The (Un) Attainable Goal

​‘Lose weight’ is usually on the list of unattainable goals, especially as it will be no time before you will need to be baring your body on the beaches. You sigh; you have been here so many times before. Your weight story is a rollercoaster ride and your wardrobe shows this as well.
 
This year - 2017 (mark it in your diary) is different!
This year you have discovered Mind Chi.
This year you have the opportunity to make a life change for the better and save yourself from wasting all that time and money with futile actions.

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I am using the example of weight loss; however, the same principles apply to any goal.
What would you like to achieve? What do you think is within the realm of possible and for you seems unattainable?  Stay tuned, I will show you one way to make that goal attainable!
 
Introducing Mind Chi - this is an 8-minute a day program that can give you the reins of self-control; allowing you to overcome problem areas or achieve goals for greater overall success and fulfilment in business and life. In the book ‘Mind Chi’ we cover 50 such areas for personal and professional application.
 
Your Mind Chi Basic 8-minute program ( http://www.mindchi.com/mind-chi-basic-8-steps/  ) takes 28 days to create the cornerstone of your new habit, after this you can advance to Mind Chi in Action where you address a specific topic or issue, such as ‘Achieving Your Perfect Size!’ It is still ONLY 8-minutes a day, however, now they are focused on your desired outcome. You are literally rewiring your brain for success with this goal.
 
Mind Chi in Action
For example: Mind Chi Goal - To be my perfect size
Mind Chi Meme - ‘I choose to be my perfect size’ or ‘I choose my size’
 
Your Goal:
The creation of your goal – this must be carefully thought about, often it is easier for people to think of what they DON’T want and this might be a place to start. However, your brain cannot do a negative, for example if I say, “Do NOT think of a pink hippopotamus dressed in a yellow ballet tutu!” What do you have in your mind right now? And if you painted him blue, you know he really is pink! Your brain cannot do a negative, it gives the opposite effect than the one desired. How many people say things such as, “I don’t want to go into that water hole over there!” Or, “We don’t want to become bankrupt” or “Don’t let him beat you!” or “Don’t forget the milk!” The picture in your head is exactly what you don’t want to happen, so the likelihood of what you don’t want happening is very high.
 
In the weight loss situation, please note that we very carefully did NOT call this strategy ‘Become Slimmer’ or ‘Lose Weight’ because those may have an unfortunate result of anorexia, where does ‘Lose weight’ end? That is not what you (or we) want.
 
Creating your goal needs to be:

1. The end result you actually desire
2. Stated in the positive
3. Measurable – so you know you are there
4. Something that you are able to attain
5. With a live-line that is reasonable (who wants to work to a dead-line?)
6. Fuelled with some passion about it
7. Where you will receive some positive outcomes
8. That there is a reward (even if you give it to yourself) for completion.

 
Back to our example of the perfect size:
Numerous things can affect your ‘perfect’ size. It does not stay constant throughout your life. Only a very small proportion of people are overweight because of disease or the side-effects of medicines. Recent research (although this science is still very young) has NOT been able to prove a ‘fat gene’ only that the reason people are overweight is because of their lifestyle. Nurture plays a very strong inducer to overweight, far more than nature.
 
There are three main factors to consider:
1.      What you put into your body;    
2.      What you do with your body and
3.      Your Mind Chi direction.
 
Let’s look at each of those:
 
1.   What you put into your body
 ·        Develop ‘delayed gratification’. If you keep busy, or do something physical, you will often find that your ‘hunger’ disappears!
·        Help yourself by using a small plate (especially at ‘all you can eat’ restaurants!)
A simple rule is eating 20 per cent less for every 20s of your life – if you are maintaining the original level of activity.
 
2.   What you do with your body
·        Just as longer car journeys use more petrol, so too the more active you are, the more calories you burn. If you want to eat that doughnut, you must walk fast for 1 hour to burn it off! (Now THAT may make you think twice!)
·        The ONLY way to lose weight is to burn MORE calories than you eat. That is it!
 
 3.   Your Mind Chi direction
·        Your motivation to overeat is complex, as ‘hunger’ is often a ruse feeling for missing love, attention, satisfaction or confidence. The ‘hunger’ is momentarily satiated by food, (drugs, nicotine or alcohol) but the subsequent ‘low’ afterwards, requires you to crave MORE the next time. That causes a very negative downward spiral. Becoming aware of what is really happening is already a big step in the right direction.
·        It is very important that you use moderation and still enjoy life! So, if it is your birthday, have that ONE piece of cake and plan to run a bit further the following evening. Keep flexible and at the same time, steadfast in your direction.


Here is a map showing the transition applied to ‘Perfect Size’:

​To make any new habit and attain that new goal:
1.      This will be a habit that you will want to review to make permanent.
Historically we may do well initially and just about the time we start to relax – oops, slipped back. Be gentle with yourself, remember that you have started and pick up from where you were.
2.      You are changing your whole lifestyle and many traps wait to pull you back. You may wish to do another 28 days or certainly to hit the ‘spaced repetition’ reminders. Spaced repetition says that for your brain to make permanent it needs to review after a week; month and 3 months, put it in your diary to refresh and redo!
3.      If you have achieved your goal of your perfect size, or any other, then have a celebration, take a good friend as you go to purchase your new outfit, or whatever fits the occasion.
4.      Nearly all goals require a bit of effort and the more deeply entrenched they are the longer you need to turn that battleship round. For example, our achieving your Perfect Size’ is one of the more difficult of the strategies. You may have been on a diet ‘rollercoaster’ for years. The difference with Mind Chi is that it provides you with brain-friendly tools to succeed. You logically understand the brain process to be used to make a lasting difference. You know that what you put in must be burned off and you have the mental constructs, with the aid of your inner chatting, to shift your thinking and way of being. Be supportive of yourself, but if the goal remains the same, keep working and you WILL achieve.
5.      When (notice the use of ‘when’ not ‘if’) you have achieved this strategy, you will know that you have the volition to succeed and that you can achieve any goal you wish. This is one of the best feelings you can experience.
 
Knowing you can trust your volition to serve you well
is a heady experience.
 
 
Your Mind Chi Meme:
 
A meme is a phrase or thought that you have over and over in your head. Sadly, when you tune in to what is going on your head, you may find, like most people that it is not too positive. The good news is that it is like a muscle and can be trained to be a positive force in your own life. You might wish to create that sentence and consciously rehearse and repeat it until it is running through your head as easily as the negative ones used to. Your brain is really helped by having your positive meme running as much as possible, it alerts your mind at a para-conscious level to watch out for and take advantage of any things that might help you attain your goal.
 
 
Your Realistically Positive Warrior,
 
Vanda