Goal Setting and the 31 Day Plan

[Mike Murphy]

In another thread I had mentioned a resent 31 day plan I followed to test my will power and ability to stick to a plan.

My 31 day plan was more fitness related than IM.

I did lot of soul searching and thinking/planning/learning on goal setting recently and I decided that setting goals would be a lot more fun for all of us if we truly believed that we'd actually reach them

I'm sure this differs for everyone, but for me, the ultimate way to achieve goals is to have a little taste of success and then to build on it.

I am a chronic list maker. I don't mean list builder in the IM sense, I mean I make "to do" lists like you've never seen! That may sound great but I find it dangerous as the list is like a little goal setting session that acts as a measuring stick if you happen to fail to complete the list.

I was making huge lists that no person could ever possibly hope to accomplish so I decided to break it down.

Now, life is going pretty well over here at the Murphy household, but I always figure it's always the perfect time to take things up a notch and make things even better...

In the past I would make a huge list of every area that I wanted to improve:

Fitness
Internet Marketing
Relationship with wife
Relationship with kids
Home finances
Home Renovations

etc.

This time around, I decided to just focus on 1 topic, strip it down to the bare bones to see what would make me fail or succeed with it, build a plan and stick to it.

I chose fitness first as being physically fit generally makes life "feel" better and it's one less thing to distract when tackling teh other things.

My plan was this:
- Go to gym Wed, Fri, Sun
- Do knee and back exercises at least 2x per week (Thanks Scott www.fatlossquickie.com)
- Eat 6 meals per day
- Eat 1900 calories per day with 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat
- Eat one cheat meal per week

Now that may look pretty simple or it may look complex according what you've encountered with physical fitness but lets just say there was MONTHS of learning, planning, testing and tweaking that went into the details of the plan.

Here's how I would track the plan...

- I would start the 31 days with 100 points
- I would lose 1 point everytime I: missed a meal, missed a workout, missed a back/knee exercise, ate an unscheduled cheat meal
- The plan was totally honor system based
- I won no prize for winning
- I had no punishment for failing
- I answered only to myself (my toughest critic)

I finished with 90 points....

Although I wanted to keep the 100, I'm pleased anyway. The first 20 days were pretty easy but after that it got REALLY tough.

I was able to come down to 12% body fat from 14% but may have gone up a bit at the end.

What I learned from this is EXTREMELY important and can be applied to all of our internet marketing businesses as well as every other aspect of our lives.


Here are some phrases that sum up my learnings:

Setting goals is a lot more fun when you achieve them
Win the war one day at a time
The only way to lose is to quit
Scrap the "to-do" list, make a "to don't" list
Prepare a little, focus a lot, tweak as needed

If you want to try this challenge (and I suggest you do), pick an area that you want to conquer or improve upon, chose your desired outcome and work backward from it. Design a simple plan to achieve each step and focus daily on achieving the step for the day. Celebrate.

I'm considering setting up a challenge on my blog based around this because it was so powerful to me.

I see lots of people struggling with weight loss, financial problems, relationship issues, business problems and it really makes me sad!

I know all of these problems can be solved and I'm sure breaking things down into a simpler system is the way to achieve everything in life we desire.

I hope you find my learnings useful and would love to hear your thoughts. If you're stuck, let's get you "un-stuck". Doesn't have to be weight loss or IM related...there IS a way.

Make it happen!

Mike

[premiumweb]

Great post! I'm a member of the YMCA paying $65 per month for me and hubby and we rarely go. I decided before reading your post to print the schedule and find several classes per week that I can do. Yes I'm very busy between work and church and ministry stuff but there's no excuse for exercising ZERO hours during the week.

I read your post which reinforced my decision. I'm going to set a goal to lose at least 10 pounds before vacation (first week of July). That will require going to the gym or exercising at home because I love chocolate. LOL

Thanks for the motivation!

[Mike Murphy]

Awesome! I used to go to our local YMCA and I loved it.

Zero hours is pretty low, but you have to start somewhere ;-) Kidding aside, making the decision to win at anything is the first step and a big one.

In everything I've learned with regard to nutrition and fitness, nutrition is the single most important factor. If you go to the gym 5 days per week but always eat too many calories and make bad food choices, you'll still not lose weight.

The diet industry has made things way too complicated when the basics are all we need. Here's a simple guideline....

Eat 5-6 meals per day
Eat every 2-3 hours
Eat a protein and a veggie at every meal
Limit or no carbs after supper
Sugary fruits like pineapple are best consumed earlier in the day
Get exercise 3 or more times per week
Have a cheat meal once per week

Realistically, nobody should be losing (or aiming to lose) more than 2 pounds per week and even 1 pound per week is great progress.

This falls into the part about setting realistic goals to avoid disappointment.

You mentioned losing 10 pounds by the first week of July. I don't want to discourage you but that's a lot. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I'd shoot for 4-8 pounds.

The idea is to burn fat while maintaining muscle mass. I don't mean that you should become a hulking woman, but we've all got muscles and muscle burns more energy than fat does.

When you exercise you stress the muscles. Eating protein gives the muscles fuel to repair themselves and the act of muscle repair burns calories.

Those last two paragraphs are the core of weight loss really.

Tell you what premiumweb, kick but from now until the first week of July and let us know how you do. Then tweak your plan and goal for July and August and we'll meet up at NAMS and have a big old high 5 session.

You're awesome and you can do it!

Mike

p.s. Even when you can' make it to the Y, great workouts can be had at home. You can walk around the neighborhood, go biking, do sit ups, push ups, crunches, burpees, mountain climbers, jumping jacks.....many ways to stay active.

[premiumweb]

Thanks for the tips. Trust me, I lose weight the healthy way when I lose it. A few years ago, my church did First Place and I lost 22 pounds in 13 weeks. Kept it off for a couple years then got it in my head that I could eat a candy bar every day and still stay that weight LOL

Seriously, I'm under quite a bit of stress right now and I crave chocolate. I'm managing to maintain the same weight but it's time to lose. I'll make a list of the things you said and keep those in mind. My mom is a type 2 diabetic and my daughter is type 1 so I've definitely got to stay on top of my weight. Type 1 isn't caused by weight but I'm at risk for both.

Thanks again and I'll be sure to give an update right before or after we get back from vacation. From past experience, I know that I can do it. Sometimes I think that actually causes me to procrastinate more believe it or not.

[Mike Murphy]

Awesome outlook Matthew!

Goals are not static targets and sometimes we view them as such. We reach a goal and then kick back and relax.

A dear friend once asked me (before she had a huge mindset shift) if I would ever be satisfied and why I couldn't just be happy with what I have. She totally missed the point.

I'm very happy with what I have and I'm extremely grateful and blessed. I've always been happy with things at any given time and never took for granted what I have during the tough times. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing to strive for more.

The tone of your reply tells me one thing about you for sure and that's that you're tenacious and not going to give up. Imagine if Lynn Terry had given up when she was living in a little shack in the woods with the kids and barely had enough gas money to get to town!

I say we can have that kind of drive and determination even when things are going great and the worst thing we can do is to "coast".

I'm not sure if you're going to NAMS Matthew, but that would be a great place to bring your business to the next level. I know I'll be ramping things up before names and then again after NAMS.

Here's to your success!

Mike