CHAPTER 2

Discover Your Big Why

Your goals vision and purpose for improving your health

WHAT IS YOUR BIG WHY?

It’s the eternal dilemma.

Instant gratification versus long-term benefit.

Triple sundae with chocolate sauce versus lowering your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Let’s face it, instant gratification is pretty hard to beat, especially when we’re operating in the midst of an instant gratification society. Unless we’re able to identify the real reasons behind our weight loss efforts AND of course primarily being well, we’ll never rise above the instant noodles society that has spawned the obesity epidemic that threatens the western world. So, let’s start digging . . .

So you want to lose weight, feel lean and healthy and gain clarity of mind? Great. But before we go any further, it’s imperative that you discover why you want to do this. When you discover what drives you, you’ll also know what motivates you. If you don’t identify your inner driver, it doesn’t matter how hard you try, how much sweat you expend or how tired you feel, you will fail. Uncovering the reason that you really want to achieve your goal attaches an emotional element to that goal and the more emotional content you can stir up, the more motivated you’ll be to go after it. Remember the words of German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche …

“He who has a why to live, can bear almost any how.”

Getting emotionally involved with your goal will deeply impress your why into your subconscious. The subconscious is the seat of your unthinking actions - your habits. Every message that filters through to it is accepted without question and acted upon automatically. That is exactly where you want your weight maintenance and healthy lifestyle habits to be because the subconscious always expresses itself in physical form; positive behaviours that will reinforce your goal.

So, stop and ask yourself right now, just why it is that you want to be healthy and lose weight. Here are a couple of key questions to help you identify that reason:

1. What is important to you about reaching your weight goal or being healthy and well?
2. How will your life be better after you have achieved your weight goal and being healthy and well?

For some people, looking their absolute best for an upcoming event, such as a wedding, is their emotional motivator. For others, it is to be able to be an active, healthy role model for their kids. Others may find that their emotional drive comes from maintaining their sex appeal in the eyes of their partner. Once you have found your emotional driver, write it down in the following format:

The emotional driver behind my weight loss/health/wellness goal is to . . . . When I have achieved my goal I will feel . . .

Once you have identified the emotional driver to your goal, it is time to reinforce it by adding in a spiritual element. I find lots of my clients become uncomfortable with this thought. It doesn’t matter whether you are a believer in a creator, an atheist or an agnostic. Spirituality involves being in touch with your reason for being. Whether you believe that you were created, evolved or were placed here by aliens, you have ended up with a magical, unique and highly intricate machine that will govern your state of wellbeing until you die. It’s our obligation to respect and maintain the amazing body that we have been gifted with. All of us owe it to ourselves to identify the spiritual reason that accompanies our goal. Find out what yours is and keep yourself accountable to it.

Now that you’ve discovered the emotional and spiritual drivers that will motivate you towards your goal, it’s time to learn how to apply the goal setting formula that will catapult you towards your end aspiration.

5 Steps to Goal Achievement

1. Set Specific Goals - Losing weight is not a goal. It’s far too general. Being well is the goal. Being vital is the goal. Body weight is composed of muscle, water, minerals, vitamins and fat, among other things. The only thing you should ever be interested in losing is fat but even that goal has to be narrowed down. If you focus on the specific behaviours that will bring about your desired fat loss and set them as your goals, then the fat loss will take care of itself. Your goals, then, should be to do with the actions and habits that will keep you on your weight management and health plan.
2. Set Measurable Goals - Unless you have a means of measuring your progress regularly you will struggle to maintain your motivation. Don’t expect yourself to make the transition from chip munching couch potato to fitness/nutrition nerd in a couple of weeks. Set behaviour related goals that build upon each other and widen out to encompass all aspects of a healthy lifestyle. Accountability with a naturopath is always a great thing. You feel supported at all times. 
3. Set Stepping-Stone Goals - You definitely need a long-term goal; your ultimate physical feeling. But it’s also imperative that you break that goal down, working backwards to yearly, quarterly, weekly and daily goals. Your quarterly goal should revolve around such behaviours as recording your food intake and exercise every day or increasing your cardio exercise duration by fifteen minutes per day by walking at a slightly uncomfortable pace. Your daily and weekly goals should revolve around the exercise and eating disciplines that are immediately before you.
4. Record Your Quarterly Goal - Write your quarterly goal on a business sized card and get it laminated. It’s critical that you write the goal as a positive affirmation that has already been accomplished and link it to your emotions. Here’s the wording...The date is (date in 3 months time) and I am now doing everything I can to get my health back to my desired weight, including recording my daily food intake and workouts every day. Now that you have your card you need to carry it with you everywhere you go. Every 90 minutes, make sure that you pull it out and read it to yourself. It becomes part of your subconscious and you will do things naturally without really having to think about them.
5. Visualise Your Goals - One of the most interesting innovations in sports psychology over recent times has been the rise of visualisation or mental rehearsal. Sports teams the world over are using it to build an unconquerable mental drive towards goal attainment. The great news is that you don’t need to employ a sports psychologist to get that same benefit. All you need to do is utilise your imagination and focus to mentally rehearse the attainment of your goals. Start at the daily level and do it while you are lying in bed. See yourself doing everything that you need to do in order to have a perfect goal attainment day, from springing out of bed, enjoying a healthy nutritious breakfast, powering through an invigorating walk, yoga or work-out to enjoying an energy restoring sleep.

Now that you have your emotional, spiritual and mental underpinning for your goals and have learnt exactly how to go about setting proper goals, it is essential that you DO NOT read another page of this book until you do the following:

1. Create a goal setting document and record your goals on a timeline, starting with your daily goal and ending with your ultimate body goal.
2. Type up, print out and laminate your quarterly goal.