You need to define your goals better, so you know what you're aiming for.

For years I have been on the hamster wheel of trying to lose weight. Right now I am roughly 40 pounds over my comfortable "fighting weight", where I feel fit and comfortable in my own skin. Some of my reasons for chasing this goal are for vanity and some are health related, but sadly those reasons never motivated me to stay committed longer than a few weeks. To generally state that I want to lose weight to look and feel good is just too vague. Plus those feel goods are easily accommodated by other means. I can look pretty good on a great hair day with a rockin' outfit. I can feel good sipping on a margarita and eating some tacos.

So lately I've been treating myself like a client and kind of project managing my weight loss goal. Half of my little business venture is helping clients build digital courses, which they can sell and turn into an additional income stream. Sometimes clients just want me to help with their digital strategy and find ways to scale their service-based small business. In those cases, I like to help them define and focus on what they REALLY want. Don't give me the lofty or politically correct responses. Tell me what will help you walk away from your project and feel like "damn, I did that!". Name it, own it and then we build backwards to outline the necessary steps to get you from here to there with focus. I am not a multitasker. I am an obsessively one-target-at-a-time kind of chic.

One recent client asked me to help her overhaul a training program. She said her audience's interest and engagement dropped over the past year. She blamed her trainer and assumed a swap to a different trainer could do the trick. My question to her was why call me if you think a new trainer would simply fix the issue. She knew there was more, but struggled to define what she wanted. She wanted a successful training program, but never really defined what success would look like. She didn't know what she was measuring or monitoring. She was moving and busy, but had no destination to aim for. Since she could not visualize the destination, she could not map out a route that would get her from point A (current state) to point B (desired state). That's where my work with her begins.

I had to do the same with my weight loss. Aiming to lose weight has to come with a fully visualized desired result. Claim the number, the size, the speed, etc. that defines that finish line. If it's a time based goal, identify that date on the calendar and count backwards to today's date. For example, if that date is a year from now, I'll have 365 days to divide my effort. What actions need to be completed each of those 365 days to help me inch closer to that goal? How will I track my nutrition and strength sessions to know if I am getting stronger? If I look forward one year into the future, what does the victorious version of myself eat, drink, move or think differently? What do I need to do each day to get one tiny step closer to becoming her?

This is my way of action mapping the solution to a problem. Identify the issue, visualize the best outcome and reverse engineer the steps to get to the desired state with small daily action items. James Clear would be proud! The same goes for you. When you daydream about a career shift, be clear about what you are aiming for. Is it a dream job that requires a specific skill set? Then create a weekly and daily plan to acquire those skills and work on them until a defined goal date. Will it require 15 minutes or an hour per day? Is it something you can learn on your own or would getting help from a professional be less stressful? With this level of focus, your dreams become goals, and those goals become attainable. You will stop wishing for a change, and instead will become the person that knows how to get shit done.

P.S. When you need help from a professional, reach out to me so I can be there to help.

See you online,

Akilah