My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging. ~ Hank Aaron

Throughout history, sports figures have given us a plethora of motivational quotes to keep trying, not only on the field, but off it as well.

Hank Aaron was considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Yet according to his quote above, there were times when he felt badly, was in a slump, or he had trouble off the field.

How did he fix it?  The only thing to do was to keep swinging.

When looking back on 2013, there were ups and downs in everyone’s lives.  The economy continues to be poor; people losing their jobs; losing their loved ones; you name it. People were experiencing slumps, feeling badly, or having trouble off the field.

The only thing to do is to keep swinging.

Success to Failure Ratio

In baseball, if you are able to maintain a lifetime .350 batting average, you would have your own ticket to the Hall of Fame.

Have you ever stopped to realize this means a batter is only successful 35% of the time?

When trying to maintain your weight, do you feel your success to failure ratio is low?

• Maybe you wanted to get through the holidays without a deviation.
• Or maybe your planned menu you were so careful to pack was forgotten at home and you had to improvise.
• Or maybe the scale you packed to diligently monitor your progress was lost.

Always remember those who have been successful with maintenance are just like Hank Aaron … they experience the slumps, the feeling badly, or the trouble off the field … yet they get right back up and keep swinging.

Failures = Greatest Lessons?

In life, we will make many mistakes.  It’s inevitable.

However, these mistakes can be learning opportunities … they can shape us into who we are through trial and error.  By making mistakes, we learn what works and what doesn’t, and then hopefully we stop doing what doesn’t.

The mistakes we make today will become tomorrow’s good choices.

We cherish and remember successes because of the lessons and stories behind them.  When you are on a path to a goal, or dream, there will be bumps along the way. This will build character and teach us about perseverance.

When learning about your body, what it needs, what it wants, what makes it run optimally, are you learning from the mistakes or missteps you make along the way?

Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”?

If you change course when something isn’t working, you keep swinging.

Praise your Resilience

Being living creatures, we are resilient.  Can you imagine a lioness giving up every time she failed to make a kill?  Her pride would starve to death.

If we give up every time we experienced a slump, feeling badly, or trouble off the field, we would cease to grow and move forward.

You do have the ability to pick up the bat again and again and just swing … chances are you won’t hit it every time you swing, but if you just keep swinging, it will connect.

Just keep swinging.

2014

No matter what your 2013 was like … put it away … learn from the mistakes and move on.  Keep swinging.

A New Year is upon us – we have a chance to make things better than they were the year before.  We have a chance to hit that home run in this journey we call life.

Let’s all make 2014 the year we successfully hit that line drive:

• Success in weight control
• Success in health control
• Success in emotional control
• Success in physical control
• Success in financial control

What will you strive for in 2014?

Give Me 10 Minutes

At the end of every year (for the past 6 years), I have performed this little exercise with my readers.  It’s fun; it’s interactive; and it helps focus on things you WILL be able to do in 2014; if you just keep swinging.

Set your stop watch for ten minutes. Next, list everything you KNOW and dream you will be able to do in this next year (even if you won’t have a chance to get them done) … Things weight related you just didn’t want to do, couldn’t do, or were next to impossible to do.

These are the rules:

• Start each statement with “I am so happy and grateful now that…” (for example, “I am so happy and grateful now that I am able to run 5 miles.”).
• Spend only TEN MINUTES (set that timer).
• Let your mind run wild. Be whimsical, be realistic, it doesn’t matter. (Belly dancing?  The Crane Pose in yoga?  Going on the Intimidator 305?  Bungee jumping?)
• Concentrate on things you couldn’t do before, but will be able to when weight isn’t an issue.

If you care to share; please do so in the comments below.

There are many ways to KEEP SWINGING in 2014 with Happily Thinner After.

• Why not journal at HTA?
• Join Boot Camp
• Consider a Group Coaching Option (starts on January 6, 2014)
• Try 1:1 Coaching

Let’s say goodbye to 2013 and make 2014 the year we climb out of our slump and play ball!