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At the start of August, many readers of this blog joined me as we launched the Success Professor’s 31 Day Challenge. The basic premise of the challenge is that you can do a lot in 31 days by focusing in on one area of your life that you want to improve.  As we have moved past the mid-point of this challenge it is a great time to revisit the challenge, renew our focus, and to report on progress.

What are you working on?

Did you decide to make a change in this 31 day challenge? If so, what are you working on? Are you improving your website? Learning a new skill or ability? Or making specific steps to grow your business? The first step in a 31 day challenge is to know what you want to work on and be specific. If you have been working on something, use the comments of this post to report your progress.

You can start today!

If you didn’t join us on the 31 day challenge at the start of August, you can start today.  Each set of 31 days can be perfect for you to grow in some area. Read the original post to give you an understanding of the purpose, and then pick something you want to improve and start today.

This excellent e-book helps you build a better blog.

Personal progress:

My 31 day challenge focused on improving this blog.  I have been using ProBlogger Darren Rowse’s ebook “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” as a guideline.

A sample of my accomplishments this month include:

• regular posting schedule set and followed – this is the first time in several months that I have kept a regular posting schedule

• two guest post written and submitted – one published and one accepted for future publication.

• added “Stumble It” button to the bottom of each post

• increased participation on Twitter

The difficult part for me has been keeping up with the daily schedule in Rowse’s ebook. The activities are great, but some times take more time than I have available.  Add into that a couple of business trips and I am a little behind.  I will continue to progress through the activities both for the rest of the 31 days of August and beyond as needed.  The ideas in the book are great.

Participant Profile – Kyle Durand – www.entrepreneurialadvocate.com

Question #1 – Tell us about yourself: Who are you? What do you do?

If you asked me this three years ago, I would have told you I was a career U.S. military officer and an attorney.  I joined the U.S. Navy when I was 17 and rose through the ranks by doing all the “right” things. I qualified as a nuclear power technician, I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, I led troops in combat situations at sea and on land, I graduated near the top of my law school class, etc.

To the outside observer, I appeared to have a “successful” career, but inside, I felt unsatisfied and longing for more.  As I moved up the ranks, I moved increasingly further away from working with people in a personal capacity and more towards becoming a cog in a huge bureaucratic machine.

I also became increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of flexibility I was accorded to pursue my interests and enjoy life with my wife, Cynthia.  I started taking a close look at my interests and skill sets and was struck by how incongruent they were with my career at the time.  I truly enjoyed starting businesses and helping people start and run their businesses more effectively. I launched my first business when I was seven years old and had used my legal training again and again to help others do the same while in the military.

After my last deployment to Iraq, I made the decision to leave the military and follow my passion of assisting entrepreneurs in reaching their business dreams.

I now run Precept Law Group, a full service business and legal consulting firm in the Seattle area. We work closely with entrepreneurs to plan and launch their businesses and to educate new and seasoned business owners on the management and implications of business operations.

In my spare time, I explore the outdoor adventures available in the Northwest United States and travel around the country participating in long distance cycling events and triathlons.

Question #2 – What made you decide to join the Success Professor 31 day challenge? What is your goal for the challenge?

My goal for the challenge is to re-design, improve and grow my blog, The Entrepreneurial Advocate (www.entrepreneurialadvocate.com).  I enjoy blogging and connecting with other small business owners online (via twitter, facebook, etc), but the blog has fallen off my radar over the past few months.  I want to reinvigorate it with a new design, a new logo and new content.

Question #3 – How is it going? What benefits have you received?
The re-design is going great.  I hired a graphic artist to produce a new logo, and I created a new blog layout myself using the Thesis theme as a foundation.  There are still a number of elements that need work, but I’m happy with the progress.

As for the content, I purchased the ProBlogger workbook prior to August 1st and have been working to stay up with the tasks assigned for each day.  Content production has been the most difficult part of this 31 day challenge for me.

The ProBlogger workbook has been an outstanding resource for learning the nuts and bolts of creating content, promoting a blog and connecting with other bloggers. When this challenge is over, I will have to go back through the book several times in an effort to more fully absorb all of the information it contains.  But, I have learned a great deal about what it takes to build and operate a blog and have even more respect for those who put in the time and effort required to create a successful web presence.

Question #4 – What does success mean to you?

Success to me is living life to its fullest while contributing to society by doing work that really matters.  I have a personal mantra that I try to follow every day, “Seize Life’s Adventures.”

I truly believe that if you follow your passion and give more than you expect to get, success will necessarily find you.

After all, what more “success” can you obtain in life than feeling that you’ve made your best, most worthwhile contribution to the world, and that other people’s lives have been enhanced by your presence?

Thank you for creating the 31 day challenge and inspiring me to improve my blog!  It has been a great learning experience and a fun undertaking.  Now, to figure out what I’ll work on improving next month…

Thank you for your time and support, Kyle.

Written by:

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Every second Sunday, I share wome of the best articles that I have come across in the past two weeks.  Here are some great articles for you:

1. John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing asks “How Does Gary Vaynerchuck Crush It?”

2. Tim Brownson shares why “Social Networking is Good For You“.

3. Zen Habits discusses “How to Live Without the Clock“.

4. “10 Reasons Why Today Doesn’t Suck” at Getting Unstuck.

5. Finally, Ivan Campuzano shares great tips on “How to Stay Young“.

BONUS:

From the Archives:  “How to Create a Reading Plan”

Have a great week! Go reach your goals!

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Imagine that you take the top archery expert in the world out to the archery range. This person has won Olympic gold medals and countless other competitions. You get out to the range and you take this expert to the firing line. You then pull out a blindfold and place it on the expert, spin the expert around several times, and have him take his shot. You don’t point him towards the target, or offer any guidance. How likely is he to hit the target, not to mention the bulls-eye? He is not very likely to hit anything, of course.

Now imagine that instead of blindfolding the archery expert, you take him out to the range on a very foggy day. It is impossible to see the targets in the distance. In fact you can only see a few feet forward. This time the expert is able to stand at the shooting line and aim in the direction that the targets are. He is not able to see exactly where they are, or how far away they are. How likely is he to hit the target? The bulls-eye? Certainly he is more likely to hit something than when he shot in a random direction, now at least he is aiming the right way. Of course, it is still very unlikely that he will hit the target or bulls-eye; at least not very often. He might get lucky once in a while, but that is all it would be – luck.

A third time you take this archery gold medalist to the range. This time there is fog, but not as thick. In the distance you can see the stand that the target is on. You can’t see the target exactly, but you know where it is. You certainly can’t see any of the circles on the target, or the bulls-eye. The archery expert steps up to the shooting line and fires. What would you expect this time? Likely the expert would find the target with most of his shots. He may even hit the bulls-eye once or twice, but for the most part he would just be somewhere on the target. Overall, he is getting closer.

A fourth and final time you take the archery champion to the shooting range. This time it is a clear sunny day. There is no fog, and there are no clouds. You did not bring a blindfold along or anything to impede the view of the archer. He takes his time setting up, moves to the line and fires. What would expect now? Naturally he hits the bulls-eye. He fires several arrows all of them hitting the bulls-eye or just off. He is the champion after all!

“You will me 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

This story represents how people pursue and achieve goals. The first example of the blindfolded archer represents the person who has no goals. This person does not have any clear purpose or direction in life. They don’t know where the target is, or what they are really aiming for. Like the archer, they are unlikely to hit anything. They are unlikely to achieve what they really want in life. At some point in life they likely will remove their blindfold and realize that there was a target all along. They just didn’t know where it is. There was something they wanted to achieve in life, they just didn’t know it.

In the second situation the archer was in a deep fog. He knew the direction to the target but that is all. This is the person who has an idea about what they would like in life but have no clarity around the situation. They have not taken the time to think through what their goal or dream really looks like. Like the archer, this person may hit the target once in a while, but when they do it is simply because they got lucky.

The third story is a big step forward. In this case the archer was able to see the outline of the target stand, but target itself was still not clear because of the fog. This represents the person who has a goal, knows their goal, but has never written it down and clarified it. Their goal is only in their mind. As such, they may likely get close to their goal – getting on the target board many times – but they are unlikely to hit the bulls-eye, at least not very often.

The final story then represents the person who has crystal clear clarity about their goal. They know exactly what they want to achieve. Their goals are written, dated and specific. They have a plan in place for achieving it. This person will hit their goals most of the time. Sure, sometimes they will miss by a little, but even then they are at least close to what they were aiming for. They had a clear picture of their goals.

One final part of the story is the archery champion. What does it take to become a champion? To become someone who hits the bulls-eye most of the time? It takes hours and hours of practice, a support team and a motivation to be the best. The same is true for you. If you want to be a champion at reaching your goals, you need to practice. You need to surround yourself with a support team and have the persistence and motivation to keep going even when you face challenges. Then take the shot, and keep on shooting.

“The difference between a big shot and a little shot is that a big shot’s just a little shot that kept on shooting. “- Zig Ziglar

So how clear are your goals? Are you wearing a blindfold shooting aimlessly at a target you aren’t even sure is out there? Are you in a deep fog, only knowing the direction you want to go, but having no real clarity about what you want in life? Are you in a light fog, able to see the goal in your mind, but the clarity that comes from writing it down? Or are you out in the sunlight clearly looking at your target?

If you are anything other than the last person, today is the time to change that. Write down your goals, put a date on them, make them specific, and develop a plan for achieving them. Remove the blindfold, get rid of the fog, and stare down your goals in the bright sunlight that comes with perfect clarity.

Written by
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Most readers will be celebrating a National Holiday sometime this week. For American’s July 4th marks Independence Day.  Canadians celebrated Canada Day on July 1.  These are great times to celebrate, spend time with family and enjoy the summer.

There is one more thing you should take some time to do over this holiday week: review your goals, and set goals for the quarter or half of the year.
As I’ve written before, I believe in setting goals for short period of time – such as 3 to 4 month periods.  July 1 is the start of a new quarter and the second half of the year.  So, amidst the celebrating, fireworks, and time with family, take a few minutes to set your goals for the next quarter or next half of your year.  You’ll be glad you did.

Happy Holidays to all!

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

On Twitter: @successprof

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Are you making progress toward your goals?  Last week we started a series of “check-ups”.  These check-ups are quick questions that help you make sure you making progress in different areas of your life.  The first part of this series was a health and fitness check-up. Today we move to a goal setting and progress check-up.

Once again the questions are all pretty simple.  There are no tips here that you haven’t read before…. But are you doing them?  Do you have your goals in place, and are you doing what you need to in order to move towards those goals? The questions are all YES or NO questions.  If you answer NO then you should make it a priority to complete the project and change your NO to a YES.  If you answer YES to all of these you are likely making significant progress towards your goals.

Question #1 – Do you have a clear understanding of the mission and values that drive your life?

Setting goals is irrelevant if you don’t have clarity about who you are. This means you have a clear understanding about the values that drive you and the overarching mission of your life.

Values are the core beliefs that drive you and guide you. They set the parameters around what you will do and what you won’t do.  They are internal and fixed.  Identifying these values is vital.  If you don’t identify your values you may find yourself inadvertently working against your values; doing this will make you miserable.  For example, if one of your true values is family-time, and yet you spend all of your time at work, then even success at work won’t satisfy you.

Your mission stems out of your values; it is what you are meant to do, or who you are meant to be. Your mission can be broad and yet focused; broad enough that you have lots of ways of living it out, but narrow enough that you have a clear purpose and direction.

Question #2 – Do you have your long-term goals written down?

Long-term goals stem directly out of your mission; they reflect where you want to be, have or do in the distant future.  Some of these long-term goals may be ten or twenty years down, and others might be thirty or forty years. For example, if you are thirty you may have a long-term goal of retiring comfortably at sixty.  This would be a long-term goal.  You need to write this down and clearly define what “retiring comfortably” means.  Another example might be that you want your business to do $100 million in sales.  This might take ten years to complete, but it’s a clear goal that you want to achieve.

Any goals you have need to be written, dated, and specific. This is true, even for your long-term goals. You will likely have several long-term goals.  One way to think through and determine your long-term goals is to imagine what your ideal day would be like at some date in the future.  Write out what you would have, do and be at some date in your future.

Question #3 – Do you have shot-term goals for the next three-five years?

The next step of goal setting is to have short-term goals for three to five years out.  These are often a lot more clear and vivid.  Naturally, most of these short-term goals will be direct steps to help you achieve your long-term goals.  In essence, the short-term goals are the next major steps that you are working on. Make sure they are challenging goals that will advance your life in significant ways.

Question #4 – Do you have current goals for the next three to four months?

Likely the most important goals to have clearly defined are your current goals.  Current goals can be anything from one year goals to one month goals.  I recommend quarterly goals as the best option. Three months is a great length of time for you to focus on a few projects and goals.

Remember that these current goals can just be steps towards your short-term and long-term goals.  By breaking down the longer goals into more basic projects you will be more focused and motivated to see success.  You might not be able to see a lot of progress towards a long-term goal, but if you break it down to immediate goals of three or four months long you can be encouraged as you see daily progress.

Question #5 – Do you take your immediate goals and divide them into weekly goals?

The final step of breaking down your goals is to have weekly goals that build towards your immediate goals.  Your weekly goals can be set as a part of a weekly review time that you schedule each week.  This is where you can examine your accomplishments from the previous week, review your immediate goals and set new goals for the following week.  I follow my weekly planning process as part of this review process.

Question #6 – Do you have things that remind you goals throughout the day?

You can’t just set goals and forget them.  Ok, you can, but you won’t succeed in achieving them.  Instead you must think of your goals throughout the day on different occasions.  One great way to do this is to have reminders that you will see throughout the day.  These can be things in your home or office that help you to connect to your goals and inspire you to move towards them.

There are a lot of ways to set these kinds of reminders.  Some of my favorites are:

• tape photos of your goals to your mirror
• use a screen saver or desktop photo on your computer
• design a goals poster and place it somewhere you will see it
• put reminders and photos on the fridge
• put notes on a bulletin board

Now that you have your goals clearly set, have a weekly review process in place, and have things to remind you of your goals throughout the week all that is left to do is to work.  Do the activities that you have set out to do.  Get started and go!  Before you know it, your goals and dreams will come true.

Written by:
Danny Gamache – The Success Professor
Follow me on Twitter: @successprof

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Deadlines are an extremely valuable tool to use as you pursue your goals. As a college professor, I see this all too clearly.  If assignments didn’t have deadlines, most students wouldn’t complete them.  If you left every deadline until the end of the course, all of the work would be done at the end of the course.  Deadlines naturally spur people, pushing them to complete the project at hand.

The same phenomenon can be seen when you are preparing to go on a vacation.  Have you ever noticed how much more work you get done on the day before you leave? It is because you have a firm deadline looming, and tasks that need to get done before you leave.

This phenomenon can be used as you pursue your goals.  Having a deadline will force you to move forward. You will need to work hard to reach your goal by the deadline, and as the deadline gets near it will inspire you focus hard and get the project done.

Here is how to make use of deadlines to help you reach your goals more quickly:

1. Make a deadline for every major goal that you are pursuing.

Every major goal you have needs an accompanying deadline.  If the goal is important enough for you to set and pursue then it is important enough to have a deadline for completing it. If you set the deadline for the major goal, you can then break down the goal into monthly and weekly components that will help you stay on the right timeline.

Some of your life goals may be continual, or ongoing, goals.  These might better considered habits that you are working to create.  For me, these include things such as working out five times a week, writing five days a week etc.  While they don’t need to have an extra deadline, you should do a weekly review of all of these goals to ensure that you are making progress.  By doing this you are able to create a weekly deadline to have completed that task the number of times you want.  So, for example, my workout goal has a weekly deadline; to reach it I need to have worked out five times by the end of the week.

2. Make the deadlines external

The best deadlines are deadlines that are set for you by someone else. For students the deadline for handing in an assignment often helps them have the surge in energy needed to finish.  For you it might be the tax filing deadline that creates action as you drop other things to get your taxes done.  Both of these are examples of external deadlines.

As you set personal deadlines for achieving goals, you need to hold yourself to them like an external deadline. You can do this by putting some form of external pressure on your internal goals.  You can do this by:

• sharing the deadline with many people around you so that they hold you accountable and apply peer pressure
• placing your deadline around an existing external deadline, such as a vacation, holiday or special event (ie. making your goal to complete your project before you leave for an Easter weekend trip)
• giving yourself a significant reward, but only if you complete your goal before a set deadline
• committing to someone else that you will complete something by a certain time so that they can take the next step in the project
• having a partner that you work with and both share the same deadline

Any of these methods can help increase the power of your deadline by applying external pressure.

3. Make the deadlines firm

Many times people who are pursing a goal will set a deadline only to continually be pushing back the deadline because they aren’t going to reach the goal.  You need to make the deadline firm. There cannot be any extensions.  You simply need to get it done.  If you get in the habit of giving yourself extensions you will start to rely on them.  Eventually you will get in the habit of never reaching the deadlines that you set for yourself.

4. Make the deadlines appropriate

You deadline needs to be appropriate.  This means that the deadline cannot be too easy to reach, or too hard. If it is too easy, you simply won’t get started because you will always believe you have all the time in the world to complete your goal.  After all, you believe the goal is really easy to achieve by the deadline.  Unfortunately when this happens the time will fly by and you may not think about the deadline again until it is too late.  You need a deadline that will cause you to get started right away.

The deadline also can not be too hard.  If the deadline looks like it cannot be met, you will quickly become discouraged and stop pursuing the deadline; you will give up, because you don’t believe you can succeed in time.

Instead, make the deadline challenging, but reachable. In order to do that you will need to learn your tendencies.  Do you tend to overestimate what you can accomplish with your time, or underestimate your ability?  I tend to overestimate how much work I can get done with my time.  Because of this, I need to make the deadline a little easier to reach than I would first expect.  If I expect that I can get a project done in two weeks, I better give myself a deadline of three or four weeks to be more realistic.  Some people work the opposite and always think a project will take longer than it really does.  If you fit into that category, set the deadline for a shorter period of time than you might first expect.

5. Complete, Celebrate, Commence

These three Cs are the cycle for achieving goals with a deadline.  The first C is to complete the project you are working on.  Work really hard towards a goal with the focus on completing it. If you are like me, you likely have the tendency to have a number of project lying around that are started, perhaps even near completion and yet not finished.  One place I notice this in my life is how many books I have partially read.  Often I find myself part way through several books, but not completing any of them. To break this trend, focus on completing the project.  You can set a new deadline for completing the project if you are nearly done well before the original deadline.

The second C is to celebrate.  Once you have completed a major project or met a major goal you need to pause and celebrate.  Find a way to celebrate that is a true reward. For me, a steak dinner at my favorite restaurant is a great reward for completing a major project.  This has to be something you do rarely enough that it truly feels like a great celebration.  Your celebrations may change from goal to goal depending on what feels like a reward to you in the moment.  Bigger goals that took more time and effort to achieve should have a bigger celebration than small goals.

The final C is to commence.  After you have celebrated, you need to commence progress towards your next goal; set a deadline and get going.  Notice that this final C does not take place until after you have completed the previous goal and celebrated its achievement. If you start sooner, you’ll end up with too many projects to focus on.

Using deadlines that are firm, appropriate and have external pressure will help you make progress more rapidly towards your goal.  Set deadlines for all of your major goals and then follow the cycle of the four Cs to reach those goals.  You will quickly move onwards and upwards towards the success you desire.

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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In general I am in favor of having important goals in a variety of areas of life.  You should set goals for your work life, your family life, personal growth and for any other important role that you have (see my previous post on setting short term goals). Having these various goals allow you to pursue a rhythm in life; one that will allow you to make consistent progress towards all of these goals.

The Paradox

The paradox is that in order to achieve all of these goals you will need to have periods of imbalance; times when you get out of rhythm and focus completely on a major goal for a short period of time.  During this time you will need to allow yourself the freedom to leave other goals for the short term to put all of your efforts into what is immediately important.

I am just coming out of a three back-to-back periods of focused imbalance.  Towards the end of January an opportunity came up to significantly expand my home business affiliate program in a short period of time. The only catch was that it required that I drop almost everything else for a couple of weeks.  By doing that, I was able to achieve more in two weeks than I would have expected in two months.  Following that period of imbalance towards my business goals, I had a couple of weeks of focus that was required for the volunteer work I do as part of a church’s leadership time. I turned from there to a period of imbalance towards my job as a professor.  This semester I took on an ‘overload’ where I teach an extra course for extra pay.  To do this well, I took a period of focused work on class prep and marking.

Success Comes in Spurts

When pursuing goals of any sort you can count on the fact that success comes in spurts. In some projects a spurt is required to get momentum started and get moving forward.  In some projects it is a final spurt towards the finish line that is needed.  School is built around spurts (exam time and when term papers are due), most jobs are built around spurts (busy season, year end etc.), and even pleasure activities are built around spurts (set vacations).

You can see this in athletics as well.  In some sports a burst at the beginning is the key to building momentum that carries through to the finish.  The 100 meter sprint is probably the best example of this.  It is the early momentum that the runners create that carries them through to the finish.  In longer races, such as the 10,000 meters there is usually a gradual build up before a surge towards the end.  In professional team sports, we also see this spurt towards the end – called the playoffs.  However, before the playoffs many teams will have a spurt period where they go on a several game winning streak to help propel them into the playoffs.

The fact that success comes in spurts is not a bad thing; in fact it is part of the way we are built.  Spurts allow you to use an increased level of energy and carry a higher level of excitement for a short period of time. This can be followed by short periods of rest and recovery.  Further, if you have a number of areas in your life that at various times require a short spurt, simply changing focus can help provide another burst of energy.

Know what you are doing

One of the keys to effectively having a period of focused imbalance is to know what you are doing.  You need to be deliberate about the fact that you are taking a period of time to be focused on one goal over others. It is very easy to slip into a period of imbalance by accident.  This occurs when you end up focusing on one goal at the exclusion of others, but you do not do this on purpose; it just kind of happens.  When this happens your period of imbalance is likely not very focused, and it can have extra negative effects on your other goals. You want the move to being a period of imbalance to be a deliberate decision because it is the best thing for your life as a whole.

It is important that if you are taking a period of focused imbalance, and doing it deliberately, that you don’t feel guilty about the goals you put to the side. It is easy to feel regret and dwell on what you are not able to do for these other goals.  You need to remember that you are leaving some goals for the short term because of an opportunity to advance your overall long-term goals even further.

Of course all of this implies that that you have long-term overarching life goals.  If you don’t have a vision for what your life should look like, you will not be able to make decisions about when you should take a period of focused imbalance. Start by setting long-term goals for what you want your life to look like.  This vision should guide your short-term goals and the decisions you make about how to pursue them.

Keep all your goals in sight

During a period of focused imbalance it is important that you still pay attention to all of the goals you have, even in the areas you are temporarily putting to the side. This helps you to keep the long-term in mind, but also helps you to always have other important goals in your conscious.  There may be places where your goals overlap and something you are working on can carry over towards another project or goal.

You should review all of the roles in your life on a weekly basis.  Do your weekly goal setting, even during a time of imbalance.  Use this opportunity to deliberately consider each goal, remind yourself about why they are important, and consciously consider whether you should continue in the period of focused imbalance.

Keep your minimum activity level

Part of this process is recognizing what your minimum level of activity is for each of your life roles. Some roles will be things that you can completely set aside and do nothing, but likely most of your goals will need a basic level of activity even when you are in a period of imbalance.

Many of my roles require this minimum level of activity.  For example, my job as a professor requires that, at a very minimum, I prepare for and teach my classes, and have suitable office hours.  There are some things that I can put aside for a short period, but teaching my classes and holding my office hours are part of my minimum activity level.

One of the areas I “dropped the ball” over the past few weeks is with my minimum activity requirements for this blog.  With the focus on this blog being only a handful of months old, I had not gone through a period where focused imbalance took me away.  Because of that, I had not built in the minimum activity requirements for this blog.  My minimum activity requirements for this blog should have been, and will become, a minimum of two posts a week.  That means even during a period of focused imbalance I need to take the time to write, even a little.  Knowing my minimum activity level also frees me up, during those times, from promoting the blog, writing guest posts etc.

My period of imbalance allowed me to complete or make significant progress towards several of my goals. Because life generally moves in spurts, it is important to acknowledge the need for periods where most of your attention needs to focus on one specific goal over others.  Be prepared for this by having clarity over your life goals so that you can make deliberate decisions about your activity when you need to. Keep your goals in sight at all time and be sure to keep your minimum activity levels and your periods of focused imbalance will help you progress rapidly towards your goals.

Written by:
Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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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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