Photo by aarmono

One of the goals I set for the first months of 2009 relates to losing some weight. I’m excited to say I’m off to a quick start and I’m now only 4 lbs off my target weight.

Likely there are many of you who are also looking to shed a few unwanted pounds.  This is building on my success of 2008 where I was able to lose 14 pounds.

Here are the steps I have taken to help with weight loss.

1. Exercise 5 Days a Week

This first step is probably the most obvious one.  Exercise should be anyone’s first step if they are looking to get in shape or lose weight. You need to find a way to exercise that you find fun and that keeps you motivated.  For me it is using an elliptical training while I watch favorite television shows (that I record with the purpose of watching while I exercise), videos I’ve downloaded, or listen to a podcast (check out my top 10 podcasts).

Finding someone to hold you accountable to your exercise goals is also important.  My wife and I hold each other accountable.  We usually do this with the simple question, “are you going to exercise this morning?” This kind of simple question serves as an encouragement not a guilt trip. These techniques keep exercise fun and help me stay excited to exercise each day.

2. Accelerate the Value of Exercise

Proper nutrition can dramatically accelerate the value of your exercise. If you are lifting any weights or doing exercises that you help will help you build or maintain muscle mass you should be supplementing your diet with a protein shake immediately following your workout.  I also use a special patented exercise bar before I work out that increases my bodies ability to burn fat and decreases the lactic acid so I get less sore muscles. (To find out more, email me:  dannygamache [at] gmail [dot] com)

3. Eat Until Less than Full

One of the biggest problems we face in North America relates to serving sizes.  Whether at home or at a restaurant we tend to end up with plates filled beyond what we need. I notice this anytime I travel overseas.  The serving sizes are significantly smaller. Interestingly, even with the smaller serving sizes I don’t feel any more hungry after eating.  In part, this is because you are really full before you have the sensation of being full. To apply this at home, I simply try to eat until I’m a little less than full.  That gives my stomach and brain time to catch up to each other.

4. Eat More Fiber

In the western world we eat far too little fiber.  Very few people get the recommended 25 to 30 grams a day.  Eating more fiber can have numerous health benefits including reducing the risk of heart disease and other sicknesses.  Eating more fiber also helps with weight loss. Each day I consider ways of getting extra fiber and I will supplement with a shake or bar if necessary.

5. Take Multi-vitamin/Mineral Supplement

Another important step for me has been finding a good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement.  A good supplement will improve your overall nutrition, help you sleep better, give you more energy and because of these things increase your metabolism. Take your time looking for a good quality supplement.  Most supplements have very little absorbed by the body.  Find a supplement with a very high absorption rate.

6. Set Your Goal as an Ideal Weight

Rather than setting your goal as losing a certain amount of weight, you should use your ideal target weight as your goal. If you set your goal to lose a set number of pound you may reach your goal and quickly yo-yo back up.  By setting an ideal target weight as your goal you can create the lifestyle changes that will help you reach and maintain that weight.

Hopefully if you started the New Year with a weight loss goal, you are making progress towards that goal.  If you haven’t, use this as an opportunity to start over.  Determine your ideal weight and set that as the goal.  Start moving towards it by taking at least one simple step today!

Related:
A guest post I wrote on Dumb Little Man: “7 tips to developing the habit of daily exercise”.

Leo @ Zen Habits shares about other ways to increase your fat burning.

Written by:
Danny Gamache
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Guest Post by Kris Rowlands from http://freshfocus.info

99.99% of us underestimate our own power. We underestimate how we can manifest and control our own destiny, as well as the effect that we can have on others.

In order for us to set our goals, plan them and accomplish them, we have to visualize them. You may not realize how or that you do this, but I can guarantee that you do. Without the visualization, we have cannot plan and carry out the steps that are required to reach our goals.

But when you first get that great idea, how do you visualize it? Do you think to yourself, “Oh, that’s going to be too hard”, “I can’t do it”, “I’m not good enough at _________ to be able to bring this to fruition”. Do you have millions of doubts that come flooding into your head? We all do. But what we also have the power to do is to change our thought patterns and visual things with a much more positive outcome.

We you think of your goals and your dreams, always (always) think of them in a positive light. The energy that you put forth in these first moments of thoughts sets the tone and path for the entire goal. If you have a slip up and start to let those doubts creep in, recognize it, alter it, and move forward. Allow yourself to believe in you and the power that you hold to control your own successes.

Create a ritual around this goal. Post it up on your computer, your mirror, the first thing you see in the morning (I don’t recommend taping it to your mates’ forehead, that might cause an issue), coffee cup or refrigerator. Tell as many people as you can about your goal. Have them help you in the facilitation of focusing positive energy to the goal. They can also help to hold you accountable for your progress and help you to stay on task. Create a mantra for yourself, and say it repeatedly several times a day. Make it your desktop wallpaper. Stick a post it note with your mantra on it on the rear view mirror of the car. Just the note caught in your peripheral vision will be enough to remind you of your goal and to say your mantra.

But do you also realize the power that you have towards other people when they see you doing this? You can and will inspire them to set a goal and be accountable for it. Then, the roles are reversed and you can support them as they go through their goals, pitfalls, and joys. Success is freaking contagious: you see one person doing it and you want to do it for yourself. And that is how the movers and shakers of this world support one another to be wildly successful.

So tell me – how do you visualize your success? Do you have a positive outlook on it or do those negative thoughts stop you from doing what you know you can do? What keys to your success can you share? I want to know. Tell me in the comments what rituals you have in place (or are going to put in place) to make yourself wildly successful!

Written by:
Kris Rowlands

Kris Rowlands is a Professional Productivity and Organization Consultant with over twenty five years of experience. Her life’s work has been devoted to getting people and corporations organized and productive as quickly as possible. You can find her on http://freshfocus.info She can be reached at coach@freshfocus,info for more information on productivity and organization consultations.

Hello everyone!

I’ve been taking care of a sick wife this week so I’ve been a little light on posts.  Thankfully my wife is feeling a lot better   and we should be back to a regular posting schedule this week.  I have come across a number of great articles lately so here are some articles for you to check out, as well as a couple of guest posts I had around the web.

1. CNN has an interesting article about entrepreneurs, featuring the inventor of the Segway and asking “when is it time to quit”.

2. Author Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has a great article called The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever.

3. Pick the Brain shares the Foundations of Success.

4. Seth Godin challenges one aspect of Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers (book link).

5. Mary Jaksch speaks to the way we use time in How to Make Life Spacious.
My guest posts:

At the blog Fresh Focus… On Productivity! I wrote about How to use RSS for Maximum Productivity

At Stepcase Lifehack, I write about How to Change Your Resume for a Great 2009.

Have a great week!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

One of the accomplishments of 2008 that I’m most proud of is that my wife and I paid off and extra 15% of our TOTAL mortgage last year. One of our big goals is not to spend our life paying off debt.  For most people the debt they are left with for the longest is their mortgage.

Because of the size of a mortgage, early on in the life of your mortgage regular payments pay very little beyond the interest.  That, plus the fact that the average person moves to a new house (and usually a bigger mortgage) every seven years, means that most people have a mortgage for most of their lives.  As such mortgage fits the words origin: mortgage comes from the French word “mort” which means death, and “gage” which is pledge. As such a mortgage is debt until death.  Unfortunately for many people this rings true today.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way. The more you pay extra on your mortgage the quicker it will go away.  Extra payments can significantly accelerate your mortgage.  Putting extra on your mortgage early lowers your principle, meaning that you will always being paying less interest because of that extra payment.

Here are the six things we did in 2008 to pay an extra 15% of our mortgage:

1. Set a goal

The starting point for achievement is setting a worthwhile goal that you are truly motivated to accomplish. Our broad goal of paying off our mortgage quickly is a result of our desire to be debt free.  From our broader goal, it was important to set a goal for the year.  In our case the goal was set for us.  Part of our mortgage agreement allowed us to pay up to 15% of our mortgage extra each year as prepayment without penalty.  With 15% being the maximum allowed, it naturally pushed us towards reaching that limit.  Thankfully the 15% was both challenging and yet realistic.  We had to work hard to reach that as a goal, but we were able to do it.

2. Be Frugal

A second tip that helped us pay off our goal was to be frugal. While compared to some we never went to extremes in frugality (we still traveled significantly and enjoyed great vacations), we did make some important steps.  One example is that we did not eat out a lot.  In particular we took our own lunches to work, rather than having to purchase lunch.  We also made very few purchases of “extras” thus saving significant money on the little things.  Further, we never purchased wants impulsively; rather, we let some time go by to see if we still want the purchase.  We also saved a lot of money by buying things used.  We purchase things from garage sales, online classified ads and friends are all great sources for discount purchases.

3. Sell Things

A third thing we did is to sell things.  There are many ways to sell things.  You can clean out your garage or storage room and sell things you aren’t using. You can have a garage sale or sell through Ebay or Craig’s list.  You can also get rid of assets such as a second car that you don’t use very often.  This year, we paid off a mobile home that we had been renting out intermittently.  We were able to use some of the proceeds from that sale towards of our mortgage.

4. Pay off other debts

Another thing that helped us to pay off more on the mortgage was to pay off other debts. Over the past couple of years we have focused on paying off other debts as well as the mortgage.  In 2008 we also paid off my student loan, leaving us with only or mortgage remaining.  Each time we paid off a debt, we would add the previous payment to our extra mortgage payments, thus creating a debt snowball. Dave Ramsey, in his book “Total Money Makeover” (one of my top 10 books), recommends paying off your debts smallest to largest to create momentum for your debt snowball.

5. Find Secondary Sources of Income

A final big factor in paying 15% extra on our mortgage is the flexibility that comes from adding an extra source of income. Our home business affiliate program makes a significant difference.  We build our home business on a very part-time basis around our full-time work schedules.  That of course, means that the money we earn is extra, and is something we are able to use for achieving our goals such as paying off our mortgage!  There are many secondary sources of income that you can find, whether it is by taking an extra job, or starting a home business.

6. Have a Simple Budget

Finally, it is important that in order to achieve a financial goal such as paying off a debt, that you have a budget.  Unfortunately, most budgets don’t work, which is where my simple budget technique comes in.  By having a simple budget you are able to make wise decisions with your money because you always know where you stand.  You are able to make decisions based on what you have and the goals you want to achieve.
What are your goals?  Do you want to pay off extra on your mortgage, or pay off other debts?  What are you doing to make that happen? Share your goals and thoughts below to keep yourself accountable, and for the encouragement of all readers.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Photo by Slopjop

As we end 2008 and start 2009 it is natural that we should be taking time to set goals.  Last week, I shared about the concept of setting shorter goals.  In that article, I shared how you can improve your goal setting and achievement by setting goals for either three month or four month periods.

As a professor, the four month goal setting period works perfectly because of the natural flows of the school year.  The first four months include a busy semester.  This semester, I’m teaching an extra class than normal.

The second four month period is the summer months.  During this time, I do not have classes to teach.  Instead there is time for increased study, research and writing.  My wife and I are also expecting our first child near the start of this four month period, so there will be many life changes to consider when setting goals for this time period.

The third four month period is again a teaching semester, with a different course load and different set of obligations. It is because of this natural life separation that I am setting goals for a four month period (rather than quarterly goals that are common in the corporate world).

I share my goals with you for several reasons:

• public accountability is always valuable when focusing on goals
• you can see the format I use, and the types of goals that I set
• you can hold me accountable to my goals
• you can get some ideas for goals of your own
• you can get to know me a little better

Be sure to share some of your goals in the comments below.

Here are some of my goals by category.  I have been intentionally vague on a few numbers that are rather personal (particularly financial goals). I do have specific numbers for these set in my goals.

Teaching/ Professor

• finish academic article and submit to peer-reviewed journal
• develop PowerPoint presentations for Human Resource Management course
• integrate more illustrations/videos into Quantitative Methods course

Success Professor Blog

• publish 6 guest posts per month
• increase to a total of 1500 RSS subscribers (approximately double current)
• average 4000+ visitors per month during period

Home Business Affiliate Program

• accept 12 new affiliate partners to work with
• total growth of 50%

Financial Goals

• put as much as possible on to retirement plan by Feb. 28
• increase emergency fund

Fitness Goals

• get to target weight (approximately 10 lb. drop)

Personal Development

• read 6 books, including one on writing

Spiritual Growth Goals

• continue role in church leadership
• read Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham

Now that my goals are set, I incorporate them into my weekly planning process. I also review my goals frequently throughout the week, and I will have another goal setting time at the end of the four month period.

What are your goals?  Share a couple of your goals below as a way of publicly declaring what you are going to work towards.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

As we enter 2009, one important step is to review your successes of the previous year.  My wife and I had a wonderful and full 2008 and are looking forward to more in 2009.  Below is a list of some of my important accomplishments and goals that I achieved in 2008.  I share this not to impress you, but rather to give you a picture of the types of things that you too can do!  You can achieve more than you imagined in 2009.

Travel:

• Lived for 4 weeks in Istanbul, Turkey
• Vacationed on Mediterranian in Turkey (article)
• Visited remains of ancient Ephesus & Heirapolis
• Vacationed in Prague, Czech Republic
• Visited Krakow, Poland
• Walked on the Great Wall of China
• Olympic games in Beijing (article)
• Vacationed at Wisconsin Dells with family

Business:

• Had Public Launch of Success Professor blog (article = Lessons From my First Two Months Blogging!)
• Registered domain name, changed hosts, grew audience
• Averaged over 100 visitors a day by December
• Over 750 RSS subscribers
• Grew home business affiliate program by over 30%, even with four months off
• Earned over $10,000 from home business affiliate program

Volunteer:

• Served on leadership team of growing church
• Conducted full audit/update/ turn around church financial data

Work:

• Submitted, had accepted, and presented an academic paper at a professional conference
• Visited Bangladesh and set up student internship program
• Continued blog for my students
• Taught my two largest classes ever
• Grew my program to be the third largest at our school

Personal:

• Lost 14 pounds (article on how I did this coming soon!)
• Paid off 15% of mortgage (article on how I did this coming soon!)
• Paid off student loan
• Read 21 books (see my top 10 books)
• Entered a fishing contest and won 3 of 10 categories
• Saw the musicals: Wicked (article), Cats, and Hairspray
• Caught a Master Angler Carp (prize winning size fish)

Most Important!

• Expecting a baby for end of April!

Top Posts of 2008

10 Easy Steps to Get Started with Twitter
6 Steps to Plan Your Week For Success
Simplify Your Budget
Start Your Day with a Power Hour
You Must Fail – 6 Lessons from Michael Jordon

Thank you all for your support!  Help us start the new year by Stumbling your favorite article, and recommending this blog to your friends!

Happy New Year!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

Like many others, you may use the start of a new year to set goals for what you want to accomplish over the next year. These goals may be business goals, personal goals, or more informal resolutions. If you are like me, you enter the year with a lot of energy and excitement towards reaching those goals, and yet throughout the year many seem to fade out of focus and do not get achieved.

Part of the problem is that although a year is a brief measure of time in the course of our lives, it is often too long to stay focused on achieving our goals.  There can be too many unexpected events that can occur in the course of a year that through us off track and derail us from achieving our goals.

Some people solve this somewhat by breaking down annual goals into monthly goals.  This can certainly be a good step, but it is too easy to let the start of a new month go by without reviewing your goals and set goals for the next month.

To solve these problems, set your goals for a three or four month period.  If you ever follow the stock market, you’ll notice that corporations release quarterly reports.  This allows them to focus on distinct three month periods. The government also releases many economic statistics on a quarterly basis.  You too can take advantage of this premise by breaking your goals down into shorter periods.  By breaking the year into quarters or thirds you gain many advantages:

• you have a clear timeline that is of significant enough length to achieve recognizable and meaningful results
• you will have a better understanding of your schedule
• you should have a good idea about important life events in the upcoming time period that require your attention
• if you get off track on a particular goal you don’t wait until the end of the year to reengage
• you can use the understanding gained in one time period to set better goals for the next time period
• you get three or four points in the year for a recharge session where you are able to review your accomplishments and set new goals (perhaps have a quarterly celebration and/or retreat)

I leave the actual length of these periods up to you, as they should be based around your particular life schedule.  For example, I am setting goals for four month periods this year. For me, the four month time frame connects well with my schedule as a professor.  The first four months represent the first semester, this year with a heavy teaching load.  The second four month period represents the summer time period with a reduced teaching load and more time for research, writing and travel.  The final four moth period represents another semester with a different teaching load and different set of life circumstances.  By breaking the year down into four month periods I am able to focus on goals that are relevant to my life at each particular period of time.

As you go to set your goals here are some reminders to help you set good goals:

• set goals for each important area of your life
• make your goals measurable
• goals should be challenging and yet attainable
• short-term goals should be in alignment with your long-term goals and life purpose or mission

In upcoming posts I will share with you some of my accomplishments from the past year, as well as my goals for the upcoming four month period.  Start working on your goals and be prepared to share a goal or two.

Happy New Year!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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