Motivate Yourself!

All our BootCampers did a fun project at the end of class yesterday. If you were absent, we'd love to have you do the project as well. (Just ask Nar or Elaine for the postcards.) Here's what we did:

We gave each member two postcards to address to themselves, and then do the following:

1. Postcard #1: Date it for one month from today. Write down your short-term fitness & nutrition goals. (See below for tips on goal-writing.) Then, write a motivational message to yourself, such as , "Good job on eating 5 servings of vegetables every day for the past month. I knew you could do it!"

2. Postcard #2: Date this one for any day in 2009. Choose a day that you know you'll want and need a little extra motivational boost, such as before a special event (a wedding, your birthday, etc.), before a summer vacation, or around the the holiday season. Then, write down your longer-term goal that you plan to achieve by that date. And, again, write yourself a fun, uplifting message.

Turn your cards in to Narina & Elaine and they will mail them to you throughout the year. (By the way, you are welcome to take more than two postcards if you'd like to receive additional motivational messages from yourself throughout the year!)

SMART GOALS
To make sure your goals are effective, they need to be SMART!

SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ACTION-BASED
REALISTIC
TIME-ANCHORED

A goal such as "I will eat healthier," is too vague. There is no way to measure whether or not you accomplished your goal. Better goals are more specific such as:

"I will eat 5 servings of vegetables, 5 days a week, for the next 4 weeks." OR
"I will attend BootCamp a minimum of 4 times a week for the next 12 weeks."

Good luck with your goals, and may 2009 be your best, healthiest and most joyful year ever!