“There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.” – Napoleon Hill
Part 1 of this series, Health Fitness Guide – Thoughts, the Foundation for all Health and Fitness, covered the importance of thoughts. Thoughts being the foundation for all health and fitness. The next step in achieving your health or fitness goals is desire.
You must have an intense, burning desire to achieve your health or fitness goals. You’ve got to be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your goal. If not, you’ll never reach your goal. It’s that simple.
People think there’s some magic formula for people who achieve their goals but there isn’t. They’re people just like you and me but with one crucial difference. They’ve decided they’re going to do whatever it takes for however long it requires to achieve their goals. After making that commitment, it becomes a simple matter of persistence over time using techniques that become habit and therefore automatic.
Wishing will not accomplish a goal. But desiring that goal with a state of mind that becomes an obsession then planning definite ways and means to accomplish that goal, and backing those plans with dogged persistence which does not recognize failure will accomplish your goal.
There are six basic steps to turn your desires into reality:
Fix clearly in your mind exactly what health goal you desire. Be definite as to the goal. For example, “I weigh xxx pounds by the end of six months.”
Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for achieving your goal. You can’t get something for nothing. You must determine what you’re going to give up to reach your goal.
Establish a definite date when you intend to achieve your goal. You need to have a specific time frame for when you’ll accomplish your goal.
Create a definite plan on paper for carrying out your goal and begin at once. It doesn’t matter whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action at once and correct as you go.
Write out a clear, concise statement of the goal you intend to achieve, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for achieving the goal, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to achieve it.
Read your written statement aloud twice daily; once before going to bed at night and once after waking in the morning. As you read, see and feel and believe yourself already achieving your goal.
These six steps require no great effort, no specialized education, no minimum income, only an intense desire to set and achieve your goal. However, the successful application of these steps does require you to understand that good health and fitness can not be left to chance. You must first realize that those people who’ve already achieved a high level of health or fitness from a lower level did so through wishing, desiring, and planning before they reached their goal. There is one quality that you must posses to reach your goal. As Napoleon Hill put it, you must have
“…definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what you want and a burning desire to posses it.”
In the attainment of your health goals, let no one dissuade you from your path. If the goal you wish to accomplish is right for you, and you believe it, push forward with every effort regardless of temporary setbacks.
Thomas Edison, in his pursuit of the electric light bulb, made more than ten thousand attempts before he was successful. Where would we be today if he had stopped at his five hundredth attempt?
Fuel for your desire is keeping in mind the fact that no one is defeated until defeat has been accepted as reality. And where does this defeat take place? In the one location where all your reality starts; your mind. If you accept no defeat through a burning desire, you must accomplish your goal.
How can you harness the awesome power of desire? Through faith, the visualization and a deep seated belief in the attainment of desire. Faith will be covered in the next part of this series.
Goal powered fitness is a bi-weekly newsletter for the setting and achieving of personal goals in all areas of fitness for both men and women offering the latest tips, programs, and advice with step-by-step how to articles.
