If you are struggling to keep motivated with your diet and training and losing focus on making progress towards your goals then one thing you can do that may help is making yourself accountable to others.
When setting a goal it is important to do it for the right reasons, set it because it is important to you and not to satisfy others. However, it doesn’t mean you have to keep this to yourself.
A great way to keep you motivated and on track is to share your goals with others – tell your family and friends, share it on social media – tell enough people who will give you a tough time if you don’t achieve the goal. This will give you a massive incentive in making sure you achieve the goal, as you won’t want to let others see you fail.
Another way you can keep yourself accountable is to hire a good coach. Again, they will discuss your goals with you and check in with you on a regular basis to ensure you are on track.
When training another great way to keep you focused is to train in groups. Again, this will encourage you to attend the sessions and keep up with the rest of the group during the training sessions and you will also want to progress as they progress. You won’t want to feel like you are lagging behind. Ensure the group you train with are positive individuals who have a growth mindset – avoid those people who are always complaining, gossiping and being generally negative towards everything and anything.
We are a big fan of semi-private training to keep our clients accountable, not just to the coaches but the other clients in the group – it creates and excellent environment to train and to ensure everyone attends regularly and makes great progress towards their goals.
You don’t have to rely on others at the gym, why not get the family involved. If you have kids why not promise them a special trip or day out once you hit their goal? Take your wife away for the night when you reach a milestone? This will not only keep you motivated but it will create a positive environment for you at home. Everyone will want to see you succeed so they will help with the food, encourage you to train and help you achieve your goals as it will benefit everyone. This can also create an opportunity to get the whole family involved in some positive health changes.
Making yourself accountable to others and not just yourself can be a powerful strategy in ensuring you stay focused and achieve the goals you set at the start of the month. Generally, people don’t want to let others down or look like they have ‘failed’ so set some goals and get others involved to make sure you smash it in 2018.
Coach Milligan 