Isn’t it wonderful?  Over the past couple of weeks you have acquired determination and made decisions!  Way to go!  Now it’s time to create your plan.  A plan is the number one tool you can use to reach your success.  The purpose for creating a plan is so that you know the steps to take to achieve your desired results… and often in a shorter amount of time then you might expect.  Without a plan, essentially you have no map of where you are going and that makes the journey more of a challenge than it needs to be.  We have all heard the Proverb quote:  “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  Your successes aren’t easy to come by when you have no plan.

Weight loss is top of the list for New Year’s goals for many – ok, ok, it’s usually top of the list all year round!  While it is a great goal, I find that many of my clients haven’t planned out how they are going to do this.  They show determination in saying, “I want to lose weight” and they make the decision to make changes, yet never create a plan for them to succeed. Then they become frustrated and disappointed because they don’t meet their goals.

Awareness is the first part of the process to creating individual plans that succeed.  For example, you hear yourself saying “Boy oh boy, food keeps going in my mouth and I want it to stop if I’m going to lose this weight.”  This is a great place to start; you’re aware of the problem you want to address.  From here you can create a step by step plan: how much weight do you want to lose, by when, what steps will you take to do this, what will you continue to do, what will you stop doing, and what will get in your way and how to address those situations.  This will help you say, “I’m losing this weight no matter what and here is how I’m going to do it!”

My clients sometimes allow themselves to be pulled in whatever direction that happens to come to them at the moment.  A good example of this is:  it’s someone’s birthday at the office, and guess what comes with a birthday?  Usually a cake – and cake is yummy!  So they allow themselves to be sucked in and they end up eating the cake.  Yet, if they had a plan for this type of situation — how to gracefully decline the offer without offending anyone or getting into debates — they would have a much better chance of saying no to the cake and yes to staying on target to lose weight.  It’s easy to see how a plan can help you reach your goals!

So when will you start planning to be who you say you want to be and do what you say you want to do?  I would love to hear from you below.

© Copyright 2012 Kim Ravida Coaching. All rights reserved. Feel free to use the material from the article in whole or in part, just makes sure you include this complete acknowledgement including the live website link and let me know where the material will appear: “Kim Ravida, owner and founder of Kim Ravida Coaching, is a Certified Professional Coach and a personal and professional motivation mentor. In essence, she motivates people to stop beating themselves up and helps them get off their butts so that they maximize their time and energy to quickly get what they want in their lives… and love their reflection! Kim produces a weekly ezine where she shares insights, inspirations, tips and ideas for setting and reaching personal and professional goals. To get more information or sign up, please go to www.kimravida.com.”