It’s easy to say we are over our past – that we are moving from it.

It’s not really true.

‘What defines us isn’t where we’re going, but where we’ve been’. The past plays a significant role in our lives. I’m not saying the future doesn’t factor into anything, but don’t dismiss your past so easily.

The past is what made you. It is forever a part of you. People choose to consciously forget it, but the roots are there. You can’t suddenly say that past is over, and be a completely new person. Your foundations are rooted in your past. Who you are, and the way you act is influenced by the past. You can be a changed person, but old habits die hard. It doesn’t suddenly make you a better person. You’ve got a lot to do and a lot to prove. To who? Maybe it’s just simply to yourself, or maybe it’s to others.

But, however we remember it––or choose to remember it––the past is the foundation that holds our lives in place.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can get away from it. That your different. However, eventually time fades the pain and the memories. The past becomes a bit of a blur. You’ll hopefully become stronger, numb, or immune to it. Maybe you will change for the better. 

Change is not an event, it’s a process.

But your past is still you.

The first thing that we need to understand about turning dreams into reality is that we will need two distinct attributes. We need to have both the right knowledge and a positive mindset. Many people forget about mindset and consequently are more likely to fail in their attempts to achieve what they want, when they want it.

As you can see the act of achieving anything is mostly having the right mindset. In fact it is about 3/4 mindset and 1/4 knowledge.

Having the right knowledge is pretty straightforward, it is learning the skills and strategies required to carry out the tasks you will set for yourself. The mindset however is something that many people struggle with.

To have a champion mindset means that you are highly motivated and have the determination and will power required to make the sacrifices you will need to make.

2. Getting Motivated

There are so many methods out there, but one of the great methods I like to use are ‘dream’ posters. The basic idea of this is to cut out pictures from magazines of things you want to have in your life, or the body that you wish to attain. Compile all of your pictures onto on piece of paper or onto a pegboard.

Note, you may admire others on your dream poster, but use them only as guides, not goals. The worst thing you can be is just like someone else.

Take some time every day to review your poster and visualize the life you want for yourself.

Another method is to print out inspirational phrases and quotes and place them on the walls in your personal workspace. Checkout our collection of motivational quotes here:

http://www.jdfitness.com/motivation

Take some time to meditate, just sit quietly with some music that you like and visualize your life the way you want it to be. See yourself on a holiday in the Bahamas or spending time with your kids in the park, use your imagination.

3. Finding Your Life Purpose

One of the biggest barriers holding most people back is that they do not have a clearly defined ideal to strive for in their lives. That is that even though these people may state they want a big house and a Porsche, and even go as far as setting these items as goals, they do not realize their true purpose in life.

To work out your life purpose you need to ask yourself some questions. You need to make a list of what you do and do not want in your life. These can be feelings, people, ideas or objects, anything you can think of.

Next make a list of obstacles that stand in your way of getting these things that you want in your life.

Then think about what you want your family, friends and colleagues to say about your life after you have passed on. I know that sounds a bit morbid, but thinking about your life in this light can be very motivational.

Finally, write up your life purpose as a statement of a few sentences. Print this out, pin it up in a place where you can review it daily.

4. S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Before we set any goals it is important that we have an idea of how to write effective goals. We want goals that are well defined and are easy to motivate ourselves toward and ultimately achieve.

The best framework that I have come across is the S.M.A.R.T. philosophy. That is our goals must be:

• Specific,
• Measurable,
• Action-oriented,
• Realistic, and
• Time/Resource constrained.

So, now that we have a proven framework to base our goals on, we can now start setting some goals.

5. Defining Objectives

We now need to think about an objective that we want to achieve. This is something which is quite large like owning a house on the waterfront or getting a job as a Doctor.

We will of course break this down into milestones and into individual tasks later to make them more achievable.

However, for now you need to decide on some area that you want to improve and then write it out using the S.M.A.R.T. philosophy outlined above.

6. Signposting Milestones

Now we can look at the main milestones that we need to take in order to achieve our objective.

Carrying on with the example of getting a job as a doctor, there are certain major steps we need to take in order to realize this goal. For instance, the most obvious milestone we need to reach is to complete a Doctoral degree.

As you can see, we are progressively breaking our goals down into smaller, more manageable pieces.

7. Setting Tasks

Next we need to break these milestones down into specific tasks. These are great because you can effectively set yourself a task and then check it off your list. It becomes so easy to check your progress.

To use another example; our objective this time is to ‘lose 5 percent body-fat in 3 months, from following a good nutritional program and strict workout regime,’ notice this is a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

Then let’s make our first milestone to ‘learn how to effectively eat healthier,’ we could then proceed to break this down into smaller tasks.

Our first task could then be ‘read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price by March 15th, one chapter a night,’ notice this is also a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

We would then of course write this up on a checklist, in our daily planner, on a pegboard, etc. And check it off when done.

8. Success Credo

You can draw parallels between your success credo and the statement of your life purpose. However, your credo is more of a statement of your beliefs and promises as to how you will live your life.

It will provide a basis for your decision making and also serve as yet another motivational reminder. Feel free to include some affirmations like ‘I am always calm in a crisis,’ these words will provide some extra motivation.

And if you state and believe these words often enough, with conviction, your behavior will change subconsciously to reflect this.

9. Success Questions

It does not do much good, when you are reviewing your goals every day, to simply say to yourself “well, I think I’m doing OK” and that is the end of it.

You need to actually look at your progress and ask yourself questions along the lines of; ‘How can I be doing this better?’

By asking these questions, answering them and then implementing the solutions you will truly start to make some PHENOMENAL progress.

10. Confidence

The final part of the puzzle all comes down to confidence. This is the most important part of effective goal setting. Confidence is closely related to having the right mindset, which we discussed above.

It is crucial to believe in yourself and your ability to achieve your goals or you will never carry through with any of the promises that you write down on paper.

The challenge has been set.. Do you have what it takes?

Joe DeMattio is the owner of JD Fitness Llc., a fitness and nutrition consultancy that offers a holistic approach to solving health problems and improving sports performance. He heals stressors and imbalances from the inside out with customized health plans based on individual goals and biochemistry. Learn more here.