Wednesday, April 8, 2015

G is for... GOAL SETTING

A to Z Blog Challenge

G is for GOALS

I’m re-reading a great book right now. It’s PUSH: 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin’ Body and the Life
You Deserve, by Chalene Johnson. If you’ve ever seen the infomercials for Chalene Xtreme or Turbokick, then you know who I’m talking about. If you’re not familiar with her, let me just tell you she’s a petite, blonde, loud, fit version of
Anthony Robbins.


Even though Chalene is best known for her fitness DVDs, her book PUSH is less about fitness and more about setting—and achieving—goals. I re-read this book every few months or so to give myself that proverbial kick in the ass.

From Amazon: PUSH gives readers “...the life-changing tools they need to change their habits with 30 days of practical steps that include pinpointing goals, reverse engineering a course of action to achieve them, and kicking the clutter—whether that means junk food, draining exercise regimens, or toxic relationships. In one month, readers will learn how to create layers of accountability and support so that success is their only option.”

Chalene talks a lot about “eating that frog.” If you’ve ever read a Brian Tracy book, you know what I’m referring to. If not, here’s the skinny: I think it was Mark Twain who said once if you start your day by eating a live frog, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.

I believe that.

So, Brian Tracy coined the term, Eat That Frog—pick the item on your To Do list that you’re most likely to put off doing, then do it first. Lots of organizational and motivational experts suggest completing a few little, easy things on your To Do list first, so it’ll motivate and inspire you and make you feel good. But Brian Tracy and Chalene Johnson believe just the opposite. They believe if you focus every day on the biggest, most important thing, and doing that thing first, you’ll be far more productive.

Chalene is a huge proponents of To Do lists, and believes that doing this right will change your life. She takes you step by step, day by day, through goal-setting. First, you right down 10 things you want to accomplish this year, 10 things, if you achieve them, will make you so happy and proud of yourself. At least one of these will be a health goal. Then you determine which one of those 10 goals is your PUSH goal. Your push goal is the one that will help you achieve all the others.

She likens your PUSH goal to a line of dominoes. When you gently PUSH the first one, all the others behind it will fall one by one.

She also strongly believes you should keep your To Do list on your smart phone, because it’s with you all the time. I’m resisting this (mainly because I don’t have a smart phone), but we’ll see if I change my mind as I make my way through the program.


If you don’t want to buy the book, but want to try the program for free, check out her 30-Day Challenge. http://www.chalenejohnson.com/30daychallenge/members/

3 comments:

  1. Always found 10 Things To Do- a little too many. I like to have a couple of absolute goals and really go for them. This year started with losing some weight and running a half marathon again. By the end of March I'd lost two stone an run the Tavistock half in Devon UK- despite the mountain in the middle! Great motivational posts!

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  2. Sounds like a great (and exhausting) challenge.

    Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
    A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
    http://pensuasion.blogspot.com

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  3. Julian, I understand. You're smart to whittle it down to just a couple of things. I like to have 10 things, but I usually focus on 1-2 at a time.

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