Hi,
With Spring nearly here, it's a great time to reflect how far you've progressed so far this year.
What goals or milestones have you achieved for yourself? What seeds have you sown that are now ready for you to reap the benefits? Are you forging ahead in your business and your life and taking time to enjoy the fruits of your labour? Or are you still stuck in a rut?
I have two important stories I would like to share with you… one is personal and the other is about one of my clients.
TRENT
My 14 year old son has always been a big boy. Being half Maori he has a solid frame. He's 5'11? and growing and wears a size 13 shoe. Trent has always been very good at sports and the only activities he avoided was swimming because of his size.
Weight has always been of concern for him and no matter what I did or where I took him in the past i.e. nutritionist, naturopath, personal training etc. the weight stayed on. He had the knowledge and total support from myself and family yet he wasn't committed enough to carry through what he needed to do if he seriously wanted his goal.
Six weeks ago, something turned him around. He had decided that he didn't want to be overweight anymore and was prepared to change. He joined Weightwatchers and has now lost 11 kilos. He's on his way to achieving his goal weight of 80 kgs. Trent is so much happier and confident, has heaps of energy, joined my gym (and is regularly attending), has more energy and looks great.
So what turned him around? His desire to lose weight was so strong that he was prepared to take the necessary action to achieve his goal. I must also mention here that the vehicle he chose - Weightwatchers was extremely important. Every week he's with a group of people who also have this common goal and every week he is being educated about eating healthily and changing lifetime habits.
Here's something you need to understand … I do not prepare any meals, make his lunch or get involved in any other way, except for providing guidance and encouragement and maintaining a supportive environment. Trent does everything himself!
By the way, I attend the meetings with him and as a bonus have lost weight too!
JOHN
I've coached John for the past few months. He has two main goals he wants to achieve by Christmas. The first one was a 30% increase in turnover in his new marketing business and the second was an improvement in his health. He wants to lose 20 kilos before his wedding day in October.
Every week we worked on these goals and over time he was achieving results in his business, yet the weight loss goal wasn't working. Firstly he wanted to do it on his own with my guidance around the food and the exercise. That didn't work because he wasn't disciplined enough and would constantly make excuses.
On one coaching session I said to him “John, what is the no. 1 priority in your life?” He replied “Losing the weight”. I then said “If that is the no. 1 priority and you seriously want to achieve it, then you must focus on this area and take the action necessary to achieve what you want. This means doing whatever it takes!”
‘Whatever it took' for John meant changing some of his habits including:
Allocating time for his exercise first in his diary and then doing it.
Moving more throughout the day…parking the car 10 minutes walk away from his appointments.
Climbing the stairs instead of taking the lift.
Avoid making early morning business appointments as that would interfere with his exercise time.
Join Weightwatchers where he would be supported and educated (instead of trying to follow a diet book…which was his idea).
Clean out all the junk food from his home.
Have healthy food options at work.
Choose healthy foods when he was out.
Keep a shopping list and plan time to shop for his groceries regularly.
I am happy to say that since he got serious, focussed on his goal and took the necessary action, he has already lost 5 kgs and is well on his way to achieving his goal…he's going to look great on his wedding day.
THE FINAL WORD
Why have I used these two examples today which focussed on ‘weight'. From my experience and living on this planet, this is a serious issue for many people. 98% of my clients who are business owners, managers and entrepreneurs all have the area of health and fitness as a key area they want to change with weight loss being no. 1.
Time management and organisation is an area which features heavily in assisting them achieve their goals. If you're ‘too busy' reacting to other people and events happening in your business and your life, you cannot focus and achieve what you really want.
So here's what I suggest you do… write a list entitled “What I Really
Wanted to Achieve Before 31st December 2006?. You may need to revisit your
goals list for this year if you had written one. Tick off what you have already achieved and take a moment to praise yourself for doing so. Then look at what remains on that list.
ant to achieve by Christmas and take the action required, you'll be able to say ‘no' or avoid those people, opportunities or distractions which will take you away from your priorities.
Keep an eye on the present as well as the future.
Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including "How to Survive and Thrive at Work!"
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