95% of New Year’s Fitness resolutions have already failed by now. Whether you are one of them or not, don’t despair…there is still a way to win. Fitness and weight-loss goals are hard to reach or sustain for many reasons. But just because something didn’t work doesn’t mean we quit. We just have to find a different way. The same is true in our lives. Just because we go off course, it doesn’t mean failure. We can correct our course and still end up where we want to be. We simply have to accept the responsibility of control and NOT make excuses! This is true for our health, our fitness, our safety, our finances, our relationships and our life in general!
February usually brings to mind two things: Valentine’s Day and “Black History Month”. I suppose we could go over goal setting as it relates to romance and how I married out of my league, but a more interesting idea would be to challenge you to do some additional reading. When we educate ourselves and learn from history and other great leaders, that we can apply lessons to our own life, draw inspiration and gain greater understanding of our others. The first leader people relate to “Black History Month” is Martin Luther King Jr. who is worthy of many articles. However, I’d like to point out a few people who may be slightly lesser known, but you will find as incredible leaders who fought through their own setbacks and took the responsibility to accomplish their goals by making changes and not excuses. Though “Black History Month” originated from a selection of the second week of February marking the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, there were other very significant people in history connected to February. Look up the following leaders and find out more about them and their connection to the month of February:
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. DuBois, Hiram R. Revels
Then, for extra credit, look up events from Feb. 3, 1870, Woolworth’s February 1960, and then NAACP New York February 1909.
Read about these people and significant events in history. Now some may question what this has to do with goal setting and achievement. It’s very simple– these leaders in history had to overcome major setbacks, losses, injustice and an unending list of challenges—yet they achieved, they set goals and met them. They did not make excuses or blow off their goals to “next year”. So, the next time you feel tired and aren’t sure if you want to go workout or aren’t sure if you can stick to skipping a few pieces of cake, think about what some of these leaders accomplished and it kind of puts things in perspective when it comes to making excuses. We can all achieve great things, but it takes determination, a willingness to make changes and a decision to take control over your life and the goals you will accomplish.
For more information on Health, Fitness and Safety, email Jeff Dousharm at Jeff@paradigmimpactgroup.com