter how pie-in-the-sky they seem. Let your creative side develop as many wants without being critical about them. Write them into a diary. Spend some time doing this, either all in one sitting or as they come to you over the course of a few days.

Once you have finished your wish list, start to be more specific as to what each wish would require to bring to fruition. You may for example start with:
"I want to not be fat." Then change to: "I want to be slim, trim and taut." Then: "To be slim, trim and taut, I need to burn off body fat and build muscle." Then more specifically: "I need to burn off 5 kilos of fat and gain 3 kilos of muscle. To do this I need to exercise and change my eating habits. To do this I need to join a gym, start exercise classes, buy some home gym equipment etc, and find out about nutrition. To do this I need to…"

Continue this process of finding out what would be required to achieve the previous step until you reach what you believe will be the very first step. At this point have a close friend or companion that you can trust to be objective and give high quality feedback. Have them check through your list and see if they can discover a step that you may have to do before the step you perceived to be the first step or any other intermediate steps that you missed.

Then you're rocking!

An example of this is the young teenager who goes to his father and says: "I have decided what I want to do in life - I want to be a world famous rock star." The father, taken aback by this statement, keeps his cool and says: "I am glad you have made a decision about your career. Which instrument do you want to play?"
"The electric guitar," the son replies.
"Ok, do you know how to play the guitar?" the father asks.
"Uh, no."
"What will you have to do then?"
"Take some lessons."
"You bet. And you may have to take quite a few to excel, as it seems to me there are many rock stars that play the electric guitar."
"I suppose so."
"And to take lessons you will need to have money to pay the music teacher."
"Yeah."
"Then to get the money what will you have to do, as I cannot afford to give you the money for that many lessons?"
"I will have to get a job."
"So what will you have to do to get a job?"
"I'll have to look for one. A job that I can do now."
"So how are you going to go about looking for a job?"
"I'll have to buy the paper and look in the classifieds and call around."

At this point the father reaches into his pocket and pulls out an appropriate coin and flips it to the son. "Now that's the first step in becoming a world famous rock star - buying a newspaper," the father said smiling.

Is it a goal or an outcome?

Goals would be described as end results, what you end up having achieved. An outcome would be the process of developing the new "mindset" and new behaviours, skills and abilities to achieve the goal. An outcome requires you to become the person who can take on the new mindset and new behaviours required in achieving the goal. The goal then becomes the evidence procedure for having achieved your outcome.

An example of the difference between goals and outcomes:
Goal: I want to be employed. Outcome: to be employable and do what it takes to make the change to become employable.
You may never be employed until you can demonstrate that you are employable.

Goal: I want to be promoted. Outcome: to be promotable.
To develop a well-formed outcome may require the help of a professional coach/trainer or someone who has already achieved what you want to achieve. The following points can help you develop a well-formed outcome and an action plan to start an exercise program or fat loss program and stick with it.

State or record what you want to be happening. State in the positive rather than the negative tense. Example: "I want to be slim, trim and firm" rather than "I don't want to be fat, flabby and soft." Write down your thoughts on what you want to achieve in a diary. This allows you to review and if required modify, as you may have to update over time. Also helps remind yourself of the commitment you originally made. Regular weekly reviewing of these goals can reinforce your commitment to continue.
State or record what's happening now. What causes your present situation? What causes the things that you want to change? What currently prevents you from having your desired situation now? Example: work commitments, social commitments, family, relationships, financial, health, injury.
Maintain the benefits of the present state. At one point the things that are now preventing you from getting your new desired state provided some sort of benefit. Consider what these benefits are in the present. Do you need to or can you keep the benefits in the context of the new desired state? If you need to keep them can you dovetail them in some way into the desired situation or can you gain them in some other way?
Create a compelling, desirable and robust image of what you want to have happen. Create a virtual image of what you will be when you have achieved your outcome. You can create the image in your mind, draw the image or collect appropriate photos of body images you aspire to. Ensure you envisage the image from the top of your head, through every part of your body, front, side and back view to your feet. Make the image three-dimensional, colour and full size in your mind's eye. Imagine what it would feel like in this body now. The sensations you would notice, what you could achieve. Consider how your internal voice would sound like and what others would say to you now that you have this new image.
Now for a moment step into this body and notice what you would see from this person's perspective. Notice what you hear if you're listening with this person's ears. Notice what sensation and feelings you have in this person's body. Once you have a full and robust experience step out of the body image and again look at the image that you can become. Now consider the qualities, beliefs, values, skills, abilities and new behaviours that you will have to take on to be this new person. Write them down in a diary and review them weekly to ensure you are on track and add any new ones that come to mind.

Body of evidence

Evidence procedure: How will you know when you have what you want?

You can use the following sentence as a starting point for knowing when you have achieved what you want: "On a good day when I have achieved what I want and as I go through my day I will notice…" (specifically, what you see, what you hear and what you feel).

Be very detailed in your description, even describing a whole day's events including a detailed account of a training session, how people react to you and how you react to them, how your internal voice sounds, how you go about your daily activities, work, relationships, recreation etc. Notice the things you can now do that you could not do before and make a list. Add to this list daily or weekly when new abilities and behaviours come to mind. Make the image robust and bigger than life, colourful, full of movement, action and details. Imagine your favourite motivational music playing in the background. Play this scenario over as often as possible so that it becomes part of your daily routine of self-motivation.

For what higher purpose do you want this outcome?

Consider what personal core values you want fulfilled by achieving your outcome. What identity and core values may be compromised if this outcome is not achieved? The following four Cartesian Logic questions are worth considering at this point:

What will happen if I do achieve my outcome?
What will happen if I don't achieve my outcome?
What won't happen if I achieve my outcome?
What won't happen if I don't achieve my outcome?

Another method would be to write down your goal/s. Then ask yourself or have a trusted friend ask for what purpose do you need that goal? What's important about achieving the goal/s? Write down your answer. Then ask the same questions of the written answer and write it down.

Continue this process until you cannot produce written or verbal answers and may only have a body sensation or feeling. The last written answer will be your higher-consciously aware purpose and value. Linking the changes you will be required to make over time to this higher purpose can boost your motivation to continue and succeed in achieving your initial goals.

Example: Goal may be to gain some slimness.
Q. For what purpose do you need to be slim? What's important about being slim for you?
A. So that I can fit into the designer clothes I have always wanted to wear.
Q. For what purpose and what's important about fitting into those types of clothes?
A. So that I will look well dressed, upright and confident at work and when I socialise.
Q. So for what purpose and what's important about…
A. Then people will listen to what I have to say and take notice of me.
Q. So for what purpose and what's important…
A. Then my peers will value my opinion and I will be promoted.
Q. So for what purpose and what's important…
A. Then I will increase my income and prestige in the company.
Q. So for what purpose and what's important…
A. Well I think I will be far more eligible and attractive to the opposite sex.
etc…

Self initiated and maintained

Can you achieve and maintain the outcome by yourself, or do you need the input of others to first initiate the outcome and then be self-reliant, or do you require constant input from others? What sources or resources do you need to initiate and maintain your outcome?

Write down what resources you would need both intrinsic and extrinsic.

Steps and Time frame

Find out the steps in the process of reaching your goal. Make each step an appropriate size so that they can be achieved. Develop a realistic timeframe with completion dates for each step. You may need to consult with a professional trainer to set out the steps and time frame.

Develop an action plan

Once you have worked out your steps and timeframe you need to take action.

Decide on the amount of training per day/week you will do
Time of day for sessions
Type of training to be done
Where you will train - home, gym, park.
Will you train solo or with a partner?

Map these in a diary or planner so that it can be checked off when completed. Keep track of the results of training sessions so that you know you are on track. You may want to take some measurements at regular intervals, such as weight, body measurements, body composition.

Then most important, START.

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