A lot of people who are trying to lose weight think that they already have the right objectives just by deciding to lose weight. They do not bother with just how much weight that they need to lose. They do not deal with when they need to lose that weight by. They do not even focus on what kind of methodology or tools that they would use to achieve their weight loss goals. As you can probably tell, these people have a very low chance of meeting their goals.

According to a recent report done by USA today, people who wrote down their new year’s resolutions have a higher chance of actually accomplishing those new year’s resolutions than people who did not write down their resolutions.

What percentage improvement are we talking about? We are talking about a thousand percent. That means you are ten times more likely to achieve your goals if you simply write them down. This does not come as a surprise because your are focused. It is not also a surprise because you are able to pick the right objectives.

To Get To the Right Place, You Have To Pick the Right Route

The main reason why the people who wrote down their new year’s resolutions tend to succeed, is because they are focused on their objective. When you are focused on your objective, you break down your objective into many different parts that make up our objective. Use the journalists’ five questions. Ask who, what, where, when, why and how. When you ask these questions, you break down this objective that seems so distant and so emotionally aloof and then you reduce it into something that you can emotionally connect to. Make no mistake about it.

Most of the objectives that we set for ourselves, whether it is looking for a job, finding somebody new, hanging out with different friends, losing weight and other objectives, tend to be intellectual. Why? We leave it at the level of our brain. Our brain picks up all sorts of signals and then we think okay I am going to solve this problem by formulating this objective. This is all well and good, but if you leave it at the intellectual level nothing is going to happen.

When people write down their goals and they are forced to pick apart their objectives and understand how to achieve that objective, the key here is picking the right route to your objective. You can not get to a certain place if you do not have the right route. There are many different ways to get from point A to point B, many of those ways are a waste of time. When you pick the right objectives and you are focused, the right route will stand out.

Weight Loss Is a Destination

It is easy to look at weight loss as really a number. It is easy to reduce weight loss as to the amount of pounds that you would like to weigh after a certain amount of time. This is all perfectly fine. The problem is that, it is also an emotional destination, it is also a mental destination, it is not just a physical destination. A physical destination is something that you can weigh and something that you can see.

An emotional or mental destination is something that you can perceive in your mind. Always pay attention to where you need to go emotionally and mentally with your weight loss goals. Otherwise, you probably will not be able to sustain the weight loss that you have managed to achieve.

Weight Loss Is Also a Journey

As much as weight loss is a destination, it is also a journey. This is actually one of the most interesting things about losing weight. Look at it as a process. Look at it as an interrelated series of changes. It is not just you losing weight, it is not just you eating less food, it is not just you hitting the gym more often, it is more than that, it really is a journey of self reinvention. You have to understand and you have to be honest about it. The whole reason why you packed on so much weight, or let me be blunt about it, the main reason why you became fat is because certain emotional and mental changes.

There was a change in the mental picture that you got, that triggered a changed set of emotions that produced a changed set of physical responses. This then led you to becoming fat. If you do not want to be fat anymore, if you want to look better and feel better about yourself, you only need to dial back to the old choices that you were making when you were slim. It really boils down to that. You have to look at it as that journey of changes.

Be Clear About Your Objectives

You would be surprised as to how many people say they want to lose weight but they do not really bother to put down a number, they do not bother to spell out what kind of emotional and mental states and triggers that they would rather have. When you are doing this, you first fail to understand the payoffs involved. In other words, you do not look at weight lose as a prize. You look at it as just one of the brain farts that you have from time to time, and you lean back in your chair and dreamily say to yourself “…would it not be nice…”.

Well, guess what, those types of thoughts flood your brain, if you are a typical human being, thousand of times within the week. Nothing is going to happen, you are just basically doing the same thing everybody else is doing. Everybody would like to be richer. Everybody would want to be in a more fulfilling relationship. Everybody would like to lose weight and look better, but the problem is it is just out there floating in your mind. The moment your are clear about your objectives and you reduce it to a number, you write it down, you break it apart as to how you want to get there, what kind of goals, what kind of to do list, things start becoming real.

Focusing On the Right Payoffs Increases Your Motivation

It is really important to breakdown your objectives because you become clear as to the payoffs involved. Make no mistake about it. If you are trying to lose weight, the payoff is not just that you will weigh less on a scale. In fact, that is the most superficial, that is the most cosmetic. The real payoff is the emotional payoff. You did something. You went through something that unpleasant and you pulled it off. You achieved personal victory.

The ability to look your fears in the eye, and to be strong, and to go through the fire of self denial, that is the most powerful sense of personal achievement anybody could have. If you celebrate this kind of personal achievement, there’s so many other kinds of achievements you can hit, you can make more money, you can live in a better house, you can be happier, there’s just so many other things and the key here is focusing on the right payoffs is crucial to improving not just your weight but all other aspects of your life.

So do not be so narrow minded and short sighted as to look at the amount of weight that you are going to lose. Look beyond the weight. Of course, it is important to hit your ideal weight, that is non-negotiable, but look beyond the number. Look at the emotional triggers that you have mastered. Look at the better mental pictures that come to mind when external triggers pull up those pictures. This is the key. By keeping your eyes on the right prizes, you can climb higher and move faster in your life, and feel better about yourself. This is the key, not just to weight loss, but overall personal happiness and fulfillment.