“He who fails to plan, plans to fail” This quote is so true to me!

I try to plan and set up routines and try to be as efficient as can be. I have found that I need to schedule my routines so I don’t just brush them off and not think that they are important.

A good example of this is my laundry. I need to do laundry very regularly, but it is not necessary critical that I do it every day. Yet I do know that when my kids are looking for clean socks and clothing that it is getting to that critical point and I need to reset my priorities.

The same thing can be said for scheduling in my exercise. I have to admit that I have not weight trained for about a month. I have also started  taking walks instead of running. I have to admit that I have lost my drive to be fit. It is not critical of me to workout everyday but after a while of not doing it I do miss the positive things that weight training does for me. It is crucial that I resume my fitness goals.

So with this kind of funk that I am in, I am more and more convinced that the key to reaching your fitness goals is through the mind. I did have routines set up, but they got derailed. To set them up again I have to be in the correct mind frame to do it.

To do so I need to take baby steps. I used to be a flybaby at Flylady.net. It is a free website that helps you make routines on how to organize your house, create home cooked meals and other helpful tips to become more efficient. I stopped being part of their yahoo group due to the number of emails that they sent out. But I learned the value of routines and starting with baby steps.

I have to remind myself that my day starts with the evening before. I need to go to bed early. I have so much more energy when I am well rested. My first baby step needs to be with getting to bed early. I have a lot of trouble with this. Having more energy plays a significant role in my mindsets. I am more positive, I smile and laugh more. I am much more cheery and fun.

I struggle going to bed early. There are many issues to it, but mostly because I don’t have a routine set up for it.

To set up routine and carry it through with self discipline is to do it in babysteps. Tonight I will be in bed by 10:30. Tomorrow will be another day and another babystep. I need to plan this and write it down.
My routines need to be written down and scheduled in. Without my routines I fail.

Initially I was going to do a 30 day period were I would set up my routines and then adjust them to suit my schedule better. However 30 days is still a big chunk of time and I get a bit frightened of massive undertakings so to do this I will have to break it down day by day.

A great tool that I have discovered is Google Calendar. It allows me to organize my time. I can write down my routines and my daily agenda. I then can take my daily routine and adjust it to a weekly schedule. With that weekly schedule I then take it one week at a time and do my routines for a full thirty days.

With this kind of organization I take any kind of thinking and feeling and get rid of it. Instead I take one day at a time and just do it. I don’t think about tomorrow or the next thirty days. I just concentrate on today and adhering to my google calendar for today.

I can schedule in my workout. I can schedule in my sleep. It may sound ridiculous to do so. But when I let feelings like “I don’t feel like it” control my thoughts, then nothing gets done.

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

Become Unstoppable with your Fat Loss Goals.

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It turns out that in some parts of Canada and the US there are some students that are being put on the pay roll by their schools to get them motivated to get good grades. This is because there is such a huge dropout rate for these schools and teachers have run out of options and have stooped so low as to bribe students for A’s and B’s. There are millions of dollars being poured out into these student pay checks. This money could definitely be spent in a better way.

What is wrong with education that kids don’t want to be there? It should be interesting and inspiring. My science teacher throughout high school was a wacky scientist who burned holes through his pants with chemicals and made balloon rockets. The kid’s had fun and came to class to learn. It was interesting and exciting and made me pursue environmental science in College. He was such a fantastic teacher that I still think of him often 15 years after graduating.

The teacher is one of the greatest influences on the student performance. If the student fails then the teacher has failed to teach them.

The kids miss out at being motivated by excelling at projects and being excited for the education. Motivation and Self Discipline for learning should come within us. Not from being bribed. Kids get bored; they will lose interest in the money and external motivators and they will want more and more…

This is so wrong on so many levels. I talk about the motivation vs.
self discipline in this post. For anyone looking for a fantastic
parenting book that addresses bribery, rewards and self discipline, I
highly recommend Secrets of Discipline – 12 Keys For Raising
Responsible Children By Ron G. Morrish.

There was a girl in my high school class that I so wanted to be like and emulate. She was popular, smart, great at music and art, she was on the student council and played numerous sports and she was brilliantly smart. She was my role model and everything that I wanted to become. She was also an inspiration to me to always be better and do my best.

So this got me thinking about health and fitness. Why are people so unhealthy? Why are they not motivated from within to be as healthy as they can be? Why will people settle for obesity, sickness and disease?

I had read a fitness motivational tip that you should pay yourself three dollars every time you exercise and then at the end of the month you can buy yourself a reward with the accumulated monies. Now that kind of sounds like bribery! Or what about buying skinny clothes just so that you can motivate yourself to exercise and lose those extra pounds? Bribery, Bribery, Bribery!

Those are all external motivators and may work briefly. But after a while you will lose interest in them.
So the inspiration for health and wellness comes from within.

I have found a great fitness teacher, someone that I want to emulate… His name is Scott Tousignant and creator of the Unstoppable Fat Loss program. He reminds me very much of my wacky science teacher that inspired me so much.

The teacher is the one that helps inspire the students intrinsically. Do you have a great teacher that has touched and inspired you?

Setting routines through self discipline has also been the backbone for me keeping up with daily exercise. Sure I need a motivational boost sometimes (and it normally comes when my routines have been thrown out the window). But it is rare that I totally fall of my exercise “bandwagon”. But I come back to it because it is that desire in me to be healthy and be my best.

Vibrant, Energetic, Happy, Brilliant, Lively, Full of Life, Dazzling and Glowing are all words that I want to describe me. The only way that I can get there is if I exercise, sleep and eat right. I have a great teacher and don’t need bribery to motivate me.

To your health and wellness,

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There are many things in life to be desired for – whether you are striving to lose a few pounds, stick to a diet, to get a pay raise or to quite smoking. So what do you think will get you there? Will it be self discipline or motivation?  I actually have found the answer to this question in a parenting book!

I have been reading this book called the Secrets of Discipline-12 Keys for Raising Responsible Children by Ron G. Morrish. The word discipline sounds harsh and punitive but the true meaning of it is to train and it comes from the word disciple which means student.

So lately I have been finding myself bargaining with my children to get them to do what I ask. There are many examples of this throughout the day like “get dressed and then you can have some breakfast” or “clean up and then we can …” or “eat your salad and then you can have a dessert”. This is called bribery and it is exhausting and frustrating. This way of parenting establishes a “what’s in it for me” attitude. And if the reward is not good enough then soon the kids will lose interest in what needs to be done.

The alternative to bribing children to do what you ask them to do is to set expectations and routines for them. “No” and “Failure” are not acceptable. The only other option is to succeed.

———
An example of this would be getting a child to clean up their room. If your child is young you can set a time limit of 15 minutes so the task does not seem overwhelming. And then stop when the time is up even if the room is not totally cleaned up.

Mom says: Let’s go and clean up your room. (Notice there is no choice in this statement)
Child says: No!

Mom brings the child to the room.

Mom says: ok honey, pick up the books and put them on the bookshelf.
Child says: No!

Mom takes the child’s hand and gets the child to pick up the books and put it away on the shelf.

Mom says: ok, let’s pick up the Lego. I hold the box and you pick up the pieces.
Child says: ok!

———-

This is an example out of the Secrets of Discipline and it is what happened to me when I implemented it. My daughter had no choice but to clean up her room. I stood by and directed her movement. I told her what to pick up and where to put it away. This is what training is all about. There is no room for failure. The only other option is success – you do it until you get it!

Practice makes perfect

Once a behavior is established you need to practice it to perfect it. If you have ever been on a sports team you know how important practice is before a game. Also before you get a drivers license you need to practice how to drive before you take the driving test.

*Without practice, failure is very likely.*

Do you practice during a game or test? No, you practice before.

So with any behavior that you want changed you need to practice it until it you do it without thinking about it!

Creating Self-Discipline

Cleaning up is often horrible chore. But the more we think about how horrible it is the less likely we are to do it. So we get rid of choice and just clean up without thinking about it. The cleaning up just got less painful and with practice it will become a routine. This is self-discipline. We train ourselves to do things that seem painful until it becomes habitual.

Motivation

Motivation is defined as a psychological reason for an action. Motivation is great for short term. You can get pumped to do something but if you stop being motivated then failure is likely to happen. So what happens if you get off track? Well negative thoughts will start to beat down those motivating thoughts and soon giving up and failure are likely. Motivation is only a short term solution.

Conclusion

For true success we need to build concrete routines and practice those routines until we don’t need to think about them and just do them!

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

Ps. Check out Scott Tousignant’s Unstoppable Fatloss program. It’s like having a personal trainer in your home. A trainer to tell you exactly what to do and how to lose that unwanted fat. There is no more choice to fail. It is not an option. Practice a routine and do it!

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