Do you hear that? That’s the sound of a million New Year’s resolutions being broken.

By this time each year, most people have already given up on their goal of becoming slimmer, stronger and healthier. Don’t you be one of them.

Let’s see what we can do to strenthen your resolve so that when the end of the year rolls around, you don’t look back with regret. Instead, I want you to look back on 2008 and smile as you look in the mirror and see a leaner, stronger, sexier you.

Here are five of my favorite ways to keep myself on track while pursuing a goal:

1. Find one really strong reason “why”. Goethe said, “If your “why” is strong enough, the “how” won’t matter. Human beings can accomplish incredible feats with the right motivation.

   Find a quiet spot, take out a blank piece of paper and at the top write your goal. Then begin writing as many reasons why you want to accomplish this goal. When you’re done, pick out the reason that most excites you.

   Next, conjur up an image that represents your reason “why”. For example, if you want to lose 30 pounds because you’re getting married this spring, see yourself at your wedding, in your gown or tuxedo, looking great. Hear your guest complimenting you on how great you look.

   Anytime you feel dejected or unsure of whether you’ll reach your goal or not, focus on why you want it. In other words, keep your eyes on the prize.

2. Reward yourself for reaching milestones. When you need to lose five pounds, you don’t need to focus for very long on your goal. 4-6 weeks of focused effort should produce results. But when you need to lose fifty pounds, you need to set up milestones - say every ten pounds. When you reach a milestone, reward yourself with something meaningful, like a new outfit, a day at the spa, a round of golf…anything that makes you feel special and that doesn’t involve food.
3. Pay yourself to workout. This idea came from a client of mine (Thanks Sarah!). Every time she completed a workout, she paid herself two dollars. When her workout fund reached a certain level she went out and bought herself something special - a new purse, workout clothing, new dumbbells.
4. Compete. For those who are competitive by nature, competing against a friend or joining a weight loss challenge can be a great way to drive you to success. Last Christmas I bought a game called The Fitness Challenge. Basically, you get a point for every workout you complete. The person with the most points at the end of the eight week period would collect on rewards determined at the beginning of the game. Normally, my wife looks at exercise the same way most people look at flossing their teeth. But during this eight week challenge, I would find her on the treadmill at ten o’clock at night just because she didn’t want to slip back a point.
5. Keep a record of your activities. I’ve always enjoyed watching sports - hockey and football mostly. One day, while watching a game, it struck me that they have statistics for everything. Sports revolve around statistics. Players’ salaries are determined in large part by their statistics. At the same time, you can tell how a player’s season is going by his statistics. Imagine if, everyday you went to work, your boss posted statistics on how well you performed your job for the whole company to see. Do you think it would cause you to be more conscious of how you performed your work? I think it would. And it can do the same for your weight loss efforts.

   Here are a few ways you can use statistics to help propel you towards your weight loss goals:

   • Track your calorie, carb, fat and protein intake. Counting calories has gotten much easier thanks to nutritional software tools such as DietPower. All you need to do is click on the foods you ate and it automatically spits out how many calories you’ve consumed along with how many grams of carbs, protein and fat took in. Most people underestimate how many calories they eat. Using a nutritional software program will give you a very accurate statistical picture of your calorie intake.
   • Record your workouts. The very simplest way of recording your workouts is to take a calendar - one with boxes for each day. Every time you exercise, write it on the calendar. You could put a “W” for lifting weights and a “C” to record a cardio workout. You could make a diagonal line going one way for a weights workout and another line going the other way to record your cardio workout.

     If you want to get more sophisticated, record every workout along with the details of each workout. For example, how many sets, repetitions and how much weight you used for each exercise. How long your cardio workout lasted, how many calories you burned, how much distance you covered and so on. Then plot on a graph your progress. This allows you to see at a glance whether you’re progressing or not.

   • Take body measurements. Every week, take your waist measurement and record it in a notebook. One line per week will do. This makes it easy for you to scan down and see your progress. Even better would be to plot your progress on a chart or graph. If you like, you could take measurements for your hips, chest, arms and legs as well as your waist. I prefer this to just measuring your weight since your bodyweight can be affected by other factors.

With eleven months left in the year you have a lot of time to make tremendous changes to your physique and to your health. You don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to be consistent in your efforts. When you feel your resolve weakening take a moment to reinforce it and keep moving forward.

Do you have something special you do to stay focused on your goals? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment below. You never know who you’ll help.

If you’re new here, please accept my gift to you…a FREE e-Book titled, “How To Achieve Maximum Fitness and Weight Loss Results In Minimum Time”. You can download these free fitness and fat loss tips here. Thanks for visiting! Come again soon…and don’t forget to tell your friends.