Planning Forward

As I'm writing this, I'm nearing the end of coaching my third, 6-week transformation challenge at the local gym and what I've tried to do better with this group is to continue to plant the seed that this program is to help them build a healthy lifestyle instead of just something they're doing for 6 weeks and then they quit.

While I was on my own journey, I quickly realized that once I met a goal I was done. I felt like I had accomplished it and then I quit. I would just receed back into the same poor habits I had before. Then the next time I had a goal, it was more or less just me climbing back out of the hole that I had recently got myself into. And so it was this vicious cycle of climbing out then putting myself back into it and climbing out again. I never made any true progress.

And finally I got tired of that cycle and started what I call "planning forward". So once I set a goal and I was about halfway through it, I made myself sit down and think about how I could get better after this. What's the next step? And once I did this, it was like a light bulb came on. Why hadn't I done this before?

Since then, I've never stopped planning forward. Sure, my goals look a lot different these days but regardless of the type of goal, planning forward is a sure way to keep going.

So, when you are signing up for a transformation challenge or working towards something specific, I'd like to encourage that when you get to about the halfway point, start planning forward so you're not headed backwards immediately after achieving your goal.

When you set the next goal a couple of things happen. Because there's a plan in place and because you have taken the time to write out the plan, you're more likely to move forward into the next goal. And making the goal SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely), will establish motivation and accountability.

And I keep thinking about when we wrap up this challenge and what I might encourage this group to do as a next step. Because even though this is going to show them that they can make a lot of progress in 6 weeks, I know it is very easy to undo all the work that they just put in and I don't want them to be stuck in the same cycle of making progress and then regressing and then having to start all over again.

Photo: Hannah Nicole Photography

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