Establishing a Successful Routine – Commitment

Every year on December 31st, millions of Americans make a resolution to improve their fitness levels, diets and overall health. Unfortunately, most of us fail to keep that commitment. Why does this happen? Even though the commitment was set with good intentions, a plan was never established to make that commitment become reality.

Over the past 5 years, I've learned what it takes to not only make a commitment, but to successfully achieve the goals that were initially set.

We prioritize all aspects of our life and rank different things with various levels of importance. Given that we are only given one body, we should make it a top priority to invest a substantial amount of time and effort into taking care of our health. If we invested as much time, money and effort into our bodies as we do other things, we would live in a much healthier -- and happier -- society. Our society tends to rank our physical health at a lower level of importance than things like work, relationships, and material possessions. If we would put more emphasis into making our bodies the number one priority, then we'd have more time to take advantage and fully enjoy these other aspects of our lives.

Life gets crazy at times, and it's easy to get distracted or sidetracked and make up excuses to not achieve the things that we want. If we have these pre-established goals, the ability to hold ourselves accountable, as well as have another person push us through the tough times, there should be no reason not to be able to see the goals through to the finish and achieve anything you put you mind to. There will always be an excuse or reason to not go to the gym or prepare a healthy meal -- "I'm tired", "I have a headache", "my favorite show is on TV", or "I had to work late". Once you make the initial commitment to make a change and prioritize that commitment, you will rank the overall important of your health much higher and the excuses will seem to go away.

Everyone needs some sort of accountability; whether its holding yourself accountable to achieve the things that you want, or having a friend, loved one, or trainer hold you accountable and remind you why you are trying to make a change. What I come in contact with a new client, the first thing that we always discuss are goals. It is very important to have the ability to go back and reflect on why we set these goals and why we are working so hard to achieve them. Self doubt often plays a huge factor in why people don't always achieve what they set out to do. When not only do you believe in yourself, but you have other positive influences encouraging you, it makes it much more possible to accomplish anything.

Routine brings about success. It's important to establish a routine that seamlessly meshes with our busy everyday lives and schedules. Once the routine is set in place, over time it should become second nature to the point where living a healthy lifestyle isn't even thought about; it's just a part of your life. This commitment to a routine and the desire to make a change to your health will almost always guarantee success.