I love this time of year. As we approach the end of one year it’s the natural time to put the old to rest… park the memories of the little defeats we experienced, and the mistakes we made that played their part in making the year what it was. It’s also the time to invest the good memories into the experience bank, re-live and enjoy those memories and set our sights on what we are going to do differently and what we are going to change next year based upon what we have learned.

As always the new year’s resolutions will be much talked about. Will you be resetting the same ones you set last year? Improved health and fitness will no doubt be way up there along with the desire for wealth and happiness.

Let’s look at the fitness aspect, because I believe it is directly related to health and happiness, and our ability to do everything else. Let’s take a look at what it takes to stick to your goals, and why you sometimes talk yourself out of them. Let’s look at the fundamentals of achievement.

Firstly, do you believe you can succeed this time? It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get fit, jogging and running are probably the cheapest ways; you need something to wear and a pair of running shoes.

“Yes, but I can’t run,” I hear you say. Well, of course you can, let me show you how I help people just like you to succeed! You do believe you can succeed don’t you?

There is no doubt that belief is a fundamental, self-belief is a solid foundation on which success is built, so how do we form our beliefs? Well, we develop belief from gaining knowledge.

“But where do we get knowledge from?” I hear you ask. Stick with me…  we get knowledge from two sources: wisdom and experience.

I know… “But where do we get…?” yeah yeah!… I’m ahead of you!

Experience is what we learn from what we do, good old fashioned “trial & error”. The actions we take, good or bad, our actions create our results and they become our experiences.

Wisdom is what we learn from others, the information that they share with us, as a result of what they have learned from developing their experiences. They share it in conversation, or written word, or in showing us by setting an example.

So how do we get our heads around our goals, getting fit, running, improving our health and whether we think we can succeed or not?

Henry Ford was famous for a statement that he gave, it’s one that I have adopted as a mantra every time I face a new challenge, and it is part of my belief mechanism:

 “Whether you think you can do a thing…or you think you cannot, you are probably right.”

Now this for me is more a part of self-talk, and visualisation, which I will cover in another post. The importance in this statement however is the word think. How do you think? Positive or negative?

Well, that depends on your beliefs! If you are inspired by the coverage of last year’s Flora Marathon to run a marathon, but your self-belief tells you that you won’t succeed because you have never run further than the bus stop, your thought process will be focused on all the negative reasons why you can’t do it. You will only ever take enough action to support your belief level, so what will happen?

However, when you watch all the first-time competitors achieving their goals, fulfilling their dream and crossing the finish line, and you see someone who looks in worse shape than you, you begin to think…if they can do it, surely I can do it. Your mind will then start to look for positive evidence and or experience that you can draw on, this starts to germinate the seed of belief that you too could succeed, and guess what? You begin to think positively and search for information and sources of advice that confirm you could do it.

In summary, the secret to achievement can be found by analysing your beliefs.

Your beliefs determine your

Thoughts… your thoughts determine your

Attitude… your attitude (positive or negative, in direct relation to your thoughts) has an impact on your

Actions… which in turn will determine your

Results… and your results will form your

Experience and the basis of what you believe about you and your ability to achieve the goal or dream you are chasing!

You know what?… you can do it! Whatever your dream or goal is, you can do it! You just need to build your belief level, by finding evidence that proves you can. Then you make it a goal,  plan a way to make it happen and then take action towards making it happen.

 A word of advice if I may. We all have well-intentioned friends and family who want to protect us from feeling the hurt of failure, but unless they have done what it is you want to do, they can’t give you the wisdom or lend you the experience you need to reach your goal or dream. 

There are only two sources to take advice from… those who have achieved what you want to achieve… and those that have paid the price in effort and dedication that you are willing to pay! 

 Stay strong, stay positive, go chase your dream… and make it happen!