There are many fantastic ways to get focused and motivated to begin a diet or exercise program,
but often the most difficult thing to do is keep that drive
and ambition alive for more than a few weeks and see your goal
through to completion.

Within just weeks of starting, many people
have already hit their first snag or setback, and as a
result, have slipped backwards in the mental focus and motivation department.
Setting goals in writing is an essential step to success, but how
do you stay focused on them? One technique I have used ever since my very first bodybuilding
competition 18 years ago, is...

The "contest countdown calendar."

I have used it ever since, through 28 competitions and it will
work for you too, for any fitness goal.

I purchase a desk or wall calendar - the type that shows each
week stretching horizontally across the page with an open block
of space for each day.

After I set my goal and place a deadline on it, I do NOT stop there.
I take out my calendar and start counting backwards from my target
goal deadline to the present day.

T-minus 117 days....

T-minus 116 days...

T-minus 115 days....

I also fill in my workouts for the entire 3-4 month period, which is
the typical length I allow for my mid-range goals like contest prep.

you would be shocked - pleasantly so - just how focused this keeps you.
Even better still, you get MORE and MORE motivated with each passing
day you countdown because the deadline is getting closer

Deadlines are absolutely critical to your success. Little gets done without
deadlines.

There is a saying in management and psychology that "work will always
expand to fill the time allowed for it's completion."

Remember term papers in school? when you were given a term paper
assignment and you had the entire semeseter to do it, did you
run home that first night and get crankin on it?

How about after a week? two weeks? A month? TWO MONTHS?

probably not, eh?

If youre like most people, you put it off until the last minute and you
barely got it turned in on time. In fact, there are always a few people
who pull all nighters the night before!

Alas, the power of the deadline!

In your fitness endeavors, if you dont have IMPENDING deadlines that
give you that twinge in your stomach that says "take action now, or else!"
then you find it very easy to say to yourself, ' I have plenty of time
so this one cheat meal doesnt matter... it doesnt make much difference
at this point if I skip this one workout... I have time to make it up..."

And then, just like the term paper, you are scrambling at the last minute
to reach your weight goal. But in the case of a your body, the consequences
are more severe and painful than just a bad grade or late penalty.

Inevitably, you succumb to crash dieting and overtraining or other unhealthy
fast-weight-loss madness, which eats up your own muscle like a hungry
cannibal and sends you spiraling into the dark pit of metabolic damage and
the inevitable plateau and weight gain that follow.

But the solution is so simple: Count your way down to success!

Don't stop with setting goals. Put your goal countdown on paper, review
your goals every single day, AND know, every single day, how many days
there are until your target goal date. You will stay more consciously focused and
even better, your unconscious mind will go to work for you in keeping you
motivated, on track, and on schedule. You'll come in for a landing on your
goal deadline date like an F-16 landing on an aircraft carrier.

I just did my countdown calendar earlier this week... T minus 117 days til my
next bodybuilding competition, and thanks to this simple but powerful
technique, I'm already focused like a laser beam and have been making
steady progress without so much as a hiccup...

Don't under-estimate this simple technique... Give
it an honest test... because it's often the simplest motivational
techniques that are the most powerful of all!.

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto

www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified
personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle"
Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print
magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding,
Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as
on hundreds of websites worldwide.

For information on Tom's Fat Loss
program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com