Here's a quick list of tips that may help to keep you on track past month number one of the New Year and get ripped, lean, or toned in record time.

1. Re focus on your goal.

Set some time aside to determine exactly what you must have in order to feel accomplished with your fitness or fat loss goal. What goal or specific result you want to achieve by a particular date. Less body fat or slimmer waist, maybe more shape in the legs or shoulder.....better looking glutes are always a good bet!

2. Measure it all and record

Get a body fat scale or hire a trainer to get body fat measurements. Take before and after shots from the side, front and back. Measure the circumference of all the major muscle groups for 8 week comparisons. The feed back from these scheduled check ups are very important to fuel your desire to move smarter and faster toward your target.

This is also helpful in determining if you're on or off course, so if need be, corrections can be made to get you back on track. An increase or decrease adjustment to food intake or work output through strength and cardio training will be suggested here if not on course.

3. Sleep and recovery strategies

Many new fitness enthusiasts are derailed when energy drops and attitude starts to get a little negative. Sometimes looking at getting to bed earlier is an easy remedy. The late night TV viewing habits are a usual cause for not getting enough rest. Finding out "who dunnit" 60 minutes beyond you're normal shut eye time will not help cutting fat or with building the very important, fat burning muscle tissue we all need to develop.

With a lack of sleep comes a lack of desire to push hard......no push, no changes occur.

The flip side of the coin is plenty of sleep, but then doing too much working out. Trying to correct not doing much exercise in awhile and/or poor eating habits will over work the body to the point until adrenal fatigue sets in and we don't feel motivated to even think about the gym. Get 8 hours sleep per night and keep program realistic with a coach to assist in assessing possible stumbling block here.

4. Assertiveness training

Sometimes over commitment of time is a challenge and learning to say "No" is an important step in the goal achievement process. It's not selfishness we're talking about here, but being realistic in what goals we have and what time we have available to do them in.

If a situation comes up like airport runs, or volunteer work (plug your "I just can't say no when should" here) and you feel guilty because you said no.....ask yourself where those feelings come from and why you continually lug those bags(feelings) around to use them to derail your success?

Life coaching and business coaches are very helpful here if you need someone to help identify the strong and weak character traits for optimal development of your personal power.

5. How to add 2 hours to a 24 hour day

Look at a lot of the repetitive tasks you have each day or week and see if some of them can be outsourced. From babysitting, laundry, car washing, lawn work, house cleaning, grocery shopping to the business skills that can be taken from your plate and given to someone else with less responsibility or a lower dollar per hour fee for their time than yours. You'll save time and money reducing stress to free up time so you can relax while you de-stress with a massage or yoga class.

6. Pick a time, gym or workout that fits your needs first, not someone else.

This is sometime the challenge. A workout that causes less stress and reduces is the goal, but sometimes drive time, parking and changing in a jammed locker room can kill the desire. Then when the gym floor is packed and no equipment or cardio machines are available, your time is wasted waiting around.

Find a gym no more than 15 minutes away from home or work, then get a trainer to help as your buffer if you need to speed through a workout and someone is in a discussion about world issues while leaning on your next workout station. Training in a park or at home sometimes is a good option with body weight exercises. They save time and frustration every time!

Start at your level and avoid going with a friend that is more advanced. You slow them down to point they receive no benefit in their allotted exercise time and sometimes you end up getting pushed beyond your ability to the point of injury. If they say they don't mind, make sure they read above regarding assertiveness training.