Here's your April edition of Kinsei-Do Fitness Nuggets, our monthly newsletter that serves you little bites of health & performance wisdom!
Enjoy!
Nugget of the Month
The Art of Setting Goals for Maximum Success
As we come to the end of the first third of 2023 - wait, what...wasn't it January 1st just a few days ago?! - I'm sure many of you will be thinking of the goals you had set for yourself four months ago. Perhaps you are one of the few who are still on track to achieving those goals, and are patiently and consistently chipping away at the obstacles and distractions that stand in the way of whatever change you want to make.
In that case, kudos to you! You're an inspiration and a role model, keep it going!
But if you are in the statistical majority, and have veered off course, don't despair. In today's edition of the Fitness Nuggets, I want to share with you the proven approach to setting goals for maximum success.
Setting goals can sometimes feel overwhelming, and it can be difficult to know where to start. That's where the method of breaking down goals into skills, skills into practices, and practices into little daily habits comes in.
This method involves breaking down larger goals into smaller, more manageable parts. By doing so, you can create a structure that makes it easier to achieve your goals, increases your likelihood of success, and improves adherence to your plans.
You create a clear structure that makes it easier to achieve your goals;
You are able to focus on smaller, more manageable tasks rather than getting overwhelmed by the larger goal;
You are able to build habits over time that become a natural part of your routine.
The first step in this process is to identify your goal. Once you have your goal in mind, you can start breaking it down into the specific skills you need to develop in order to achieve it. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, some skills you will need to master are controlling your energy intake (calories), making optimal food choices (whole foods instead of ultra-processed foods), regular strength training, cultivating good rest and recovery, etc.
Once you have identified the specific skills you need to develop, you can start breaking them down into smaller practices. The skill of controlling your energy intake might perhaps be broken down into practices such as calorie counting, or eating according to the hand portion system, or having a small salad as an appetizer, etc.
Finally, you can break these practices down even further into small daily habits. For example, you might commit to eating 2 fists of vegetables with every meal as a way of implementing the hand portion system practice.
Take Action
As you can see, this method offers several advantages:
It can be applied to any goal, not just health and fitness, but also career or personal development. By breaking down your goals into specific skills, practices, and habits, you can create a plan that is tailored to your unique needs and circumstances.
The method is flexible and adaptable. If you find that one of your practices or habits isn't working for you, you can easily adjust it or replace it with something else. This allows you to continually refine and improve your approach as you work towards your goals.
It allows you to create checklists (humans love checklists!), and tick off each day or each time you successfully complete the (daily) habit. This gives your brain that tiny little dopamine kick it needs to feel good and motivated, and eager to come back for more the next day, which is key to building consistency.
So, what goal are YOU trying to achieve? Rather than putting it on a post-it and sticking it on your bathroom mirror (and then getting frustrated when you see it each morning, and haven't made any progress toward it), can you break it down into skills, practices and habits?
Use this worksheet to help you structure your thoughts, or of course, contact me and let's talk through the process together!
Looking for YOUR input
I'm currently working with a designer to create a new, totally awesome Kinsei-Do Health & Performance T-Shirt, and I'm looking for your input to make it - in true Kinsei-Do fashion - the best that it can be!
We are down to these two designs, and I'd love to ask for your vote and feedback!
If you cast your vote (via email below), and leave me your size and address...you might soon find yourself in possession of one of these gems when the first production run comes out!
Option 1: Health, Happiness, High Performance (aka the Kinsei-Do mantra)
As regular readers of this newsletter will know, in the later half of 2021 and first half of 2022, I took and completed the Performance Coach certification by Hintsa Performance (the company whose coaches work with > 90% of all Formula 1 drivers, as well as other elite athletes and many corporate executives and leaders).
One of my mentors and courses facilitators was the incredible Heikki Huovinen (formerly himself the Performance Coach to none other than German F1 superstar Sebastian Vettel), and I learnt a great deal from his guidance and leadership throughout the course.
If you are someone who travels a lot, or has an irregular sleep schedule, or thinks you're good to go with 6 or less hours of proper sleep a night, you'll want to listen to this episode, and listen to Steven's insightful and practical tips.
What's Jo doing?
A few weeks ago, a friend pointed me to the work of Shirzad Chamin and his theory of Positive Intelligence.
As most of you will know by now, I love learning and growing my knowledge and skills in all things related to health, fitness and performance, so I was immediately intrigued by Shirzad's claim that Positive Intelligence could help me 10x the impact I could have on my clients.
As this edition of the Fitness Nuggets goes out, I'm currently in Week 3 (of 7) of the Positive Intelligence course, so all I can say so far is that the material resonates with me strongly, and is very interesting. But keep your eyes peeled, as I'm sure with the May or latest the June edition, I'll have many more insights to share!
Until then, as always, stay healthy and well!
Yours,
Coach Johannes
Enjoyed this edition of the Kinsei-Do 'Fitness Nuggets' newsletter? Then please let me know by email or direct message on Instagram or Facebook.
If you know any friends, colleagues or family members who will also enjoy and benefit from receiving these nuggets, just have them fill out this form and they'll receive the very next one!
