You’re ready to take it to the next level, but where do you start?
I have been working on my Chartered Professional Accounting designation for a while now and in my most recent course, Performance Management, organizational behavior was consistently analyzed to determine whether organizations were operating in alignment with their vision, mission and values to ensure that even small decisions were contributing to the overall objectives of the company.
And now that I’ve finished the CPA courses and am working towards the Menopause Coaching Specialist Certification from Girls Gone Strong, I was interested to see that the cert recommended that fitness clients create vision statements to kick off their fitness journeys. What a great idea!
As we approach a new chapter in our lives, it serves us well to pause and evaluate where we are now in our fitness journey and where we want to be this time next year.
Vision Statement
In this business that is your life, you must have a clear vision of your ideal future, otherwise how will you know which steps to take to get there?
When you think of your ideal physical condition, what do you see? Try this: go to ChatGPT and at the prompt, enter, “Write a one sentence personal fitness vision statement that describes a person who is…” enter a list of words or phrases that describes your ideal physical state.
- lithe, strong, flexible, glowing, healthy
The program isn’t perfect and what you get may not be what you want, however you can take what it gives you and edit it to suit your vision. You can also endlessly ask for rewrites.
My Vision
By making mindful nutrition choices and embracing a longevity-focused lifestyle, my vision is to embody a radiant vitality that extends beyond mere physical fitness to encompass holistic health and overall well-being
Next, write out why it’s important for you to make your vision a reality.
It’s important to me to achieve optimum health and fitness and maintain my body the best I can for the same reason I would maintain any valuable asset. I only have one body in this life and I want to keep it functioning as well as I can.
Now that you have visualized your ideal physical condition one year from now, imagine what your life will be like if you stay the same, or if your condition becomes worse than it is now. What would your teenaged self think about your current physical state? Write it out.
If I continue on the path I am now, I will eventually become overweight and I will not be comfortable in my own body. I’ll hate looking in the mirror, I’ll have to buy larger clothes and I will have more health problems. My lack of care for my body will cause me to get fatter and deteriorate more and more each year, and no one will say anything but I will know that I’ve given up on myself.
I’m not judging people who choose to gain weight and not take care of their bodies, I am just saying that’s not what I want for my life. Will the consequence of doing nothing make you happy? If not, that is more incentive to continue forward.
Mission Statement
Your vision states which version of yourself you want to be one year from now, but your mission states what you will do to get there.
What activities will you do? I like to do yoga, run and lift weights for fitness and I try to eat healthy. To achieve my vision, I have to behave like a person who lives that vision every day; we become our habits.
Mission
In my fitness journey, I am building a version of myself that embodies lithe grace, boundless energy, and formidable strength, harmonizing the power of weight lifting, the flexibility of yoga, and the cardiovascular endurance of running.
With a commitment to optimal nutrition, my vision extends beyond physical prowess to include a holistic approach aimed at longevity and vibrant health. Through the synergy of these elements, I am forging a resilient and dynamic lifestyle that not only fulfills my immediate fitness goals but sets the foundation for a lifetime of well-being.
Values
What are your values for fitness? Creating a list of your values will help to align your choices with your mission and vision.
- consistency
- empathy towards myself
- perseverance
- fresh start every day
- nourishing myself with nutrient-dense foods
- self-care
- health-focused
Your values should guide the way you approach your fitness journey. For example, if you depend on motivation, when you’re tired or sad, you may skip the gym. But if you depend on consistency and perseverance, you will keep going because you know that in exercising and eating well, you’re caring for yourself.
Objectives
To accomplish my mission, I have to identify the individual goals that will get me there. Most people just have one focus: lose body fat; but to accomplish that, a number of small goals should be outlined to set you up for success. I recommend S.M.A.R.T. goals:
- Specific: exactly what do you want to accomplish?
- Measurable: how will you know if you’ve succeeded?
- Achievable: you should aim for something within reach
- Relevant: how does the goal align with mission and vision
- Timely: when will you achieve your goal?
My vision includes “making mindful nutrition choices and embracing a longevity-focused lifestyle”.
My mission includes: “harmonizing the power of weight lifting, the flexibility of yoga, and the cardiovascular endurance of running.”
My Objectives
- Lift weights three times per week. Weightlifting is important to build muscle mass, which deteriorates as we age. Lean muscle mass increases metabolism, which burns body fat and improves physical appearance.
- Run on the trail up to twice per week, with HIIT once per week. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death. Cardiovascular health improves longevity and overall health.
- Vinyasa up to three times per week. My body stiffens with weightlifting and I want to maintain flexibility and embrace the peacefulness of yoga as a stress release to obtain overall physical balance.
- Meal prep on the day before I work in the office. Use the Weight Watchers app with a focus on zero points foods, but enough to fuel my training as well. Ensuring nutritional needs are met will decrease burnout and improve overall physical health and appearance.
- Sleep 8 hours per night. Lack of sleep increases cortisol and fat retention. Sufficient sleep increases the quality of daily experiences by improving mood and energy.
- Mindfulness breaks every 3 hours during the day. This decreases the build up of stress, which could lead to an increase in cortisol and sleep deprivation. I like to do deep breathing exercises using Saje essential oils from the Pocket Farmacy: Mindful Edition rubbed between my palms and held to my face to soothe my nervous system. It’s nice to listen to affirmations as well. You can find Self-love Affirmation playlists on Spotify with 2-3 minute long affirmations.
My objectives / goals are based on my personal schedule and preferences. I won’t hit every workout every week but since I have broken down what I want to do, at the first of the week, I can plan my training schedule around my work schedule and do what I can.
We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to be consistent. 1% better every day adds up.
Recommended reading: Nail a PR at Every Phase of your Menstrual Cycle
Performance Measures
The reality is, not much is going to happen in the first month as far as measurements and weight loss. Depending on your vision, performance measures could be:
- Average hours of sleep per night
- Heart rate variance and recovery score
- Number of days per week you’re hitting the gym
- Number of meals per day that are clean. I find Weight Watchers is the best to track diet because it has a really cool points system that measures food based on how it nourishes your body rather than just calories.
- Run times. Are you getting faster?
- Weight lifting progression. Are you gaining strength?
- Weight and inches: are you losing weight or inches?
You should develop measures that are relative to your objectives and that will help you to stay on track, or to pivot if you’re not progressing towards your vision.
It Takes Time
Changing your lifestyle takes time and it’s important to have empathy for yourself. You may find that despite your best efforts, you see zero results for the first month! Although it’s frustrating, if you are eating well and exercising, you are still increasing your health and longevity, even though you’re not seeing it in the mirror right away. I personally don’t see any changes for at least a month when I begin something new.
If you continue to struggle, I recommend finding a coach to develop a training plan specific to your vision, mission and values. Best of luck on your fitness journey!
Want more? Check out my favorite training gear!
Ageless Optimization 