First off, I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day. I hope it was filled with great food, great drinks, and wonderful relaxation to be with family or friends. With summer of ’09 now behind us, we can look forward to really taking strides towards out fitness goals….right?

Of course you want to say, “YES! Let’s do it! I’ll put in a ton of time and effort and sacrifice so I can have the body I want RIGHT FLIPPIN’ NOW!” However, I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’re just like me. You’re probably not a bodybuilder or a fitness model. You’re a regular guy or gal, and you’re in a world full or regular guys and gals who want to get in a decent shape to look good, and live a happy, full, life. So, what are regular guys and gals truly thinking about this time of year?

“Wait! It’s fall and now I have to take care of the leaves in the yard, and make sure the kids are doing good in school, and Halloween’s coming up and I got to get candy and costumes, and after that is Thanksgiving with all the food I have to prepare, and then gorge myself with, and then we have the holiday season so I have to fight to get the gifts I want for my family, only leading up to New Years where they’re parties and drinks and…” we can go on and on, can’t we?

Now, I’m not saying DON’T do those activities. My point is that we all have things in our lives that will get in the way. All the things I mentioned are only things that I can predict happen to many American families. What if you’re a step beyond the norm? What if you’re an executive of a company, or a mother of 10 kids, or have a crazy hobby? Add THOSE things to the run-on paragraph of what’s to come and it can be overwhelming!

Just think about it for a second? Have you ever been so gung-ho about reaching a goal, any goal, only to find yourself derailed by “life”? Next thing you know, it’s been months since you thought about your set goal, and you look back disappointed that you lost all that time. The easiest example of this is the New Year’s Resolution. You have a goal that you start January 1^st, only to get derailed by everything that can happen over the course of 12 months!

So what can we do to prevent the same jinx year in and year out? Simply give yourself time to regroup.

Regrouping in life is incredibly powerful. It works just like a military or combat regroup. Imagine you’re a military general. Troops are scattered, everyone’s confused and things around you are too chaotic. Keep up this pattern and the enemy overwhelms you. So you, as the general, you order your troops to pull back and regroup, so you can better prepare yourself for the next battle. You’re stronger, more fortified, more organized, and can battle much more efficiently.

Back to real life, it works exactly the same way. You take some time out of your busy schedule, maybe an hour every month, and take a look at where you are with your fitness goals, and what the situation is around you. You make a plan that integrates into your life, and you take action. The important step here is taking a good look at what’s going on in your life right now, and what can you predict will happen in the next 3 months. That way, you can adapt to life, make key decisions, prepare for what’s to come, and maximize your time and efforts.

So, as an example, you have ‘ABC’ fitness goal, and you can look ahead in your calendar, and see that your next regroup is the middle of October. What’s going on right now? Well I have such and such project I’m doing at school or work. I have commitments here and there I have to adhere to. With those in mind, what can I do with the time that I have? Knowing how much time is available towards your fitness goals is essential, that way you can plan your workouts and eating habits accordingly (I’ll have more about goal setting and fitness planning in future blogs, so stay tuned). You may be asking yourself, “what if something unexpected comes around?” Well, because you better prepared for what you EXPECTED to come and have already adapted to those situations, the unexpected situations won’t have the power to throw off all your progress. They will be little bumps in the road you can get around. Next thing you know, you’re back on track.

That’s all there is to it. Commit to yourself one hour each month to see where you’re at, see where you want to be, and see what’s coming. Then make a plan, and take action. You can live your life one of two ways. You can either live in a ‘reactive’ mode, where you have to constantly be on the defensive and react to everything that comes your way, or you can live in a ‘proactive’ mode, where you can accept that life will happen, plan for it, and find a way to still succeed.