Are you Making New Year’s REVOLUTIONS?

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START A REVOLUTION IN YOUR LIFE!

In a couple of weeks, many people will be making New Year’s Resolutions.  I challenge you to defy the Status Quo.  Dare to be different.  Resolutions are weak.  Make New Year’s REVOLUTIONS!

Intensely burn with the desire to achieve the changes that you want down deep in your core.  Think long and hard about WHY you want to change and WHAT you really want.  The WHY has got to be so big that it crowds out doubt, fatigue, obstacles, fear and apathy.  Keep your eyes on your WHYS.   Revolutionize your life and grab what you really want.  Be Defiant.  Misbehave.  Dance to a different beat.  And don’t let anybody else tell you what you ‘should’ want.  Go for it.  Whatever it is.

How often do New Year’s Resolutions last until Valentine’s Day anyway?  No, we are going to rise above that.  We are going to create real, deep, sweeping changes from a place of passion and commitment.   In typical Defiant Health style, we will refuse to bend to the status quo.  We will misbehave and change our future history.   We will defy convention and cause profound shifts in our lives, souls, and consciousness.    We are going to REVOLT.   We are going to make New Year’s REVOLUTIONS!!!

Are you with me?  Are you ready?  Let’s do this!!!

• First: Write it down. Get a piece of paper or create a Word document on your computer.  Revolutionary Goals mean nothing unless they are written down.  Write them in the A.P.P.L.E. format, explained later.

• Second: Ask WHY? For every revolution, write down WHY you would like to revolutionize that area of your life.   WHY is each goal important?  What will change in your life if you accomplish your goals and revolt against poor health?

• Third: Keep asking WHY? For each WHY, ask WHY that WHY is important.  Your WHYs have to be bigger, badder, stronger and more intense than the challenges you will face.  Your WHYs have to be able to kick booty.  If your WHYs are weak, your revolution will fizzle and the enemies will win.  Dig deeper.  Find the basic driving emotion behind the WHY.

• Fourth: Keep your eyes on your WHYS! Every day, look at your goals.  Review your WHYS.  Write your big, main, overriding goals out–by hand–at the top of your to-do list, daytimer, workout schedule, or whatever system you use to organize your day.

• Fifth: Take Action!!! Do SOMETHING to move you toward your goal.  It doesn’t have to be huge.  Baby steps are fine–just take at least one step in the right direction every day!

Now–Let’s look at an example of how this process works through a fictional person:

“Jane” is a 40-something-year old woman, who needs to shed some fat and has poor eating habits.  She knows this but has never had sufficient motivation.  This year, two health tragedies in her family have caused her to re-examine her lifestyle and really be honest with herself about where she is, health-wise.

Let’s help Jane create her first New Year’s Revolution!

Jane wants to lose weight and be healthy.   Like most people, she may just make a weak New Year’s resolution:  “To lose weight”.  That won’t last longer than the January crowds at the gym!

Let’s apply the A.P.P.L.E. method to this weak resolution and reframe it in Revolutionary format.

A — AFFIRMATIVE

P — PRESENT

P — PRECISE

L — LIMITED

E — EXHILARATING

Revolution:  “To lose weight (how most people phrase it)”

Let’s APPLE this Revolution!

AFFIRMATIVE: A goal must be stated in a positive affirmation.  What is positive about losing?  Your subconscious mind doesn’t respond to negatives by creating positives.  It rejects negatives, so by framing your goal in a negative, your subconscious mind is going to work against your goal.  Create a positive goal, and it will become an affirmation to your subconscious mind, causing it to work toward your goal.

PRESENT: The subconscious mind works only in the present tense.  And write your goal in the present tense, as if it has already happened.  Writing it as a want or a wish will keep it in that state of flux.   It needs to be concrete and in the moment.  Your subconscious mind cannot distinguish between that which is imagined and what is real.  By stating it in this way, your mind will perceive it as real and will become your ally instead of your enemy.  What the mind believes, it will achieve.  You have to BE that healthy slim person TODAY in your mind.  Think in terms of “I AM” not ‘will be”; “(insert goal here) IS…” not ” I’m going to (insert goal here)”.

PRECISE: Vague generalities are not goals, and they won’t create change.  How will you even know when you’ve achieved your goal?  There must be a specific, measurable goal.  Again, we don’t want to use the negative ‘loser’ mentality, and scale weight is irrelevant to fitness, so we don’t want to say “to lose X number of pounds”.  Let’s help Jane choose a precise, affirmative goal for her Revolution using a healthier measure of health.

Reframed in Revolutionary Format:  “My bodyfat is 18%.”

OK, good.  This is an AFFIRMATIVE, PRESENT TENSE, PRECISE Revolution.  Now let’s make it better.

LIMITED: A goal is just a dream with a date attached.  Set a time limit for your goal.   Without that limit, you will remain in the state of flux as we discussed in the PRESENT TENSE.   Plus, knowing your goal date helps you break the goal down into achievable steps, and gives you feedback as to how you are progressing toward your goal.

Reframed in Revolutionary Format:  “It is June 1st and my bodyfat is 18%.”

EXHILIRATING!: Excellent!  Now let’s really bring in the heavy artillery.  Attach STRONG EMOTION to the achieving of the goal.  How will you feel when you have successfully staged your own Revolution?  Feel that exhilaration down deep in your heart.  Get in the moment.  Act as if the goal has already happened, and—this is CRUCIAL—BE GRATEFUL for having it.  Having an attitude of gratitude will cause you to vibrate in a highly positive frequency, which will attract your desires to you at a greater speed.   “There are no happier people on this planet than those who decide that they want something, define what they want, get hold of the feeling of it even before it’s manifestation, and then joyously watch the unfolding, as piece, by piece, by piece it begins to unfold. That’s the feeling of your hands in the clay.”–a quote from Abraham-Hicks.

Reframed in Revolutionary Format:  “It is June 1st and I am ECSTATIC and GRATEFUL that my bodyfat is 18%.”

Now we have something to work with!  You have your APPLE Revolution!  It is very specific.  Notice we didn’t mention inches, measurements or anything else in this goal.  Those are separate goals.  Keep each goal very precise and don’t be afraid to create many sub-goals on the same goal.

An A.P.P.L.E. a day brings wonderful things your way!

WHY?

Jane is halfway home!  Now, let’s look at WHY she wants to achieve this goal and create a Revolution in her life.
“It is June 1st and I am ecstatic and grateful that my bodyfat is 18%.”

WHY? Ask yourself:  What will be different when I reach this goal and revolutionize my life?  Why is this goal important to me?  What will it do for me?  How will I feel when I am living this goal?  What happened in my life to cause me to value this goal?

Jane’s initial answers:

• I will feel better about myself
• I will be happy to see myself in the mirror
• My clothes will fit better and I can buy new beautiful clothes for my new physique
• I will be happier and healthier
• I will be in better shape

OK, good. You have some WHYs. None of these are really earth-shattering, though. And certainly not strong enough to resist that offer of dessert that looks so delicious. ‘Just this once won’t hurt’ or ‘I really don’t feel like going to the gym today’ will easily beat any of these whys. So what to do?  Go back and dig deeper.   Take each of these and ask WHY again.  Let’s take a couple of Jane’s whys and dig deeper:

• I will feel better about myself—-WHY?

1. I won’t feel embarrassed at how I look
2. I hate trying on swimsuits and I want to love it
3. I will have self-confidence
4. I won’t be ashamed to go to the beach
5. I will be proud of myself and my accomplishments
6. I will feel sexier and more desirable to my spouse

• I will be healthier—WHY?

1. I will have enough energy to accomplish all my daily tasks
2. My family has a history of heart disease and I don’t want the same fate
3. I want to set an example for my children, and help them lead healthy lives
4. I want to be here to enjoy my great-grandchildren
5. I want to be able to play with my great-grandchildren and not be exhausted
6. Heck, I want to be able to play with my children NOW and not be exhausted!
7. I want to enjoy life to the fullest, without sickness and pain
8. I hate being out of breath just walking up a flight of steps
9. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired

OK, are you getting the idea now? To really drive this home, take one or two of each of the whys and explore them in depth. Ask yourself WHY this WHY is so important to you. What raw emotion is really behind it?  What is the deep down driving force, when you are completely open and honest with yourself?

Example:

WHY–“My family has a history of heart disease and I don’t want the same fate”:  Why is this so important to Jane?  Here is her answer, once she opens up her heart:

“My aunt, cousin, grandmother, and father have all had heart disease. I dearly loved my aunt and I lost her when she was only 48. And look at what it did to her family, how crushed they were. I miss her so much. And almost losing my father to a heart attack–that was awful.  Seeing him struggle for life in the hospital, knowing I could lose him at any time.  I almost didn’t get to tell him how much I love him.  And the hospital bills—horrendous. We are all still helping my parents dig out from under that.  And seeing how devastated my mother was broke my heart.  And it makes me angry!  He refused to eat any of the healthy food my mother offered.  He refused to give up smoking and never exercised.   He would sit in front of the TV and eat potato chips and candy every night.  And he would just laugh and make fun of us if we said anything.

And my aunt was the same way.

Why did she have to be like that? Why did she make fun of anything healthy and say she didn’t want it if it was healthy for her? That if it didn’t taste good life wasn’t worth living?  It makes me so angry! I never want to do that to my family! I love my family and I don’t want to put them through that kind of horror. I am not going to make the same mistakes. I know that heart disease doesn’t ‘run in families’—unhealthy recipes run in families! Right here, right now, I am going to stop this family history and rewrite a new one. I am heading down the same path, but I know I can change direction. I will be an example to my children, and I will eat food that nourishes my body.”

OK—NOW we get down to the real WHY. Jane  is angry and scared. She lost her aunt and almost lost her father to heart disease, yet both refused to take care of their health. She is angry with them for not caring enough about themselves and those who depend on them to take care of their bodies. And she is afraid of suffering the same painful fate, and causing heartache and possible financial devastation to her loved ones. Now, we have some WHYS that will be strong enough to stand up to cravings, temptations, and challenges. You see, the real WHYS behind most of our goals really boil down to a few strong emotions: Fear, Anger, Love, Pride, Vanity, etc.

When you really get down to the essence and examine why you want something, you may find that you are surprised at why you want it. When ‘Jane’ in our example said she wanted to lose weight, what she really wanted was to ease her deep-seated fear of dying from a heart attack. And often, when someone says they want to lose weight, what they really want is love—to love themselves and to get love and affirmation from other people. Many people deeply need approval from others, and it’s important to acknowledge and admit that. Then reframe your thoughts to love yourself and approve of yourself.

So when you examine and analyze your goals, simply by asking WHY? until you reach the deep emotion driving each goal, THEN you will have found your BURNING DESIRES. You have to know what you REALLY want and WHY you really want it. It has to be something so important that it is in the forefront of your mind every day. And it has to be such a strong desire that nothing can defeat it. Of course, not all your goals will be this earth-shattering. It’s important to have fun goals, too. We’ll touch on that in a moment. But for a real REVOLUTION, you have to have a burning desire for change.

FOCUS–KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR WHYS!

Every single day, review your goals. Think about your WHYS. Bring to mind that emotion that drives you to create that revolution in your life. Feel it. Immerse yourself in it. Keep it in front of you. Then, when life knocks you down or sets you back, your WHY will be strong enough to get you back up to keep fighting.

Thoughts become things. You get what you focus on. What you think about, you ARE. Choose good thoughts!

TAKE ACTION!

Possibly the single most important step. None of the others will matter without action. Don’t be overwhelmed. Break it down into small, achievable steps. If you don’t know how to achieve your goal, seek help. For example, if you don’t know how to properly incorporate resistance exercises into your workout routine, seek a personal trainer, or a good friend who is willing to help you. Focusing on your goals and taking action toward creating a revolution in your life will ATTRACT people into your life that will help you change your life!

“Baby steps spark miracles. Miracles do not spark baby steps. Take action. The only miracles that can’t reach you are the ones you wait around for.” I saw this quote a few years ago, but I don’t know who said it originally. I have kept it in mind ever since.

Other goals

It’s important to set goals in many areas: Family, Health, Financial, Travel, Spiritual, Personal Development, etc. A few of these will be the burning desires that lead to real REVOLUTIONS in your life. But set tons of other goals too! Some of the greatest goals seem small–maybe you want to spend more time with your children and spouse. Well, make it into goals! Examples: 1) Two nights every week I turn off the computer at 8pm and read bedtime stories to my children. 2) Every Friday night I hire a babysitter and take my spouse on a date to dinner and a movie. 3) Eat meals as a family two nights per week.

JUST DO IT!!!

Do it. Do it NOW. Don’t put it off! Grab that paper or open that Word document. Write down all the goals that come to your mind. Don’t edit. Just write down anything that pops in your head no matter how crazy or silly. Then go back and “APPLE” the really big important ones into a specific, positive, time-sensitive statement with gratitude and joy. Then start asking your WHYS. Some goals will just evaporate, as you realize it’s not what you really want. Others will stay on the list as great goals to achieve as sub-goals of big goals, or possible steps to achieving your revolutions. Some will be great everyday goals that can make a big difference in your quality of life. And a few will become revolutionary.

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BE DEFIANT! Fight for Your Health!
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