In the earlier, younger, days of my fanatical fitness regime for the team sports that I was playing, where at my worst point I would train 3 times a day, which usually included 2 runs of at least 5 or 7 km, I had the mental approach of always running as hard as possible to try and beat my best time, always.  When I started running longer distances, my first ever road run being a 16 km race, I had great difficulty trying to slow myself down in the starting few kilometres and, I would never stop during the run. I was still doing this when I ran my first marathon in 1985, and to show you how crazy I was in those days, I went straight from the finish line to go and play a cricket match where my team was playing in the end of season one-day final.

And then I learned two very valuable lessons that have benefited me greatly over the years and will benefit everyone greatly.  When I started doing triathlons my first training programme consisted of 12 training sessions a week, 3 swims, 3 runs, 3 cycles, and 3 strength training, each of those 3 sessions was split into a slow (easy), medium, and hard (fast).  A new way of training for me, and it made a massive difference to my performance, but I still wasn’t being very good at a third crucial and often very underrated and component of any training programme – recovery (more about this later).

The second lesson that I learned happened when I started to make the move away from triathlons to longer distance running, and to trail running – how to walk properly.  In the beginning, this irritated me greatly. I was a much faster runner than these long distance plodders and slow coaches because all my running had been short distance and for team sports.  We would run about 10 km, easy peasy, and then they would all stop at a water tap and loiter for a while, and then walk a bit. This was totally foreign to me. But then I learned the hard way, when I ran the 56 km Two Oceans Ultra, and about 10 km from the finish I found that I could only walk. It was only that magical part of all races, the cheering and applauding crowds at the end, and downright pride, that had the necessary effect and I managed to trot the last few km to the finish line.  The lesson being, and I have never forgotten this – learn to plan when you will walk before it gets to the stage where you walk because you have to. A tip for new runners and novice marathon runners – walk at least every second water table.

When doing a desert run in extreme heat conditions, and running over a marathon every day for 5 days carrying a backpack of a few kilogrammes, this is an essential part of your make up.  It is not advisable to try and run the entire distance without some breaks, and even unwise to try to do so. And now having said that, and remember that I said earlier on that often we don’t know what we don’t know, here’s an interesting experience that I had whilst running certain sections of the Namib desert.  I discovered that if I stood still then the temperature hitting my body started to feel as if it was doubling. The temperature of the air around me was 38 degrees but then if I stood still this heat bounced back off the earth that I was standing on and it became even more unbearably hot. So in order to generate some air and some form of cooling on my body, I had to keep moving, and walking wasn’t good enough, I had to run to cool myself down.

And then there’s the most important factor, aside from the cooling requirement in the desert, regarding the need to factor in and plan where and when you will walk.  And this comes back to that number one requirement to succeed in endurance events, the mind.

More on this and the reason for keeping record of time rather than distance (mentioned in the last blog) in the next blog.

Jon O’Hanlon

One of the problems that everyone faces in life is that we don’t know what we don’t know.  There are quite a few ways that this can be, and is, overcome. Self-confidence, gritting one’s teeth, endurance, and the determination not to give up are a few.  I have also seen though, and especially with an unknown like running in the desert, where the daily temperature was 37 degrees Celsius, and for the most part you are running on your own without a soul in sight, anywhere, for hour upon hour, that this lack of being prepared makes it easy to throw in the towel.  Or perhaps I should say, provides you with the justification you need to allow yourself to give up.

Many people will now be saying, but how is it possible to be prepared for something if it is unknown?  In the answer to that question lies the key, and most important factor necessary to be able to successfully participate in endurance and extreme events.  This answer is also the key factor for all people to lead successful and happy lives. It is far more important that you train your mind than your body. Of course there needs to be a balance between the two, but it is not an equal 50-50 balance.

Knowing this I did do the ‘time on the legs’ running training that was required, but most of the time I was doing mind training.  And it was this that helped me to finish the run after suffering from sun stroke and dehydration at the end of the first day’s 43 km run.  I was placed under a wet blanket and observation all afternoon and I suppose to be on the safe side they should have pulled me out of the race.  I ensured them that I was recovered, they let me continue, and I finished 12th out of the 28 finishers from a starting line-up of 43 runners, and I should have done better.  Why I didn’t do better is another story and example that can be taken into our approach to everyday living, which will be told later in this series.

There are similarities in the preparation that any athlete will do before a long run.  There are also differences that need to be considered when that long run changes from being a one day event, like a single marathon on the road.  Doing the same distance as a marathon but doing it as a trail run is harder and will take longer, the equivalent say of running an extra 10 km. If it is a one day event you can get away with poor nutrition during the run, and taking yourself near to your limit and exhaustion at the end.  You cannot do this for a multi-day event. If your one day event is an ultra-distance then the kind of training and preparation that you do for marathon training is not enough. If you are running in different terrain and weather conditions, like a desert run, then there are a number of other factors that need to be included in your preparation, as is the case when you are running for days and days on end across a huge distance.

Here are the things that I did and how I prepared for the 5-day Namib Desert Challenge (NDC), and remember, on the first day I still got it wrong!

The Training Programme

I had a 13 week training programme leading up to the NDC.  One of those weeks, immediately prior to the run I did absolutely zero exercise of any description, for 8 days.  The 5 days prior to that I did light training which included swimming and cycling. Quite an extreme taper many would say, as in, I should have done more exercise.  For me though this depends upon three factors:

1. How well have I stuck to my training programme and how hard has it been?
2. How is my body feeling?
3. What is my intended outcome of the race?

I have trained with athletes who have been preparing to do an Iron Man, and who believe in an ‘active taper,’ which means that they will still be doing some fair distances but not quite as far and will not be pushing as hard as during their normal training.  One of the fears they have is that if they ‘let it go’ too much, the level of training that they’ve been used to over the previous 6 to 9 months, then they will adversely affect their level of readiness. I have carefully not said ‘fitness’ because to anyone that surely would sound ludicrous.  To do so many months of training and then lose their level of fitness through a 2 week period of tapering – this cannot happen. It has not surprised me that they have failed to do as well as they expected on the day of the race.

The first week of my programme I did 6 hours 30 minutes of running.  To some this may sound surprising, but at the age of 17 I discovered my love for being fit and active and also my mental ability to endure.  I have never lost this enjoyment and preference for being fit and in good shape, and I have always maintained a base level of fitness which allows me to suddenly up my game and kick in to a more rigorous training routine.  But not without the usual ups and downs, as I’ll share with you below … I was 53 when I ran the NDC.

In the following two weeks of my training I ran for 9 hours 30 minutes in each week.  I like to make notes so that I get a better feel of how I’m doing when I review my overall programme in the weeks to come.  Here are my notes from Week 2 of my training, unedited:

1 hr 30min (18km ?) – east Tokai forest & Groot Constantia green belts (flippin hot)
45min – Chrysalis academy speed work (flippin hot; had to bale)
1hr 30min – trail run Tokai forest (flippin hot; good run; new route)
REST DAY (did 1,5km swim)
1 hr 45min (18km ?) – east Tokai forest & Groot Constantia green belts (flippin hot; ran at 09h30; went slower)
2hrs – Muiz beach to Simon’s Town
2hrs 15min – Silvermine south to valley & extra to make up time (great run; felt really strong)

And here are the notes from a few weeks later, one of my peak weeks, also unedited:

Nothing – knackered, bad attitude
2hrs 35min – gym to past Fish Hoek
2hrs 30min – Tokai forest with NB, up over top & home to Noordhoek
REST DAY – think I might be over training – sure I did less for Cape Odyssey
Nothing – waiting for cupboards, only arrived at 18h30
2hrs 25min – Lighthouse, 95% soft sand, carried 8 or 9kgs
3hrs – old wagon trail; round Silvermine dam; detour & back; carried 8 or 9kgs

You will have noticed that I record the amount of time that I’ve been running rather than the distance, and the next blog will explain why.

Jon O’Hanlon

The image that I think comes to many people’s minds when there is talk of running in the desert, springs from pictures that they have seen of a camel train plodding in single file through soft golden sands.  They then have an image of someone trying to run through these soft sands, remembering how they have trudged through soft sand at the beach. Now add to that image the fact that this runner is wearing a backpack weighing a few kilograms, and that it is a distance of 40 odd kilometres and more, or that it could be a multi-day run so they will be doing this for a few days in a row.

It has been my experience that telling people that I have done a run of this sort usually gets three types of immediate response.  I mention this because this response profile is true for everything in life. There are those whose own experiences in life (they are not runners and not the exercising type), combined with their immediate perceptions about me, make them unable to believe that it is possible, and so they reject my story as being untrue.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who have had similar experiences, and knowing a bit, or a lot, about me, they are congratulatory and impressed. In between these two groups are those who are willing to believe that it is possible, but they either need to gather more information first before accepting the story, so they will ask questions, or, they need to change my story in their minds to be able to make it acceptable to them.  Examples of this are, that they might believe that I have done this kind of run but probably 20 years ago and, one that I have often had happen when I tell people that I ran across Africa, they will say, “congratulations on your walk.”

Now let me burst a little the myth of the first paragraph above.  There are many, many areas in a desert that are not soft sand. The fact that there is no water in the region doesn’t always mean that everything is soft sand.  One of the runs that I have done was the 5-day Namib Desert Challenge. Yes, there is a lot of sand out there including the longest sand dune in the world, and the highest sand dune in the world, and we ran them both, but for quite a fair distance of the 5 days it was not soft, sliding sand.

More about this and the run in my next article, Blog 3 in this series.

Jon O’Hanlon

In March 2018 I wrote a series of blogs about running for an amazing sportswear company in the UK called Tribe Sports.  I’ve decided to share these blogs with all and anyone who is interested.  This first blog is a series of Q’s & A’s that they asked me as an intro. This week we introduce our latest running ambassador, Jonathan O’Hanlon; the first person to run across Africa (raising awareness and funds for elephant conservation and water sustainability), an executive & leadership coach (life skills coach and ‘mind’ Personal Trainer) and inspirational speaker. When did you start running? This isn’t an easy question to answer, and the reason for that is rather strange.  I always tell people with a little laugh and a sheepish grin, “I’m not really a runner.”  I consider someone who is a ‘runner’ to be someone who does running as their sport fairly exclusively, and is a member of a running club, goes for runs with the club 2 or 3 times a week, maybe also does the time trial, and is in the routine of entering for races, recording their times, discussing it afterwards with fellow runners, talking about PB’s, maybe subscribing to running magazines, and being in the running crowd.  And even though I have done a huge amount of running, and I run all the time, at least a few times a week, I have never done any of the “being in the running crowd things.” I discovered that I had the mental capacity to endure and do well at long, arduous running when I was 17, in 1975, whilst undergoing the year long Naval Officer training and I ran my first marathon 10 years later in 1985. What does running mean to you / why do you run? Now that I am older, and wiser, I can look back at all the running that I’ve done and I understand the surface reason for my running, as well as the three underlying truths.  I have always run so as to maintain a high level of fitness, and at the same time to stay in shape.  In my younger years and into my late thirties I played many ball sports competitively: rugby, soccer, tennis, golf, field hockey and cricket, with the last two being at a reasonably high level. Here’s truth number one – I always considered myself to be less skilful than many of my team mates and inadequate so I excelled at being the fittest player on the field, always, even to today.  Secondly, body consciousness – lots of running not only keeps me fit but also keeps me in shape.  And here’s another reason that I say that I’m not really a runner – my exercise routine includes strength training, calisthenics, at the gym or at home, cycling, and swimming.  And yes, at one time I did do several triathlons.  Thirdly, I run because it is my escape, it is my coping mechanism.  I am fortunate that I have this “good” addiction as my coping mechanism rather than the obvious bad addictions.  Life is hard, and when troubled times have struck, and there have been many, I get out there into Nature, into the hills and mountains and trails, along the beach, and in the forests – and I run.  I have never once felt alone when I’ve been out there, and it always calms my mind, brings me peace, and the insights, intuitions, and solutions that I need. What is on your running bucket list?  I have three runs that are on my list, the first two as training runs really for the last one.  The Addo Elephant Trail Run, either the 100 mile, or the 76 km run.  The Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon, a self-sufficient run over 7 days, covering an approximate distance of 250 km in the Kalahari Desert.  Lastly, to run across Africa again, this time almost double the distance, for water, and this time to achieve my dream, which is not to do the run but to raise awareness and funds for the issue of water scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa. Do you prefer run alone or in a group?  Both, but very definitely each with specific reasons.  It is great to train with others and run in a group, and as I’m sure most people who do any form of exercise will know, having a training buddy or a group that you’re in makes a huge difference to your motivation to show up in the first place.  However, when doing a run where heavy endurance is required I definitely prefer to run alone.  When the going gets tough and the blood sugar gets low, your mind is going to start getting ratty and pretty much everything about the person running alongside you will be a source of irritation – they’re running too fast, or too slow, they’re too close, they’re running in the best and easiest track, they’re talking too much etc. etc. How has running changed you?  I think that even though I say I’m not a runner, my ability to run and to keep going and endure set me on a path of varied achievements that built onto each other, in my mind, unknowingly at the time, and added to my self-confidence and self-esteem.  My personal bests for 5 km time trial, hockey, cricket, and the extreme events that I have done have all been thanks to running, which has endowed me with superior fitness, mental strength, and a belief in myself.  There is no doubt that a parallel can be drawn from this into the other aspects of my life.  The mental endurance that I’ve learned through running I have been able to apply when life was at its worst, and not only could I turn to running to cope, but I could also apply my mental stamina and endurance to persevere and prevail. How do you convince yourself to get out of the door on days you just don’t feel like it?  Big smile – with great difficulty.  It always surprises the people that I talk to who struggle with their own exercise routine and discipline when I tell them that I face exactly the same thing that they do.  The way that I deal with this is that I now know and recognise the signs and the tricks that my body and mind are going to play to try and stop me going for a run, and I smile at them, and I push through them.  As I am putting on my running shoes just before going out of the door I always feel a huge wave of exhaustion come over me.  My mind also reminds me that the first few km are going to be very unpleasant; maybe it is cold out there, I’m going to struggle to breathe, and most of all my knees are going to hurt.  I replace these thoughts with a few others, positive ones and one’s that bring me pleasure and enjoyment:  It’s always hard at the start, for everyone, and I’ve done this before so now it’s easy; I only need to run for a few hundred metres and the knee pain will go away, I know this; after the first few hundred metres I’m already warm; after the first  6 or 7 km I’ll be in cruise mode and then the enjoyment of being out in Nature really kicks in; I’m proud of myself for going out in these conditions to exercise, good for me; hey, I’m good at this, look at me going out for another run, look at how fit I am.  I usually win the war, but I don’t force it if my body, or mind, genuinely show me that it’s too depleted, I’ll know this within the first 2 minutes of running and then I’ll stop and go home, and save myself for another day.

Jon O’Hanlon

Life is hard.

When I wrote these three words I thought to myself that I’d seen them before somewhere. I have, but not quite the same. In M. Scott Peck’s Book, The Road Less Travelled, the first three words of his book are “Life is difficult.” He also made reference to the fact that in the Buddha’s teachings he talks about the “Four Noble Truths” and the first of these is, “Life is suffering.” In this article I’m combining all three of these statements together.

The first thing to understand, and to accept, is that because life is hard, and involves quite a bit of suffering, and doesn’t always go the way we want it to, and we can’t always do what we want to do … it is necessary for us to have coping mechanisms to help us deal with this.

So be assured that in order to cope with the hardships that we face in life it is very necessary, and it is a good thing, to have coping mechanisms.

Here’s a simple little example of what a coping mechanism is, and how it can be used appropriately – let’s say that you love walking and you absolutely have to go for a walk every day. But today it’s raining – so in order to cope with this new and unwanted development, you take an umbrella with you. To add to this – tomorrow it’s not only raining but it’s blowing a gale as well. This makes your usual coping mechanism, taking an umbrella with you when it rains, un-useful. So this time you’ll wear a heavy raincoat with a hood.

This is an important point to remember, that your coping mechanism doesn’t have to remain fixed or rigid, and in many cases it shouldn’t. Why not? Well because then, if you continue to use the same coping mechanism time after time after time, then it becomes a habit. Even worse, this coping mechanism that has become a habit could also turn into an addiction. And it is usually exceptionally hard to change a habit, let alone an addiction.

This is why when you do want to change a bad habit for a good one, the best way to tackle this task is to follow a step by step process – the 7 Tips that I am describing here – rather than jumping straight into a quick fix. Often you will find that the quick fix is not sustainable, like a fad diet, and the necessary clarity, understanding, and action steps are not there for the change from bad habit to good habit to last.

Another crucial point to acknowledge about our need to have coping mechanisms because of the suffering that we go through in life is the following. Of all the suffering that you’re going to go through in life, only about 3% of all of this suffering will be physical pain. The rest, 97% of it, will all be in your mind. The vast majority of suffering that you will go through will not be a physical, tangible thing, it’s all in your thoughts. You will manufacture a scenario in your mind about what happened in the past, why certain things are happening right now, what other people think, what might happen in the future and all sorts of things going on in your mind – and none of it actually exists. They’re all just thoughts, figments of your imagination, you have created your own suffering all in your own mind.

Taking this into account, before jumping into the 7 step process, let’s first have a quick look at a categorisation of coping mechanisms, habits, and addictions. There are four categories to consider, the individual coping mechanisms like the previous example of the umbrella and the raincoat, both good and bad habits and addictions, and then there are also those that are not coping mechanisms but they are avoidance tactics, or cop outs.

Starting with the bad cases first because they’re easy to identify. Remembering that 97% of our suffering has been created by our own thoughts and is in our heads, when people turn to alcohol and drug abuse to deal with their suffering, these are avoidance techniques and will remove or block out from the mind the thoughts that are causing us suffering, but only temporarily. Once the alcohol or drugs wear off the thoughts will return, and they have not been addressed or dealt with. So the addict will then have to turn to their abuse again so as to avoid or block out the thoughts again. This is not a coping mechanism and does not deal with the problem, and it will not go away.

An example of a supposedly good coping mechanism that is also an avoidance technique would be one that I used to be guilty of, but I’ve changed it. When life got tough for me and I was unhappy, I would go and exercise, which usually meant going for a long trail run. To many this would seem to be quite a good coping mechanism, to be doing exercise. Yes, but no – I was literally and figuratively running away from the problem, and on top of this I was over exercising and so was breaking down my body as well. I have changed that to becoming a good coping mechanism because now when I feel the need to exercise because I’m not coping I know that being out in Nature is where I do my best and clearest thinking, and where I receive insights and intuition.

I leave it to you to identify the coping mechanisms that you use and whether they help you to cope, or whether you are simply using them to avoid having to deal with whatever the issue is that you need to deal with.

Before I finish this topic I want to share with you one more habit and addiction that I have discovered very few people are aware of, because it hides itself very craftily in the wings behind the main actors of the other addictions. An addiction that I see in almost all of the people that I’ve coached, even the most successful, the best, the most popular, and the most beautiful is this – we lack self-esteem and self-acceptance. See how many times you catch yourself apologising for no reason, saying things like: oh, I’m no good at that or, I would never be able to do that or, she’s much better than me or, I’m not very good or, I’m quite bad or, I’m always getting it wrong … one negative comment after the other, continually knocking yourself and bringing yourself down. This has become such a habit that we say these things automatically without even noticing the negativity of it or how we are criticising ourselves.

Step 1 – How and why did your habit start?
It is more than likely that your habit started as a coping mechanism, or did it? For example, if smoking is the bad habit that you are wanting to change, or stop, in many cases with teenagers they started smoking simply because it was the cool thing to do or, because their friends were doing it and they wanted to fit in. Although in the face of it these would not appear to be things that would require a coping mechanism but interestingly it could be argued that both of these could also be considered to be coping mechanisms – the need to appear to be cool, and the need to fit in. Or, did you start comfort eating because you lost a loved one, or a pet, or was it through sheer boredom. Or did you start to do a “bad” thing because you wanted to get back at someone, or make someone feel bad, or rebel against something or someone etc. It is important to be absolutely clear on this start point of your coping mechanism, which turned into a bad habit, because it leads into the next step in the process.
And, how did it turn into a habit that you now recognise as being bad that you now want to stop? This might seem to be a silly question and an obvious answer, but it’s not, if you go a bit deeper. Yes, it became a habit because you carried on doing it all the time, but did you not recognise it as being bad, or did you? And did you consciously decide to continue, or were you unable to stop yourself, and why?

Step 2 – if any of the conditions that existed when you first engaged your coping mechanism and habit still exist, then these need to be addressed and dealt with. It will be exceptionally difficult to change this habit if you still have the issue that created it in the first place. For example, let’s say that you started gambling because your finances were in a bad state and you needed money, and thought that this would be a quick way to erase your debt. If your finances are still in a similarly poor state then the motivation for the starting of this bad habit still exists. This does not mean that you will be unable to change the habit for a good one, but you will need to acknowledge that this could be a justification you might use to continue with the old habit, and it will be harder to stop. Step 4 will help with this. Another example would be if you started smoking when you were very young because you felt less important or inadequate because you are short. If you are still short and still feel inadequate because of this, it would be a very good idea to deal with this way of thinking first.

Step 3 – How bad is it really? When we are going through a difficult time and are steeped in negativity, and we are going through the fairly common routine of beating ourselves up for our bad habit, then we are usually not inclined to look for positive signs in the things that are happening or that we are doing. Very often though there are positive things to be gleaned, if we look. Here’s an example: in relationships there will of course be disagreements and arguments. Let’s say that when you have an argument with your partner you become very agitated, frustrated, and start to raise your voice and shout. Then you walk away and go outside to have a cigarette, which might potentially increase your frustration because you know that this is a bad habit. But, the act of spending time alone outside and smoking that cigarette enables you to calm down, give the matter some further less agitated thought, and to return inside and carry on the discussion in a far more peaceful, calm, and quieter manner. So whilst in itself smoking a cigarette is a negative thing, in this case it has produced a positive outcome in your relationship. So rather than always constantly beating yourself up about your bad habits, or how you feel about yourself because of the bad habits that you have, have a look at your habits and focus on any positive aspects there might be in this process and path to changing them for good ones.

You may have noticed that none of the above three steps are “action” steps, they are all about thinking. But these are by far the most important steps. If you don’t do these, this thinking, then the other steps you follow and successes you may achieve will either be short lived, or will fail altogether. Why is it so important to do these three “thinking” steps first?

I started this article with the three words, “life is hard,” and then went on to say that there will be a fair amount of suffering that we will go through. Yes, there are good times but they never last. Life is constantly changing like a wave between ups and downs, good and bad, happy and sad. There are always difficulties and obstacles in our path, even if we can’t see them right now, they’re out there and they’re coming. And often when they do arrive they catch us unawares, and we feel that we can’t cope, and we’re overwhelmed by it all, and we fear the future, and things aren’t going the way we’d like them to – and so we suffer, in our heads. As stated above, 97% of all our suffering has been created by our own thoughts.

This is why it is critically important to go through the process of concentrated clarity of thinking, which will provide the foundation for you to change your habits. Remove all the clutter, inconsistencies, fabrications, and of course the lies you tell yourself, from your thoughts. Be absolutely clear, and understand fully what it is that you are dealing with, before you start to take any action steps.

An even greater benefit to be derived from this process, the first three steps of this process, is that it doesn’t only apply to understanding and gaining clarity for your bad habits. Once you have performed these three steps correctly and fully, you can then apply them to everything in your life, always starting with the most important question of all – “Why?” What you are in effect doing is you are starting to understand and train your mind.

Step 4 – You need to start taking some action and doing things to help you move towards stopping your old habit and getting going with the new one, and the best way to do this is to set a goal. There are three things that are fundamental to achieving success here, and to ensuring that what you have achieved lasts. The first one is to remember that what you are trying to achieve is not really the setting up of a new habit in your life. You are actually starting a new life. This has to become part of your life’s daily activities otherwise it is unlikely to be sustainable. An obvious example of where goals are often not sustainable is fast, quick weight loss, fad diets. These are hard to follow and many people find that they can follow them for a short period of time, and they achieve immediate success, but they cannot continue doing it in the long term and have to return to their old ways sometimes even ending up in a worse situation than before.

The next two work hand in glove together and ensure that you set yourself on the right path from the very beginning. These are your Goal statement, and it is incredibly important to be absolutely accurate with this, and your understanding of Why you are setting this goal. You then apply these two first one way, and then the other. Consider a simple example, let’s say your bad habit is comfort eating the result of which has caused you to become overweight. You write down as your goal statement, “I am going to lose weight.” The action step that you decide to carry out is to join a gym. Now let’s work this back the other way by asking a slightly different question, “I am joining a gym so that …?” The answer to this question cannot be … so that I can lose weight. There is a vast gulf between these two and joining a gym will not cause you to lose weight. Firstly, to be pedantic, which is very necessary with goal statements, joining a gym does nothing for you yet, except to cost you money. You also need to go to the gym and to do some exercise. And, you do not have to join a gym to do exercise. Next, there are many types of different exercises that you could do at a gym the vast majority of which will actually not help you to lose weight. You have to do the correct type of exercise in sufficient quantities, with sufficient regularity, in order to lose some weight. Lastly, exercise is a relatively small component of losing weight, as much as 75 to 80% of losing weight relies upon dietary control, not exercise.

Here are two similar methods to help you set good goal statements and action steps, one used in project management parlance and the other in life coaching respectively, SMART and SMERTIE. Your goal has to be Specific (I am going to lose 10 kilograms of weight by the end of the month). Measurable – how do you know if and when you have achieved your goal? Stating that you will lose 10 kgs is key. The “M” can also mean Measured in the context of being able to split your goal achievement into smaller chunks such as, 4kgs week one, 3kgs week 2, 2kgs week 3, and 1kg week 4. The “A” stands for achievable, but this one carries a proviso with it. Yes, you do need to set a goal that is achievable but on the other hand it mustn’t be too easy. There has to be some difficulty and stretch involved. If it is too easy to achieve it is quite likely you won’t bother. The “E” stands for the word Evidence, which is similar to being Measurable, e.g. I can now fit into a size 13 and I was a 14, and in my view body size measurement is a far better measure than the scales. The “R” is the word Responsible – you, and only you, always, are responsible to achieve your goal. You cannot and may not use excuses that imply that it is someone else’s fault that you couldn’t exercise today. The “T” is your Timeline – what is the timeframe in which you are going to achieve your goal. Again, this needs to be carefully set, if you allow too long it is likely you won’t put in sufficient effort, and if it is too short then you will fail. The “I” and the “E” are sort of a check to see if you’ve got it right. When you read your goal setting statements do you feel Inspired to get cracking and go and do it, and do is evoke some sort of Emotion in you. Remember, we live our lives driven by our emotions so you thoughts of inspiration and emotion will give you a good idea how you’re feeling about what you’re about to attempt.

Step 5 – A comment that struck me from one of my young coaching clients, Charlie, when I’d asked him his views on the shape of the world out there that he was about to enter into was this, “it’s far easier to recognise failure than success.” He’s right, this is the type of world that we have created. In fact if you equate the word failure with negativity then this is predominantly what the media report on. And we in our daily lives do the same – so don’t you do it! When you are in the throes of moving and adjusting from one (bad) habit to a new (good) habit spend all of your time focussing on the new good habit. Not only does this keep you in a positive and more cheerful frame of mind, but you will also find that the more you get drawn into these new, good, and positive activities and behaviours the other, old, bad habits simply get left behind. They will get left behind and fall by the wayside without you even thinking about them, doing anything about them, or worrying about them.

Step 6 – this step is more of a supplementary and supporting step to the others. Over and above the activities that you are now going to be doing as part of achieving your goal, it is very helpful to find what I call replacement and displacement activities which will help you to stay on the right track. For example, your work is quite intense or you find it quite stressful and you need to take breaks to relax and recharge. These breaks you take outside and when you go there you light up a cigarette. Did you go outside because you needed a cigarette, or because you needed a break from the work? Most likely you lit up a cigarette automatically, without thinking, and from pure habit. In future give some dedicated thought to what you are doing. Here’s a simple example, write a number on each of your cigarettes in the packet and put them back in random order and in future you have to smoke them in number order. The next time you go outside the act of finding the next sequential cigarette to smoke gives you the time to think about it and ask the question, “Do I really need or want this?” Or, take your breaks to a place where you are not permitted to smoke. Or, when you are in the pub don’t hold your drink in your hand because then you will keep on sipping it automatically and without thinking, put it down on the bar and move a few steps away. This not only slows down your drinking progress but means that you have to make a conscious effort to walk to the bar to pick it up again. Or, if you snack or comfort eat or boredom eat junk food, make sure that the next time you go shopping you do not visit the junk food aisle and, buy the ingredients for more healthy foods. This has the double advantage of when you are home again you have to take the time to make something to eat, which also gives you the time to think about whether you are actually hungry, rather than having fast and junk foods immediately available. A last one, which is very prevalent today, and that is if your habit or addiction is your interaction with your mobile phone, and please notice how I said this because then it will be easier to deal with. Yes, you may have an addiction with needing to have many likes and follows on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and staying up to date with what’s being posted there, and posting comments and pictures yourself. But, if you remove these thoughts from your mind and consider your phone to be the problem this makes it easier. Then the solution becomes easier, don’t carry your phone with you, don’t take it to the toilet with you, take a book, don’t take it into the bedroom with you at night leave it in the lounge etc.

I’m sure you can easily come up with good replacement and displacement activities for yourselves, and I’m sure you’ve also noted that a key aspect of these is that they slow you down and give you time to think. If you are fortunate enough to be able to get out there in Nature as a displacement and replacement activity, then so much the better.

Step 7 – the last step and a very important step which must not be avoided or ignored. Congratulate and reward yourself for your successes, no matter how small. Even the act of having written down your SMART and SMERTIE goal statement is an achievement, pat yourself on the back. Every milestone along the way that you meet, be proud of yourself, smile at you, say well done, and when the milestone is quite a big one give yourself a reward. Remember too that every step along the way to reaching your goal is also a step farther away from your old, bad habit, a double success.

A final very important note, and tip. You are more than likely going to be taking some form of physical action to achieve a goal. Remember, the real benefit that you are looking to accomplish here is to change your thinking and to start a new way of life. It is also much easier to accomplish a task, especially a difficult one, if you have a “training” partner (I’ve put the word training in inverted commas because this does not necessarily refer to exercise). For your physical goal it is a huge bonus to have someone doing it alongside you. Similarly, when it comes to the even more important aspect of the change of thinking that you will be going through, finding the right guide, mentor, sounding board, or coach to accompany you on your journey is invaluable.

And from me, congratulations on your intent, best of luck, and I really hope it goes well.

Jon O’Hanlon