Are you really ready to make a change?

I've been posting about goals and promises and resolutions, but I didn't touch on one key component.  Are you really ready to make a change?

Here are a few things you need to consider and do to make your transformation possible.

1.  Do you believe in yourself?  In order to be successful, you have to believe in yourself, the process and your ability to succeed.  You need to believe in yourself not just physically, but more importantly mentally.  You need to get your mind out of your body's way.

2.  Stay positive.  You will have ups and downs.  Celebrate the ups, acknowledge the downs and move on.  Do not dwell on hiccups along the way--we all have them.  Instead learn from them; find ways to change your behavior so that they don't happen again.

Stay positive in the way you view yourself as well.  Instead of dwelling on the negative, turn things around.  Calling yourself names like "fat" and "ugly" aren't going to help you reach your goals.  Make the promise right here and now to change your negative attitude about yourself into a positive one.

Write down some positive things...answer these questions:  What is going on your life right now that is good? Why does it have that affect on you?  What makes you happy?  Why?  What are your hobbies?  What are you passionate about?  Look at your answers and see all the good in your life!

3.  Give yourself permission to mess up.  Yes, I want you to make promises that you will keep, but life gets messy sometimes.  If you mess up, look at the situation.  Why did you mess up?  Try making some adjustments to your goal/promise if the original one isn't as easy to keep as you thought.

4.  Surround yourself with positive and supportive people.  Finding someone to share the process with or better yet to go through the process with will increase your chances for success.  They will keep you honest, they will hold you accountable--especially if they are a workout buddy, plus it's just more fun to do this kind of thing with people who will rally around you.  Find people you trust, can confide in and feel totally comfortable with.

Stay away from those who do not have your best interests at heart.  Don't let anyone sabotage what you want to do for yourself.  Sometimes they don't even realize they are doing it.  If that happens, have a conversation with that person to try to rectify the situation.  If it continues, avoid them.  Sometimes people think they are helping by making statements like "You don't look that bad," or "Skipping one workout isn't going to hurt that much."   Explain to them how important this is to you.  Others might feel threatened by what you are doing.  They may wonder where they fit in your journey.  They may think that they will have to lose weight too.  They may feel that they are losing you as a friend because you'd rather work out than go out for pizza.  Try to include them, if they want to join you or find something else to do rather than eat great, if not, you will need to avoid them as well.

Bottom line, it's your life and your journey, you've got to believe in yourself and surround yourself with others that do too.  Do this, and you will be successful.  YOU are the change!