| You have set your goal, mapped out your path and | | | | pulse had dropped 5 beats per minute. I began to |
| started along your life changing journey. But what | | | | appreciate that my efforts were paying off. |
| happens when your resolve begins to crumble? How | | | | R number 2 is for Rejoice. As well as reviewing it is |
| do you cope with setbacks and sometimes, how do | | | | important to congratulate yourself for a job well done. |
| you just keep going when you feel as though you | | | | As George Adams once said, "We all hunger for |
| have made minimal progress? | | | | applause". And it is just as valid, even if you have to |
| Here are three R's to keep you on track. | | | | applaud yourself. |
| R number 1 is for Review. We are often told to keep | | | | Suddenly after my review, I felt a whole lot better |
| our eyes focused on our goal and not look back, but | | | | about what I had achieved by my own efforts. I could |
| this is one time when looking back can be positively | | | | see what benefits I had already accrued and I was |
| beneficial. This is not the kind of looking back that | | | | eager to keep going. |
| takes your emotions back to the things you don't like | | | | Ceremoniously, I crossed off the goal steps on my |
| to remember, though. This is looking back at what you | | | | progress chart, smiled at myself in the mirror and that |
| have achieved, since you began working towards your | | | | night with friends, I felt perfectly justified in indulging in |
| goal. | | | | some mild bragging. It felt good. |
| A few years ago, when I realised that I could no longer | | | | R number 3 is for Reward. Finally as part of your goal |
| rely on my body's natural fitness, to keep me slim and | | | | plan it is a great idea to build in certain larger milestones |
| when I noticed the effects of age making me short of | | | | which will trigger a reward. |
| breath and when my clothes didn't fit so well; I set a | | | | After reaching the 2.5 mile mark and a certain level of |
| goal to get fit, become a regular gym goer and be able | | | | weights and repetitions in the gym, I had told myself, |
| to run 5 miles without dying prematurely. | | | | that I would buy myself a home rowing machine, so |
| I set to work with great enthusiasm and pushed | | | | that when winter came and I couldn't go running so |
| myself hard for the first few weeks. Then I began to | | | | often, I could still keep up the regime. |
| find it more difficult to motivate myself to hit the road in | | | | Well I got there and it was a great feeling when I went |
| the mornings and I was finding excuses not to go to | | | | to the store and ordered my machine. Sure, I could |
| the gym. | | | | have afforded to buy one when I started, but this way, |
| But then a conversation with a friend prompted me to | | | | I really felt as though I had earned it and it made me |
| look back over what I had achieved so far. I realised | | | | appreciate it all the more. |
| that not only, could I now run nearly two miles without | | | | So whatever goal you have set yourself, don't forget |
| requiring an ambulance but that I had also already | | | | to keep yourself going with these three motivational |
| upped my weights twice at the gym and my resting | | | | R's. Review, Rejoice and Reward. |