Your Big Idea for the Month

This is the fun part for some, the scary part for others.

What are you going to do this month that is really cool? You weren’t planning on doing anything cool or noteworthy? Well, I am glad you are reading this because your big idea will drive your lifestyle for the month. Just to give you a heads up,, as a member of M Factor Fitness, you will be receiving an email every month asking you what your Big Idea of the month is. The cool thing is that you can do something different every month or make it part of a quarterly or yearly goal.

What not to do.

Please don’t put a weight goal as your big idea. 

“I want to lose 5 pounds this month.”

This may be your goal but are you excited about it? Probably not and if you aren’t excited about it, it probably won’t happen. Instead, why not think up something that tickles your imagination and will lead to losing 5 pounds?

Examples:

• I am going to fit into this pair of jeans that is a size too small for me right now.
• I am going to walk for 30 days.
• I am going to train and run/walk my first 10K.
• I will get up a half hour earlier and workout 3 times a week.

You get the idea?

Here are my Big Ideas.

April- Complete the Beat the Heat Marathon for the second year and beat my previous time.

May- Set a Personal Record in Colfax Marathon.

June- Be able to do 20 consecutive Pull-ups.

July- Do 4 Spartan races in 2 weeks.

August- Complete first Spartan Trifecta in Snowmass.

September- Complete second Spartan Trifecta in Seattle.

October- Set Personal Record for the Bear Chase Half-marathon or if I am feeling it, go for the 50K.

My big ideas may not excite you but they excite me. The concept is that I have something that captures my imagination. For me, I like a mixture of fear and excitement. I know that if I don’t put in the work, I will  get my butt kicked by the race. I also know that in putting in the work, I will have the confidence to have a great adventure.

Note: I sign up for events at least 6 months in advance so I always have something on the calendar. Establishing a flow is very important. You don’t have to do one month at a time, you can plan out as far as you like.

Do the big thing, the by-products will follow.

Weight loss is a by-product of getting in shape. Just trying to lose weight is a lousy end game to play because once you reach it, what do you do? Most people gradually gain all the weight back because they don’t have a game plan. The beauty of the big idea is that you can build upon past successes and continue to grow both mentally and physically. Pick activities that excite you, train for them, do them and the weight loss will happen naturally.

Here is a worksheet for you.

Feel free to make this as complicated as you want but I like to keep mine pretty simple.