As the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. This may seem like a very common saying, it may almost seem trite or even corny, but guess what, if you fail to appreciate that saying, chances are you are going to get insane results. What are insane results? It is when you do the same things again and again and again, and expect a different result each time. Many people who are trying to lose weight have insane plans. They get insane results because they keep doing the same thing over and over again, and they do not really plan. You have to have a solid plan, for you to meet your objectives.
You have to have a clear target. Otherwise, you are just taking shots in the dark. Otherwise, you are basically just crossing your fingers and hoping to get lucky. Well, I am sorry to tell you but hoping to get lucky is not a strategy. Hope is not an objective. You have to have a solid plan that you can then break down into goals. You can then take these goals and break them down into daily to do lists. In fact, if you are organized enough for you to make a million dollars, lose a lot of weight, meet mister or miss right, or whatever other lofty life goal, can be met.
You just have to have the right process. By breaking down the biggest goal into the smallest to do list, and hitting that to do list every single day, you can pretty much achieve anything. That is how powerful effective planning and goal setting is, but you still have to have the right plan.
Flying by the Seats of Your Pants Does Not Lead To Success
As mentioned above, you can not live your life hoping to get lucky. You can not hit your goals by just taking shots in the dark. It does not work that way. You can not take effort on meeting an objective just by working whenever you feel like working. You have to focus. You have to be disciplined. At the very least, you have to have a plan. A plan is really just a map. You are at point A and you are trying to get to point Z.
There’s a lot of things and a lot of space in between. If you do not have a map, you are basically just hoping to get lucky like Christopher Columbus, and hit something on the way. It is better to have a map so that you get more precision, and most importantly, you can budget your time, effort and emotional energy getting to your goals.
Taking Shots in the Dark
Make no mistake about it. The main reason why many people take shots in the dark is not because they are stupid, it is not because they are dumb, it is not because they are mentally defective. They take shots in the dark because it is expedient, it is easy, you do it when you feel like it.
It does not take discipline, it does not take training, it definitely does not take any self control, just take shots in the dark and if you hit something, great, if not, well you are taking shots in the dark at your own pleasure.
This may be great for casual sports or some other things that do not take much commitment or dedication, but if you are trying to lose weight and trying to live a healthier lifestyle, taking shots in the dark is not going to help you.
Hoping To Get Lucky
Closely related to taking shots in the dark, is hoping to get lucky. In other words, you take action and just hope that things will line up and things will combine in such a way that you get what you are looking for. You realize how crazy this is? Hoping to get lucky is the wrong way to go through life, because luck is actually manufactured. Let me repeat that again, luck is actually manufactured.
Do you notice that the people who always find themselves at the right place and at the right time tend to have the right skill set? They tend to have the right stuff. The reason that they are at the right place at the right time is because they worked to be at the right place at the right time. They do not know when the big break is going to come, they do not know when the big deal is going to happen, but they are ready for it.
Compare this with your situation where you are just basically going about your daily business and just hoping that your weight loss objectives will take care of themselves. You work out whenever you feel like it, you do exercises, you avoid certain foods from time to time, but when you are doing that you are just hoping to get lucky, you are not preparing. If you want to really get lucky, go through the work, go through the motions. The luck that you are shooting for is the hope that you get lucky to develop momentum so you can continue your weight loss plans.
Weight Loss Takes Planning
The reason why weigh loss takes planning is because it gives you a map, it is also because it gives you focus. When you put these two things together, you have a map and focus, you have basically a layout of where you need to go and also a compass pointing you to where you need to go.
As the old saying goes, where your focus goes, energy flows. Nothing in life gets done without energy. However, energy needs focus.
Weight Loss Involves Physical, Emotional and Mental Components
Make no mistake about it. If you think that weight loss is just a simple matter of taking a pill or going to the gym or using some sort of machine, you are fooling yourself. The reality is that, if you want to lose weight and you want to keep those pounds off, you need to be focused, you need to have a plan. Why? There are so many things you have to juggle, there is the physical component of weight loss, there are the emotional components, and then there are the mental components.
Why are people overweight? Why do people have a tough time losing weight? Pretty straightforward. When our bodies perceive something in the outer world, we develop an emotional trigger. There is this mental picture that appears in our minds. Of course, many of us are no longer conscious about it because this has been automatic for so long, but the process is there, the process can be broken down into these steps. We get these mental pictures and then we develop emotional triggers for them.
These emotional triggers then push us to physically do certain things. For example, if you have a boy friend that said something rude or hurt your feelings, you get this mental picture that he does not love you anymore, or he does not like you, and the emotional rush that you get is that you want comfort, you want reassurance. This then pushes you physically to go to the fridge, whip out that big tub of ice cream and dig in. This is called comfort eating. Millions of Americans do this. This is how the physical, emotional and mental components of weight loss flow together.
This is why it is really important for you to have a plan that dissects all these different parts and puts them in their proper place so that you can take the right physical action that leads not just to weight loss but sustainable weight loss. Make no mistake about it. You need a solid plan. A plan that identifies what you need to do. Your plan shows you the way and most importantly, directs your focus and will power.
robin
I’ve always thought that there was a better chance of a weight loss program working if I had a definite plan in place. Thanks for the information. Now I just need to set up a day-today schedule.