The scale doesn't lie, but I never expected it to be like this.

Jack said, "I don't know how you did it ... seven pounds in a week."

I didn't either - so I stepped back up on the scale for one more try and it still read - 254 pounds

Shocked, yes. Amazed, not really. When I made the decision to become a Realtor, I looked beyond just my professional life and into my personal one. I made the commitment to losing weight and joined Taking Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) with my wife. It started "easy", but lately, I'd hit a plateau. I was flirting with 20 pounds total lost. I'd sneak up to 19.8 and then put some back on, and so the yo-yo went. So, one week I just broke through with the seven pound week.

But it wasn't a fad for like everything else in life, losing weight is a process. And the only way to do it successfully is to do it correctly. Sure, I could have gone on the "Fast Food Diet", honestly, it was in one of those Doctor's Office magazines this morning. Or I could have eliminated something from my diet and been starving for those foods I enjoy most.

What would the results have been? Sure, I would have lost weight. But for how long? And would it have really changed my life? No. Just another Yo-Yo diet.

I write this today because as we sit here only five weeks before the start of 2007, I wonder how many of us are yo-yoing on our goals and objections in everyday life. Can I meet that goal? I could do it by doing small portions over the next five weeks or by staying up all night the day before deadline. Now which is going to yield better - more sustainable - results?

I am becoming a big-fan of Jeffrey Gitomer and he talks about Charlie Jones in one of his books. Jones said, "The only difference between where you are right now, and where you'll be next year at the same time, are the people you meet and the books you read."

Stop and let that sink in for a second. We are who we are, and only through expanding our knowledge - by our network and brain - will we actually create any changes. However, Gitomer acknowledges that possibly the toughest thing is getting out of that chair and doing it. In his book, Jeffrey Gitomer's little Black Book of Connections, he writes, "In my experience, ‘doing it' is something that most people are ‘going to do as soon as they can get around to it, or find the time to do it.' What a bunch of crap that is."

While that's a little harsher than I like to be with myself - I've found that DOING it is 95 percent of the battle. I don't care if it walking a mile on the treadmill, mowing the yard, or picking up the phone and cold-calling those pesky for-sale-by-owner and expired listings. Nothing in life worth doing is without risk, but only when we are willing to overcome that risk do we ever reap the reward.

Think back to your wedding day, I was sicker than a dog that morning playing golf outside tiny Bettsville, Ohio. Of course the significant amount of liquor that had flown into my body the night before was part of it - but a bigger portion was that I was taking the ultimate risk. I was giving my heart and soul to another person, placing the ultimate trust in her to treat that trust with care. And now three years later, that risk seems so silly. But it was a risk that had kept me from reaching that point on at least two other occasions.

But, how do we manage the risks and control our lives rather than allowing other to control us? There are thousands of great ideas out there about building goals and objectives.

My favorites:

• Create goals for everything - personal, professional, spiritual, emotional, etc.: My father-in-law has a 1962 Corvette and it is a beautiful piece of machinery. But there is something amiss in the engine, to look at the car you wouldn't know it. Our bodies are the same way. If you meet - and exceed - every professional goal you set, but the personal and emotional side lags behind you'll be unfulfilled. Why do yo-yo diets fail? Eventually, you are going to need something more than pumpkin soup.
• Challenge Yourself, Sometimes: There are a lot of reasons to make goals. Look at the ones that you want to challenge yourself with and do it. But for things that getting started is enough of a challenge, make the goal attainable. Personally, for me, calling homes that are for-sale-by-owner and expired are one of the hardest things to do. So, why would I make a goal to call 10 of them a day? That just sets me up to fail. On the other side of the coin, Gretchen and I have worked hard to make eating right a priority - and that goal is no longer as much of a challenge, so now we can push ourselves to meet calorie goals.
• Small Rewards: We all set "big" goals for ourselves in January. Stop doing that. Start today. What is your goal by December 1? What is your goal by December 31? Looking at weight loss, my goal is to lose another 8 pounds by December 31. So I need to lose 1 pound by December 1 to make that goal possible (hey, we've got Thanksgiving in there). Gretchen and I have a running "bet" where the person that loses the most will get to pick where we eat supper that night. It is a small reward and one that makes the whole process a little easier to complete.
• Dust Yourself Off and Go Again: There will be times when we fail. And often, that is when we know the character of a person. In real estate, I recently read that how you handle a crisis in a transaction will have a much stronger response to a referral than anything else. Using Gretchen as an example, when I wasn't doing TOPS, she would lose several pounds, stagnate, and suddenly she's back up to the original weight. Together, we have the support to dust each other off and get back on the diet. Find yourself a partner to dust you off and put you back on that horse and ride.
• Patience My Friend: This is one of the hardest things to do. I took the battery out of our scale at home because Gretchen wanted to get on it every day. Losing weight is a tough enough challenge without being reminded EVERY day that you are up a pound. No matter how strong a person you are, if you are struggling with it every day, you'll eventually collapse. However, looking at the goals on a weekly schedule will help you keep a better idea - without daily beatings to your ego.
• Check Me Please: I'm a baseball geek and love the stats. So, I want to turn all this analysis into stats. However, sometimes it doesn't matter how you reached your goal - just that you did. Looking at my calling of expired and for sale by owner homes, if I missed by 1 or 10 calls does it matter? Not really, I still didn't meet my goal. Which is worse for the ego? Showing the 10 of course. So I like to put in a "check" that this goal was achieved. And then the goal becomes to achieve a perfect goal report for the week - then the month - and if you can do it for a year, that's awesome!

Oh yeah, and last night the scale flashed a 0.6 gain. But it's all about balance and time, so I still rewarded myself.

Have you rewarded yourself lately?