TRTC - Declare Your Intentions
The Road to Change:
Step 1: Declare Your Intentions
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary:
Declare: to make known formally, officially, or explicitly
Intention: a determination to act in a certain way
Establishing a declaration of intent is the first step on the road to change; you’re making a formal statement of what you’d like to accomplish. This will provide the foundation for how you’re going to act in order to achieve your goal. Some examples may include:
· I will lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle.
· I will save $10,000.
· I will quit smoking.
· I will eat less processed foods.
How to Start: Create an Action Board, not a Vision Board.
Oprah popularized vision boards with the release of the book The Laws of Attraction. The theory supports the ideas of what you visualize will come to fruition. By displaying pictures and posting images with aspirational quotes on a posterboard, somehow the universe is going to magically respond. If I put an image of a million dollars on a posterboard, the universe isn’t going to hand it over, BUT, the visual reminder of that money may help to drive my actions, hence the idea behind the Action Board. This is the power of neuroscience.
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, expanding from the cellular level to sensory, motor, and cognitive tasks of the brain. Understanding how we receive and process incoming data allows scientists to explain why visualization works. Everyday, we are bombarded with data (images, sounds, smells) and our brain filters the important stuff from the mundane, creating a hierarchy of importance. When the brain selects reoccurring data, like the picture of a million dollars, it takes a top seat in level of priority. This is the reason a mother will react when she hears her child scream “MOM” in a sea of children; their voice is imprinted in her brain as important and therefore is top priority in her brain.
The action board serves as a constant, visual reminder of what’s important to you. Your brain starts to see these images as something that has already happened. The images start to drive your actions and decisions, making said image a reality. This is why sports psychologists have athletes visualize a game before it happens; the activity creates the framework for executing the win.
Here’s an example of how this works from a personal experience. I needed a new car, but I didn’t want to jump into an emotional decision, so I printed a picture of what I wanted and put it on my 2019 action board. I wanted a 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro, in black, with a remote start, heated seats, heated steering wheel and running boards because I am short. I wanted to put $10,000 down and have a 4-year financing agreement that could be paid off in less time. And I wanted it by the end of 2019. I was THAT specific.
What I didn’t expect was how this specificity drove my actions. By seeing that machine glued to my poster board every day, I started to put extra money away each month in a separate savings account. I created a monthly budget together. I tracked my daily expenses, so I could see WHERE my money was going. I stopped getting my nails done and spaced out my hair appointments to every 10 weeks instead of 6 weeks. I paid my credit cards off within 24 hours of using them to protect my credit score. Each action step I took was taking me closer to my vision. In the end, I ended up with a different car, and the universe had nothing to do with it!
If you are participating in our 2021 Challenge, your next step is to declare your intentions and write at least one of them one the blackboard in the gym. If you are following us remotely, you can post your intention inside the Trainerize Group labeled “2021 Challenge”. Create your Action Board and post it to our main Marino’s Fitness Facebook page, NOT the Member’s Only page. If you’re not comfortable sharing all of your actions, that’s cool too!