Wednesday 2 January 2013

Goals for 2013, what's yours?

 Firstly I hope everyone has had a good Christmas, spent lots of time with friends and family and ate amazing food without feeling too guilty.


With 2013 under way I just thought I’d right a little something looking back on 2012 and focusing on 2013. I can imagine around this time of the year most people are thinking of new year resolutions that they’ll try and stick to in order to better themselves in the new year.

So how was 2012 for you? Did you stick to the new years resolutions that you set? Did you achieve all the goals you set, whether they’re related to fitness, work life or personal life? After reading this article spend a few minutes thinking back through 2012 and ask yourself “what did I get out of this year?” This particular question is something that you could really get into a good habit of asking yourself, “what did I get out of this month? This week? This day?”



This then brings me on to the subject of setting goals, around 2 years ago I stopped making new years resolutions and started setting goals, prioritising them and giving them deadlines. For example, a goal I’ve had every year as I’m sure many people have is to save money, easy right? It’s just saving money, putting a bit away each week/month. However what if you were to set an amount with a deadline, £5,000 by December? Then you can work out exactly how much you need to put away each week/month. Or what if it’s to spend on something in particular, like a new car/house/holiday? When I started my new job 2 years ago I printed off a picture of an Audi A3 and stuck it to my computer screen, seeing that everyday motivated me to work harder so I could earn better commission and 5 month later I pulled up in the car park in an Audi A3 with more extras that I could imagine.



Thinking and working this way will help you reach your goals a lot quicker, guaranteed. A close friend of mine and gym partner, Stuart mentioned something to me around September time last  year. Come half way through the year look back at what goals you have set and see how far away you are from achieve them. By reassessing your goals and progress so far, it will help keep you on track and also re-motivate you for the remainder of the year, and if you've already achieved your goals you can always set new ones.



As you can see I’m aiming to compete within the UKBFF Men’s Physique class in 2013 and I've put together my diet and training plan with a few close friends that we’re all taking part in, but I’ll talk about my contest prep in more detail later in January. I’m also in the process of launching the AestheticLifestyle web site in the New Year and possibly a YouTube channel to document my prep.

To help keep me focused on my goals both in and out of the gym I refer back to two things I was told when I was younger-

Fitness/Sports related:
“Don’t cheat, your only cheating yourself” My Dad told me this when I use to cheat at doing press ups and sit ups in the living room.

Work related:
“Would you be doing this now if you were your own boss?” An old manager of mine cemented this into my head as from an early age I could get easily distracted so thinking like this helps me use my time more efficiently whilst I’m in work.

Finally I just want to say thank you and shout out to Nathan Warburton, Craig Briscall, Dan Wheeler, Craig Dickinson and Bleddyn Escott who have helped motivate me throughout 2012 and all have the exact same love for fitness and a healthier lifestyle. Also a huge thank you in particular to Stuart Rogers, my gym partner who helps push me to the next level and has also be a really good friend for years and has always been there for me, cheers mate.



For updates and motivation to help you throughout 2013, Like the AestheticLifestyle Facebook page and follow on Twitter.