Why not today?

As many of you know, Tom Venuto is my BFF... or would be if we ever met. ;) I'm one of those people who could write the typical "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, and later, the Body Fat Solution, changed my life!" testimonial... Because really, it did.

Granted, seeds that were sown from that book were planted on very fertile ground - I was READY for change. I had been in the PROCESS of removing limiting beliefs, mental blocks, nutritional and physical barriers. When I read the book(s), it was like finding the final piece of the puzzle that I'd been looking for.

And he keeps supplying those puzzle pieces through his amazing blog posts.

I did a sort of happy dance with his most recent blog entry as well. He's not only smart enough NOT to write yet another "how to survive the holidays" article, because really, do we NEED another one?! NO! No we don't.

In fact I'll give you the only tip you need to "survive" any special occasion that comes your way: Be committed to, and take dedicated action steps every day toward your goals. When the special occasion comes along, you can freely enjoy the heck out of the _moment_, and dive back into action when the moment has passed.

::ahem::

Anyway, the awesome thing about Tom's latest article is that he talks about not just surviving but THRIVING during the upcoming season.

This came just as I hit the 1/2 way point in my current 12-week cycle which will finish up right around the start of 2010 (OMG can you believe it's almost 2010?!?!?). My goal by the end of this 12 weeks is to be in the low 140's/high 130's, further reduce my body fat, and do that unassisted pull up that seems to be mocking me every time I attempt it. Is that asking too much? I don't think so.

If I were to listen to/believe the people around me, it would seem like a crazy, insurmountable, impossible task.

I've already been hearing the comments of people at work bemoaning the fact that there's "goodies" everywhere (actually, there's the same amount as usual) and "I'm sure it'll get worse!" (yep, probably. Especially if that's what you're looking for.)

I'm so grateful for head phones so I don't have to listen to most of what goes on around me! LOL!

There's "reverse goal setting" (as Tom refers to it in the above article) galore all around. Focusing on what you want to avoid rather than what you want. Writing off the next 45 days in their entirety as a failure rather than taking some action to keep the momentum going. Hoping to just tread water rather than make the swim for shore.

Why? At the root of it all, the reason is simple: FEAR. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of hurting people's feelings, fear of drawing attention to yourself, fear of letting yourself/other people down, etc.

(Here's another great article/resource that goes into more detail about this.)

The question is: Will you take the challenge to use this time to create a better you - starting small, taking a baby step to focusing on _one_ small behavioral change rather than turning your entie world upside down... or will you wait till New Years. Again.

I, for one, believe you're better than that.

Give yourself a small gift every day - the gift of believing in yourself as much as I believe in you!