Good morning, friends! I hope you had a splendid weekend.

I was up in Vail for the GoPro Games, and had so much fun within 48 hours, but I brought so much inspiration and impetus to get ish done back with me.

Let’s just say, I gots new goals. #crypticblog

We’ve talked a lot about goals here on the blog and my other social media platforms, and if you’ve ever participated in one of my boot camps, we’ve really dived deep into goal setting.

Today I want to talk not about goal setting, but goal reaching.

I’m not an overly emotional person, per say, but I do have emotional reactions to certain situations – just as anyone else. However, if we let this emotion – this reaction – be the basis for how we handle every situation, our life circumstances would be nothing but the result of rash, emotionally-charged decisions – or worse, indecision. In other words, it’d be chaos.

Think about this scenario; you’ve probably experienced something similar – I know I have:

You’re well into your fitness journey, and you’re on a program where you’re going to the gym a certain number of days each week. It’s been easy to make it to the gym for nearly every single workout because you’re loving your program, and it makes you excited. But then one day after work you get a call from your friend, who, during the conversation, says something offensive to you. Whether it’s about your gym routine, your family, or something else, it doesn’t matter, as it’s her issues, not yours.

But –  immediately after hearing her comment, you aren’t able to discern that quite yet. Your immediate reaction is that it hurt. You feel it first, and take it as a truth. Now you feel shameful or angry from her comment, and instead of continuing on to the gym, you decide to head home and maybe have a glass of wine.

So…maybe it wasn’t a friend’s phone call in your case. Maybe it was a bad-meeting-with-your-boss, or argument-with-your-co-worker, or maybe just a plain old stressful day. Whatever it is, it affects you negatively and you feel it. And you let that feeling change your action.

One common scenario that many of my clients deal with from time to time is when they’re out to dinner or happy hour with friends, and everyone orders high calorie adult beverages, greasy foods, etc. This person had a plan of ordering club soda and a healthy menu item, but all of the sudden they feel fear, masked in FOMO.

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When it comes time to order, they also find themselves ordering the beer, the burger, and the fries, too. It’s a quick relief as the fear dissipates, but then later, guilt or shame replaces that fear (which is likely only because fear was there first! Guilt or shame should never be in the same sentence as food or a meal, but is much more likely to when there’s an emotional attachment to eating and social gatherings surrounding food. But…that’s another post for another day.)

Whatever the situation, the important part is to not let your emotions about the situation determine your actions.

In fact, I believe most abandoned fitness and nutrition goals are a result of our emotions dictating our actions.

[Tweet “Many abandoned fitness goals are a results of emotions dictating actions”]

Think about the reasons in the past why you’ve abandoned either an exercise program, gym routine, or nutrition efforts, and if you think hard enough, they’re likely to stem from feelings of:

• Overwhelm
• Defeat
• Boredom
• Shame

The list goes on, but before you make that decision to stop going after your goals this time around – whether that decision is conscious or not – recognize those emotions. And it’s usually a repeated sequence of emotions that lead to abandonment of goals. We typically don’t just feel defeated on one occasion and quit; it’s after multiple feels of defeat.

[Tweet “3 Ways to Keep Emotions From Ruining Our Health + Fitness Goals”]

So, how do we keep our emotions in check, to keep our goals on track? It might not be as obvious as you think:

1. Learn to feel those feelings! In other words, recognize them as a feeling soon as they show up in the body. Then, pay attention to the thoughts or incidents that caused them. I know when I start to think those thoughts of “why am I even doing this?” Defeat will follow, and a cease of action will follow after that.

2. Realize that the thoughts that cause your feelings are nothing except a figment of your imagination – literally! You’re telling yourself a story – one that’s not likely true. While still acknowledging your emotional reaction, remember that’s all it is – a reaction to the story you’re telling yourself. This takes the merit away from those thoughts and feelings. It zaps the truth from them, because they’re not truths, they’re what you’re telling yourself is truth.

3. Move forward allowing your schedule and goals to determine your actions, rather than your emotions. Do this, and you might see results tomorrow. You might not. But you definitely wouldn’t if you let your emotions dictate your actions. The point is you’re pressing forward with your goals, and those actions items to get to those goals.

You’re still acknowledging and honoring those feelings you had – or may still have. You’re just not letting them rule you.

Obviously, these 3 steps can be done with any situation in life, but I like to apply it to our health and fitness because they’re so damn applicable here.

Do you have a hard time not letting emotions rule your actions?

When was the last time this happened to you?

On a non-fitness situation, this happens to me every time I don’t think it through and snap at my husband, which only leaves me feeling worse afterward!

[Tweet “On Goal Reaching: Don’t Let Your Emotions Dictate Your Actions – via @TrainerPaige #fitfluential”]

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