Question:
Your BURN THE FAT ebook has been a complete godsend to me. I feel better at 48 than I have in my entire life physically! I cannot thank you enough for the techniques and strategies. However, I’m having an issue with letting my life take control of me, if you know what I mean. I am really a “super-achiever” and find that I work too many hours, often skipping meals and, until recently, even blowing off workouts. I know how I should be training and eating after reading your book, but sometimes I just can’t seem to make myself do it. I’d like some input on finding the time and managing my schedule, my life and my head! Do you have any resources or suggestions?
Answer:
Hi Paul – My suggestions are so simple they may sound obvious, but they can mean the difference between skipping meals and blowing off workouts or nailing your diet and training 100%, day after day:
The answer: WRITE IT DOWN!
Write what down, you ask?”
Everything! Take the time to sit down and do some serious “strategic planning” of your menus and your training program.
It’s been said that action without planning is one of the biggest causes of failure, and I believe that is 100% true – especially when youre a super busy super achiever like yourself.
The second you write things down, they begin to crystallize right in front of you and become more real. Writing things down sends unmistakable instructions to your subconscious mind. Having a written plan gives you a sense of direction.You know where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, when you’re going to arrive and that makes you feel certain, calm, confident and motivated.
First, start with your goals.
It’s important to have goals for multiple time frames, including multi-year, 1 year, 12 weeks, weekly, and daily goals. You should have goals in multiple categories, includingweight, body composition (body fat% and lean mass), and measurements.
You can also include fitness parameters such as calories burned, intensity, duration, strength, density (amount of work per unit of time), repetitions performed, and whatever else is relevant to you.
Once your goals are on paper, keep them in front of you constantly. Carrying a goal card with you is one of the simplest yet most powerful motivational tools (it’s literally my secret weapon… I learned it from my success mentor Bob Proctor, who learned it from his mentor Earl Nightingale)
Second, write down your menu. Meal by meal, write down your “target eating” for the day. Then crunch your numbers:calories, protein, carbs and fat. An EXCEL spreadsheet works beautifully, or use some type of menu planning software.
Wait… youre not done with your menus yet. Write a time of day after each meal… and make those meal times become habitual. Then print your menu and stick it on your refrigerator.
Third, write down your training routine. Put it all onpaper: your weekly schedule and routine, exercises, sets, reps and so on.
Fourth, take your training routine and transfer each workout one day at a time into your daily planner.Schedule your workouts just like you would any business or personal appointment.
In this day and age, your schedule will always fill up with something else if you don’t BLOCK OFF chunks of time for the most important priorities in your life – one of which is your health.
It’s not enough to just have your workout “in your head.”There is a huge difference between saying “I am training tomorrow, and writing, “I am training chest, shoulders, triceps and abs tomorrow at 7:00 am sharp.”
Anthony Robbins once said, “If you talk about it, it’s a dream, if you envision it, it’s possible, but if you schedule it, it’s real.”
This is a really simple discipline, but very powerful.
When I train for competitions, I write out a full 12 to 16 weeks of training in advance on a calendar. Then as each workout approaches, I transfer it one day at a time into my appointment book. This keeps you so laser-focused you can’t help but succeed.
Make no mistake, strategic planning is work. It requires quiet, focused time with a pen and paper (or computer), and it requires some thought and analysis. Strategic planning is the mental work and preparation that takes place before the physical work.
Planning, goal setting and writing things down must become a habit. It’s a winning habit that will pay greater dividends than perhaps anything else you ever do in your life.
Two more quick points about time:
(1.) We all have the same amount of time: All there is… and that is 24 hours in each day. No one has more time than anyone else.It all boils down to priorities (or lack of), not lack of time.
(2.) The great Earl Nightingale once said, “You can’t manage time, you can only manage activities.” Earl was 100% correct.The clock keeps on ticking. You can’t control time, only what you do with your time. If you want to manage your activities, you can’t leave it to your (very limited) memory. Your manage your activities by putting them in writing.
In my ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, you can learn much more about time management, meal planning, workout scheduling, goal setting and other motivational tools and techniques to help you manage your activities so that following your workout and nutrition programs will become literally like automatic-pilot.
To learn more about the exact system I use to get lean enough to see 6-pack abs, visit my site at www.BurnTheFat.com
Train hard and expect success!
Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle is the most detailed, one-stop guide to fat burning nutrition you’ll ever find.That’s why so many people call it the fat loss bible.
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