Setting Goals and Following Through

Happy Saturday, SoulShiners! I hope that this email finds you happy, healthy, and soaking up that beautiful vitamin d! We have 14 people who have entered our Slim Down Challenge this month! $180 to first place, $80 to second, and $20 to third....with 14 days to go! :) Today I want to write a little bit about setting goals and then ways to follow through with them.

If you entered the Challenge, why did you? What was your why? You were most likely feeling like you needed to re-calibrate and maybe even feeling exhausted and achy and uncomfortable in your body. On the first day of September, possibly after a few summer months of overeating, not getting enough sleep, and lack of water, we feel super hopeful about getting our food organized and getting our control back. We soon sometimes feel disappointed with our lack of follow through though. Was your goal too broad? Are you constantly stressed about what you should eat? Are you not finding time to move your body with your hectic schedule? Most of us know what will keep us healthy and strong though. We know that we should drink tons of water, eat well, move our bodies, and get plenty of sleep. But the question is

HOW DO WE STAY CONSISTENT WITH OUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOALS?

Here's my 2 cents. Please sit down with a pen and paper and create two kinds of goals, one long term and several short term. Your long term goal should be broad but your short term goals should be much more specific. This will help to make your broader and grander goal more achievable. Use the SMART goal system. Make your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. As you’ve heard me say before, drinking a lot of water is very, very important to me. My long term goal is to have a super hydrated brain, highly functioning organs, and resilient skin. My short term goal each day is this. "I will fill up my gallon jug that lives on my counter every single morning with water and I will try my hardest to have that jug empty by the time that I go to bed every night". If you write a goal like this rather than one that says "I will try to drink more water", you will find more success, I promise. Please consider creating several small goals to include increasing your water intake, getting adequate sleep each night, moving your body on most days, and eating healthy and whole foods and then keep your goal worksheet visible.

Please try to remember that your health is very important. Being happy in your skin is very important. Living your true self is very important. We all most likely have goals to feel healthy and spry and strong and fit and powerful. Whatever you need to do in order to remember this, do it. It may help to place sticky notes all over your home or your might want to tie a red reminder string around your wrist in order to keep your brain and body on task. Please dig deep and find what works for you. YOU ARE WORTH IT (and I am here to help...just ask)!!!

Here's our SoulShine Schedule for this week:

Monday – HIIT – Woodstock Rec – 8:15-9:15 am

Tuesday – PiYo – Woodstock Rec – 8:15-9:15 am

Thursday - Cardio Dance - The Athletic Club - 12-12:45 pm

Friday - HIIT at Woodstock Rec - 8:15-9:15 am

I hope to see you in class and/or in your session this week. Try super hard to figure out what will make you happy and then teach yourself to remember it!!! Go SoulShine Spartan Sprinters in Killington tomorrow!!!! :)

XO, Jode