Anchor those good feelings

So New Year and potentially a whole new set of goals and targets for the year ahead? Have you ever considered what state you need to be in in order to achieve those goals? Do you need confidence, energy, inspiration, focus, determination or calm? Well whatever it is the way you have been conditioned you probably have never thought of these as immediately attainable but rather something that you should earn or pursue, i.e. Happiness? The problem here is that as long as you are pursuing it you haven’t got it!! So why not have the good feelings now?

The feelings that you will get when you have achieved your goals you can have now and use them as useful resources in the present by a process known as anchoring.An anchor is an external stimulus that elicits an internal response, remember Pavlov and his salivating dogs? For example a picture of a loved one (external stimulus) may make you feel warm inside and happy (internal response), where as a snake or spider may make you fearful and anxious. Either way these are known as anchors. We all have many habitual anchors that we are blissfully unaware of and these anchors will influence how you feel on a day to day basis. You can create your own anchor using a favourite piece of music, a unique phrase you say to yourself, a picture of a loved one, a fond memory a clenched fist or whatever is unique to you. So whatever good feelings you want you can have them NOW, yes NOW!!

Once you have decided on the state that you want and the anchor you want to use you can marry the two together.

Think of your desired state. OK say it is motivation for exercise, allow yourself to remember a time when you were immensely motivated, a time when you could do anything. Remember this does not have to be related to your goal. So if you wanted to be motivated to exercise you could think of a work situation when you were motivated. If you can’t think of a time imagine what you would be like if you were motivated.

As you remember your desired state do it associated, that is remembering the event as is you were looking through your own eyes. Also make the picture in your minds eye big, colourful, bright, moving, 3D, loud with surround sound. Basically engage your senses as if you are reliving the experience again, seeing what you saw at the time, hearing what you heard and feeling what you felt.

Once you feel as though the feeling of being motivated is as intense as it was when you initially experienced it, FIRE your ANCHOR!! Clench your fist, play your motivating tune, pinch your ear, say your phrase or look at your picture.

Well done your brain has now made an association between your anchor and the state of being motivated. The more you practice this then the stronger the association will become. Then when you need to feel motivated simply fire your anchor and off you go!!

Look out for Elite sportsmen and women at the top of their game using this process. Lewis Hamilton (Ear Pinch on podium) and Tiger Woods (Golf Club Twirl after a great shot) both fire their anchors when at the top of their game thus reinforcing good feelings.

Willpower

So it is about this time of the year when I start to hear murmurings that people have already fallen off the good intentions wagon. Blaming their lack of motivation on flagging willpower. If only I had more of it!! Well unfortunately for so many budding fitness enthusiasts the Willpower that so soundly convinced them to join a gym ,start running, drink less or eat healthily will have deserted them and left them firmly back where they started by the end of January.

Why I hear you ask? Well Willpower requires a great deal of emotional energy and is usually what you need when you are not particularly motivated by your goals. In essence it’s what you need when you just have to white knuckle it, you know you’re not going to enjoy it but you just have to do it! Sure, to a degree that may be what you need to get you off your behind and start but it’s not going to suffice to make long term life changes.

 

 

Obviously if you have set yourself SMARTER goals (featured in this BLOG) then you are probably smugly sitting back enjoying the success you have earned. If not then ask yourself is this goal and course of action compelling enough? What will it give me that I don’t already have? Is it congruent with my values and beliefs? And do I believe I can do it? If you are struggling to answer those questions then it may be time to think what is important to you and whether the course of action you have chosen is right for you.

Check out your language also when you are describing your goals to your friends, your trainer or indeed yourself. I Must, I Should, I Ought or I Have to start exercising or stop smoking are all pressure words and imply that there is some kind of rule that has to be kept. Not very motivating, this is where you may need Willpower ! Think about changing your pressure words to I can, I will or I am going to. Does it sound a little more compelling now?

SMARTER Goals

You may or may not have heard of SMART goals ? This framework has been around in business and coaching circles for years and has been elaborated on to incorporate two extra dimensions, taking them from SMART to SMARTER goals. Confused ? Well, if so you may be about to learn something !!

S – Specific. Make sure your goal is specific. The more specific you are the less likely you are to end up with something you don’t want. Simply thinking “I want to lose weight or tone up” is very ambiguous and non-specific. You may be better off saying I want to weigh ‘x’ amount and have a size ‘x’ waist, with ‘x’ % body fat.

M – Measureable. Unless you do this how will you know you are making progress towards your goal ? Many people are excellent at doing this in a work context but seem to forget to apply it to their own health and fitness goals. So if you wanted to lose weight then a weekly weigh in or measurement would give you the feedback you need.

A - Achievable, Action Orientated, agreed, acceptable, accountable ? Take your pick for ‘A’ but I like ACTION ORIENTATED. Thinking about your goal is great, but there comes a point when you have to get off your behind and do something about it!! A goal that is compelling, motivating you towards something and action driven will get you going.

R – Realistic.  Pretty self explanatory. Given your abilities and current resources is your ultimate goal realistic. If you believe you can reach it then you’re in with a chance, if you think it is unattainable then it may well remain that way. Goals need to stretch you and challenge you but should always be realistic.

T – Timed. Although you can adapt, change and modify your goals it is essential to give them a time frame. This gives structure and also allows for regular feedback during the process. If you want to lose 2stone over 6 months you may break the goal down into ‘Chunks’ i.e. weigh ‘x’ amount in 2 weeks, ‘x’ amount in 4 weeks and so on…

E – Ecological. This doesn’t mean your goal has to be ‘Green’ but it does mean that it has to be congruent with your beliefs and values. Ecology is interested in the wider consequences of achieving or not achieving the goal. Asking yourself the following questions may help;What will happen if you achieve your goal ?What won’t happen if you achieve your goal ?What will happen if you don’t achieve your goal ?What won’t happen if you don’t achieve your goal ?If you want to lose weight then the consequences of that may be buying a new wardrobe or investing time at the gym, time you may have spent socialising with friends for example.

R – Rewards. My favourite, and the most neglected in the SMARTER framework. Each time you reach a target or goal then anchor that good feeling by rewarding yourself (probably best not to reward yourself with food, unless of course it’s healthy). Go on treat yourself you deserve it!

Goal Setting

This is one of the fundamental tasks for anyone contemplating embarking on a new exercise regime. Get it right and you’re in with a shout of achieving what you want… get it wrong and your chances diminish drastically.When considering a new course of action having a positive, realistic and achievable goal that motivates you is a great starting point. Once you have established what you want, start to imagine the benefits of having the goal. 

Write down as many as you can; the more you have, the more irresistible the goal will become. What will acheiving the goal give you that you don’t already have ? What will you see, hear and feel like when you have the goal?

Imagining the goal as if you already have it is a great way of convincing your unconscious mind to go about getting the goal. As humans we are task- and goal-orientated so having a goal that will motivate you will eliminate the need for willpower.

If you struggle to think of any notable benefits, then you may have to ask yourself “is this course of action what I really want?” Once you have decided on your goal you need to establish where you are right now in relation to acheiving the goal. The key to obtaining any goal is feedback. How will you know you are progressing towards the goal ? If your goal is weight loss then measuring and weighing yourself is a good way of obtaining valuable feedback. If you want to improve fitness then measuring your resting HR or timing yourself will show whether you are on target.

Welcome to my Blog

Hi Everyone and welcome to Fitstar Coaching’s Health and Fitness Blog ! My desire is that you will find loads of interesting and useful stuff in here that will help you achieve your health and fitness potential. Whether you are after advice for yourself or for Children you invest in then I sincerely hope that this blog can be of some use to you!!