In this, the second part of my series on How To Hit Your Weight Loss Goals With Absolute Certainty we look at, what I consider to be, the key ingredient to goal setting. If you missed it, you can read Part I here.

Imagine for a moment, sitting in your Doctor’s office, when she enters and, with a solemn tone, informs you that you have contracted a rare disease called…

“Avoidus-exerciseitis”.

You Doctor explains that, while potentially deadly, your condition can be treated. To stay alive though, you must get thirty minutes of exercise each and every day. Missing even one day would mean instant death!

Given the circumstances, do you think you’d ever say “I don’t have the time to exercise today?”

I don’t know about you, but if it’s a matter of life or death, I wouldn’t care if the dusting didn’t get done…or the lawn went another day without being cut…or any one of the thousand-and-one things on my “to do” list went unfinished. I would do anything to make sure I fit that thirty minutes of exercise into my schedule.

I know, for most people, exercise is not a matter of life or death. My point is when you have strong enough reasons for doing something, you’ll do it…no matter what. If you say you can’t lose weight because you don’t have the time, or you don’t have any willpower, or the sky’s too blue, what you’re really saying is you haven’t come up with enough strong reasons for doing what’s necessary.

Every year, millions of people resolve to lose weight. Every year, millions of people fail to follow through on their resolution. Why? Simple. They didn’t ask…

WHY?

A simple question. Just 3 little letters…that make a BIG difference.

Most people dive into a weight loss program without first answering this question. They begin exercising, eating plenty of fruits and veggies, give up that evil chocolate and those hip widening chips. Doing all the things they’ve been told to do.

But about six weeks later, something happens to challenge their resolve. It could be a party, an illness or a vacation. Whatever the disruption, without a list of strong reasons for not eating that cheesecake, or for getting to the gym when they don’t fee like it, they return to their old, familiar ways.

If they had first taken the time to create a list of strong, meaningful reasons for wanting to lose weight, their resolve would have been much stronger and they would have been more likely to stay with their weight loss program.

So if you’ve tried and failed to shed those unwanted pounds and keep them off, try this simple but powerful exercise the next time you need a boost of weight loss motivation.

To get the most out of this exercise, pick a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. All you need is a pad of paper and a pen. Are you ready? Great, let’s begin.

Step 1: Write Down Your Goal.

If you haven’t already done so, go back and do it now!

Step 2: Ask yourself, “Why?”

Look at the goal you have written down and ask yourself why you want it to become reality? Write out as many reasons as you can think of. Here’s some to get you started…

Is it to…

• Finally look great in a bathing suit?
• Be able to see your toes when look down?
• Have the energy to keep up with your kids or grand-kids?
• Get off those blood pressure pills?
• Lower your cholesterol?
• Ensure that you are around to see your child or children get married?
• Make menopause more bearable?
• Feel proud to step out onto a beach?
• Get paid what you are worth? (Statistics show overweight people earn less money on average than fit people)
• Attract the man/woman of your dreams?

Step 3: Ask “So What?”

I’ve got to thank Ken Evoy of SiteSell.com for this technique. While he uses it to create effective sales letters for online merchants, it struck me how effective this technique is for strengthening one’s weight loss goals.

To use the “So What?” technique, take one of your reasons from Step 2 and ask, “So What?”. Write down an answer. Then for that answer, ask “So What?” again. And so on.

Alternatively, you could ask, “Why is this important to me?” or “How will I benefit from it?”. Let’s take, for example, the statement that says…

“I’ll be able to keep up with my kids.”

When I ask “So What?”, the first answer that comes to me is…

“So we’ll be able to spend a lot of quality time together.”

Then, when I ask why it’s important that I’m able to send qualtiy time together, I get…

“So they’ll I’m there for them.”

And if I were to continue this pattern, it might look like this…

• So What?: So they’ll grow up and be well-adjusted, happy people.
• So What?: So they’ll see me as a “fun” parent.
• So What?: So we’ll form a bond that lasts a lifetime.

When you can’t answer the “So What?” question anymore you have come to the end. Simply move onto the next reason on your list and begin again.

If your reasons are strong enough for doing something, you’ll move mountains to do it. The purpose of doing this exercise is to create a long list of emotion-based reasons for doing what you need to do to reach your weight loss goals. It’s this list of reasons that will provide you with the weight loss motivation to get you through the most challenging of times and help you get back on your program should you lose your way.

If you missed it, you can read Part I here.

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.