Five Proven Strategies For Success

By Carol Burbank, PhD, RMT

You've finally found your feet on the path towards your fitness and health goal. You've even taken the first important steps. Now how do you keep going?

Too often, we try to make change on the grand scale instead of getting support for the many smaller steps that lead us to success. You need to find ways to be gentle with your process, and firm with your resolve.

1. Strategize with your close friends and family to get maximum support. For example, in the first weeks of a diet, favorite binge foods can be a real temptation. Friends can support by serving meals and snacks you can eat, or even simply by understanding that you'll be avoiding restaurants. It's vital to everyone that you make your needs very clear, and keep loved ones positively involved by helping them know what will help, wherever you are in the process.

2. Find a coach who can be impartial, challenging and encouraging. A supportive professional will keep you on track as you work towards your dream. Make your choice depending on your needs. If you're facing a deep trauma, a psychologist or social worker is your best bet. But you might want to work with a coach and a therapist, because they work different “muscles.” A coach primarily focuses on building your goal step-by-step, looking towards the future, not the past.

3. Try hypnotherapy, a form of deep relaxation that may assist you in reducing stress and resistance as you move forward. Hypnosis has been used to facilitate weight control, smoking cessation, increased self-confidence, career development, and building a positive attitude.

4. Stress could become your biggest obstacle, because the stress of change makes everyday tensions feel even bigger. A massage offers excellent deep tissue release, letting your muscles relax, and clearing out toxins. Reiki uses gentler touch to bring deep relaxation, pain relief and mental clarity. Whichever you choose, reducing stress shows that you value yourself and your goals.

5. Go one step further learn Reiki so you can use it on yourself. Reiki is an ancient and tested Japanese healing strategy accessible to everyone, no matter what your background, faith, or profession. Reiki is a good way to stay centered while growing, because you'll learn to relieve daily pain, settle into a good night's sleep, and even offer peace and healing to your family and friends.

Experience proves that seeing your goal is only the first step. Commit to a personal program that integrates short and long term support, and your vision will become reality.

Remember you deserve to be healthy and fit. It's your life, after all. Live it to the fullest.