Firstly congratulations of what you have achieved. February 30 Days CLEAN commitment, results, and community was greater then anything we could have imagined.

But what will happen day 31 and beyond?

In this blog I will revise a few of the tools Nick and I spoke about in our workshop. This is a great reminder for those that attended and some awesome tools for those that didn’t.

You need goals after the challenge. Without placing a priority on your health and well being you can quite easily slip back into bad habits. Ultimately how do you want to look and feel? What kind of energy levels do you want to have? Are there any events you want to do?

I like to use the HARD (as opposed to SMART) goal setting method. I have found achieves  longer lasting and more meaningful results.

1) HARD vs. SMART Goals:

H- Heartfelt: Does it really matter to you whether you achieve that goal or not? Is it your goal and not your partners, bosses, friends? Does it sit within your values?

A-Animated: HARD goals are so vivid and alive in your mind that if you don’t reach them, you’d feel like something’s

missing in your life. You can and should use the same visualization and imagination techniques which

some of the greatest minds in history have used to make your goals come to life in your imagination.

Geniuses use their imaginations to soar and so should you.

To achieve a goal have to do it twice. Once in your head and once in real life. 2010 I ran my first 100 km Ultra trail marathon. Before the starters gun I had seen myself crossing the finish line and what time. I knew what time each of the 6 splits would be, what I would eat, drink and think every step of the way. I came across the line 10 min before I had planned. It was never in doubt.

R-Required: You have to convince yourself achieving your goals is a necessity, not an option. If you make the future payoff of your HARD goal so much more satisfying that what you’re experiencing today, you automatically make your HARD goals look a lot more attractive – and the more attractive they are, the greater the urgency you will feel to get going on them right away.

What can you do to make this goal a necessity? Shannie wants to do the NYC marathon 2015. If he enters, books and pays, he is going to make himself marathon ready for the day. Got an social event coming up, buy the size clothes you want to be on the day and get the work done to be able to wear it. When Nick and I did the bodybuilding comp, we entered and in 4 months I was getting on stage in a g-string a had no option but to diet hard and exercise morning and night to get on stage lean to not be embarrassed. I have no option but to make Flow a success. I sold 3 businesses and put all the money I have into this. Its not something I would like to do, I have to make this work to be able to look after my wife and dog, all the chips are on the table.. and that’s ok.

D-Difficult : When it come to difficulty, there’s a definite sweet spot to aim for. You want to set goals which are so hard they will force you to tap into all the talents you possess so you’ll feel a sense of achievement. On the other hand, you don’t want your goals to be so difficult you give up without even trying. What you have to do is assess your past experiences, figure out where your goal-setting sweet spot is and then set goals within that sweet spot which will propel you forward to the stellar results you want.

What are the things is your life you are most proud of? I pretty much guarantee you they are things that you had to work hard for. I never have heard anyone say I am most proud of something that was given to them or that came easy.

Your goals have to EXCITE you!

The generally accepted wisdom is execution is more important than vision – it’s better to fully implement a half-baked idea than it is to get stuck in analysis paralysis and do nothing. That may be true but if you aspire to accomplish impressive things, set HARD goals, which are so powerful implementation

won’t be a problem. Get your goals right and implementation will take care of itself. That’s the power of HARD goals to move you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

Model Strategies That Work

Remember, success leaves clues. There’s a Pathway to Power; a way to achieve what you want in a shorter period of time. And the way to find it is to model someone who’s already achieving what you want. If someone is successful at anything, whether they have a great relationship, are extraordinarily successful in business, or they have the body and energy that you desire, they’re not lucky. They’ve got a set of strategies that they apply and those strategies work. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You don’t need to reinvent a way to succeed. Throughout my life, I’ve always believed it’s been best to learn from others. That’s how you compress decades into days.

I have always been curious and never afraid to ask questions. When I wanted to be a top rugby league player I would ask first graders what they ate, how and when the trained. When I started getting into marathons I would read books, follow plans, ask advice of people that had run them. Now with a growing business I am always on the phone, going to seminars, reading books. Everything that you or I want to do has been done before, many times. Who did it, What did they do? What did they do right?, do that! What did they fuck up?, don’t do that.

In today’s information age, there is no excuse for not being able to achieve any goal you have set. All the knowledge in the world ever is at your fingertips. So it just comes down to did you do the work or not? I remember being in a seminar last year, where the speaker recommended 3 books, I had my Ipad with me, bang- bang- bang all the info in my hand 30 seconds later. Just have to get that info in my brain now!

4 Ways to reward yourself without food-

Using food as a reward can be a huge diet pitfall. I see this all the time, a person will start making healthy choices and stick with it for a period of time, then when the see the results the want or feel like the have done enough hard work they’ll reward themselves with a ‘Treat’.

This process sends your brain mixed messages. Your main objective should be to look at food as fuel and make good choices when it comes to what you put in your body. If you look at healthy eating as a ‘Diet’ with a specific end date  you can set yourself up for failure. Here are a few ways you can feel rewarded without bringing junk food into the equation.

1. Treat your body: Go for a massage. Yes this is more expensive then a trip to the shops, but it is also much better for your body. Massages are a great recovery process, and if you have been working hard training you will benefit enormously both physically and mentally
2. Catch a show: Go to Gold class, get tickets to the Swannies, catch a concert. Sydney has so much live entertainment to choose from, in various forms. Just make sure you fill up on healthy food and at the event.
3. Get some new clothes: If you are seeing the results from your fitness and nutrition plan you should show it off just a little. Go out and look for a new outfit that makes you look and feel good. You can enjoy your new threads multiple times, instead of the 2 min you will spend eating cake and feel like shit afterwards.
4. Buy a song or 2: Hit up itunes for a new song that makes you feel good. This will be a treat that can also help you workout. Music is a great motivator to exercise, so treat yourself to some motivation.

Again well done you and thank you for what you have achieved in the past 30 days. Hopefully this is just the beginning of your journey of where you are taking you body, your mind, and your life. You have proven to yourself you can set goals, be disciplined and succeed. Know what else is there in your life that you want? Go out there and get it!

Eat Clean, Train dirty

BL