John Dryden famously said, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” Confucius said, “Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them.” And Aristotle noticed that, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” It’s pretty clear that the habits you adopt will shape who you are.

When it comes to your body, the two habits that define your physique are your eating and exercise habits. In fact, everyone that you know who is in great shape has dialed in these two important habits. If you aren’t happy with your body, then simply adjust your eating and exercise habits. Here’s how to adopt a habit:

Use these seven steps to create a life-improving habit.

1) Decide on the ONE habit that you would like to develop. It’s tempting to pick up 3 or 4 healthy habits, but choosing just one new habit is realistic and doable. Here are some healthy habit ideas:

Do not eat after 9pm each night.

Bring your lunch to work instead of eating fast food.

Exercise 4 times a week after work for 45 minutes each time.

Only eat lean protein, fruits, and veggies as your afternoon snack.

Get up early and exercise for an hour each morning.

Work with a personal trainer 3 times a week.

2) Write your new habit down on paper. Also include your 3 main motivators for developing this new habit, the obstacles you’ll face, and your strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Here’s an example:

My new habit is to work with a personal trainer 3 times each week.

My 3 main motivators are:

1) to feel confident in my bathing suit this summer,

2) to have more energy, and

3) to fit into my skinny jeans.

The obstacles I will face are

1) not having the energy to go to my session after work, 2) not having enough money to pay for sessions, and 3) not having my spouse’s support.

I will overcome these obstacles by 1) doing my workouts before work instead of after work, so I have more energy, 2) cutting down on frivolous spending to ensure that I can afford it, and 3) asking my spouse to join me so we can get in shape together.

3)Commit fully to your new habit, in a public way. This could mean posting it on facebook, or simply announcing it at the dinner table. Put yourself in a position where you’ll be embarrassed to give up on your new habit.

4)Keep track of your progress. You could keep a detailed journal or simply make a check mark on each calendar day that you successfully exercise your new habit.

5) Keep yourself publicly accountable. This means either status updates on facebook or verbal status updates at the dinner table. Your friends and family are in a position to offer you support, so don’t shy away from those close to you.

6) When you fail, figure out what went wrong so that you can plan around it in the future.

7) Reward yourself for your success. Once your new habit becomes second nature, usually in about 30 days, feel free to add a second habit by going through the same 7 steps. I’d love for my fitness program to become your new healthy habit!

This is a great starting point for someone who is a beginner in fitness. Beginner’s have a hard time when they start working out because there is so much information out there that contradicts itself. One trainer will say heavy weights low rep, the next will say low weights high rep, high-protein vs low fat, etc. To make it even more difficult, those same opposing viewpoints/ methodologies can both be right. Getting into shape largely depends on the individual person and their goal. There is no one size fits all. We have a few universal laws but there are many ways to apply them. For example, to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in. I can name 9 different ways off the top of my head to attain that goal. However, what has worked for me or another client may not work for you. You have to find the right tool to get the job done. Being well versed in many styles of training and nutrition is a plus.

To apply the scientific method to your own unique situation you will need three things. Pen, paper, and commitment. Use the pen and paper to plan your workouts/ nutrition and track the results. You will need the commitment to see the “experiment” through. Begin by asking what your goals are. What is it that you want to achieve and how can you do it? After that do some research on your goal. Let us assume that your goal is to lose weight. Read up on the best ways to lose weight from a credible source such as AlchemyFit.com or other good but not as great online resources, lol. Based upon your findings construct a hypothesis. It could go like this: ” If I took one of the hours I spent watching t.v. daily and exercised 4 times per week and cut back on processed foods I can lose weight”. For most people out there, these two simple changes would be enough to make a huge difference in results.

Next, you would test your hypothesis by experimenting. Your experiment consists of your exercise and nutrition program for an amount of time. I think that 8-12 weeks should do. Four weeks is not enough to see substantial change and twelve weeks is ample time to see results. Take your measurements, body fat percentage, and weight down before you start the program. At the end of the 8-12 weeks analyze your results and draw a conclusion. If you lost 20 pounds and dropped 7 percent body fat, you can conclude that whatever you were doing works for you. If you lost 6 pounds or even worse gained with no changes in your body fat percentage, you can conclude the program wasn’t very effective. Should you be mad, upset, or demotivated? No!!! Look at it like this, you didn’t fail you just found a way that didn’t work for you. Over the years I have tried many different programs with mixed results. All of them were part of my learning process. I absorbed what was useful and disregarded what was useless. Somethings that I found useful for me did not work for other people and things that were useless to me worked wonders for other people. So stop trying to find the perfect program and pick one and do it. Track the results, make some adjustments, and continue on.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

Whether you like it or not, the answer is you. At the end of the day we are all self-made but only the successful will admit it. Everyone else seems to find excuses why they can’t instead of reasons for why they should. We tend to find excuses like there is some type of reward for them. If there is, please let me know so I can collect! When I was younger I had so many but I stopped during my teenage years because I realized they didn’t do anything to change my situation.

William Jennings Bryan summed it up best when he said “Destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice”. Do not confuse your mental decision for not doing something with your physical capacity to do so. For example, don’t say you can’t quit your job when it really is that you won’t quit your job. Many people stay in an occupation they hate because they fear failing in something they would love to do. Nobody likes to admit they are scared so they come up with excuses such as I have a family to feed, I’m getting a little older, or a combination of both. On the surface those excuses seem like valid explanations, but when you get beneath the surface you find that they are still excuses. Read the biographies of some of the most successful people and you will find that most have come from humble beginnings like you and I or have had to overcome great obstacles. There is no difference between you and the person who lives the life you want to live unless you believe that there is.

Now that we have established that anyone can accomplish whatever they put their mind to, we’ll talk about creating your vision. When you are creating your vision do not focus on how just concentrate on where. Focus on where you want to go and not how you will get there. One of my favorite Walkerisms goes like this; “when a destination is chosen a path will be shown”. Too many people get caught up in the how to. It is impossible to learn every single detail and anticipate every problem. Sometimes you have to make your move before you are ready. The timing will never be just right and the initial plan will never be perfect. But be careful, failure to prepare is preparing to fail. It is very fine line you have to walk. On one hand, you need to have a well-thought out plan. On the flip-side, the most dangerous thing in life is taking too many precautions. That leads to analysis paralysis or paralysis analysis. I always get those mixed up. Analysis paralysis is when you think about every little thing and the sheer quantity of analysis overwhelms your decision making. Over time you will be able to make quicker decisions because you will have better judgment. Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment in the past.

The key is getting started, it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes. In fact, it’s only a mistake if you fail to learn from it. Don’t take it as a loss, take it as a lesson. Because once you’re out the there you can always adjust along the way if needed. It’s basically like a rocket going to the moon. Most rockets are off course ninety-seven percent of the time but they have built in a gyroscope to get them back on track. It makes the necessary adjustment to make sure it reaches its destination. Another good example would be a GPS. I have a Garmin Nuvi 660. My Garmin is a neat little invention and has definitely made my life a lot easier. I think I was one of the last people to get one. Anyway, when I want to go somewhere I put in my destination and get started. If I get off course somehow by missing a turn or unexpected detour, it automatically plots a new route to the same destination. That’s how you have to be when you plan your life. Just know where you want to go and be committed to getting there. There will be detours and some missed turns but you have the power to adjust and get back on track. How do you get back on track? You have to have concrete goals. Our next article will be about goal setting because any major accomplishment begins there.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.