Are You On Track?

by Alwyn Cosgrove

So here we are again...Today marks the 25% point of the year. Sorry - it's not an April fools joke.

The entire first quarter of 2009 has already passed- we are now three months into 2009.
90 days are gone forever.

Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?

If you wanted to lose 20lbs this year - are you down 5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts - have you completed 62?
It's amazing how time passes so quickly. If you need a "do-over" then I'm going to give you one.

You can REDO your New Years Resolutions right now and get started all over again.

That's right - I'm letting you off the hook - but don't waste a single second.

If your goal is fat loss - start today
If your goal is muscle building - start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) - start TODAY !

25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....

I meet a lot of people in my job, and get a lot of questions via email. I'll talk to guys who track every single macronutrient that passes their lips, and have tried just about every program out there. When I ask them how things are going -- they'll tell me that it's great, or that the program is working well.

However, very few people actually measure and take stock of their efforts. If you are following a plan to lose fat - are you actually losing fat? And I mean at a rate that is acceptable for your efforts? Or are you blindly following a plan that doesn't work, and essentially ignoring that?

I know where my progress towards my goals stand because I measure it.

When I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant - the medical team took measurements of temperature, blood pressure and blood samples every 4 hours.

When we implement a marketing campaign at the gym -- we track the results. We know for example how many direct mail pieces we send out, the cost of each mailing, how many inquiries we get, how many appointments are made, and how many people join the gym as a result. We know exactly how effective the plan is, and whether the return we are seeing is worth the investment.

We can see that for $X invested, we receive a return of $Y. We need to know where our membership stands - our new members, renewals etc and when our busiest times are - everything is measured and tracked so we can continue to grow and serve our members.

If you remember "SMART" goal setting -- one of the keys is 'M' - Measurable.
Measure your results.

As we enter the second quarter of 2009, it's time to take stock of your efforts.
Has your current return been worth the investment?

Again -- 25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....

Don't waste a single second. Start TODAY.

Where will you be at the 50% point - July 1st ? That's 13 weeks away. Will you be 13 weeks leaner - will you be 13 weeks closer to your goals?

The time will pass anyway....