Establishing fitness goals can be fun and exhilarating, looking ahead at what you hope your body will look and feel like in the future. However, keeping the goals and staying on course with them until completion can often be like making New Year’s resolutions and keeping them, or breaking them. Many people give up very quickly, while others filter out all along the way. Until the end results are that an average of about 10 percent make it successfully through to the end. So let’s take a look at what helps those 10 percent become successful.

Self Help

A positive attitude works wonders. And one of the best ways to get and keep a positive mental attitude is to get help for your self. Don’t leave this to chance. Because you may hear inspiring music, speakers on the radio and show on television, but the odds are that most content will not be focused on what you need.

Instead, take charge. Check out inspirational and motivational books, audio cassettes, DVDs, videos, magazines and articles. Keep a folder handy for articles that you print for reminders, plus articles you find online full of helpful tips, stories and advice.

Get help online. For motivational and inspirational speakers alone, there are more than 1 million listings show up on Google™. So you can narrow your search with keyword phrases like “national motivational speaker,” “international inspirational speaker” and “keynote speaker,” inserting “fitness” into any of them, if you choose. Then visit websites of speakers who are listed, sign up for their free ezines, and read their articles, printing out ones you like for your folder for handy reference.

Don’t Change Horses

A popular saying that started with Abraham Lincoln in one of his speeches, holds true for keeping your original fitness goals and staying on track, “Don’t change horses midstream.” In other words, don’t change your basic plan of attack. Stick with your original goals that you took time to research and establish. You may need to modify them some, but don’t toss them aside.

Look at your progress and commit to finish what you started. Take advantage of all the extra out there to help you like motivational and inspirational music and other audio files like cassettes andMP3 to encourage you. Wonderful books, lectures, workshops and radio programs can be found nearly anywhere, even online, for help round the clock 24 / 7. Enroll in fitness and cooking classes and find fitness buddies. Get some online workout buddies and support, too, via health and fitness forums and social networking sites like MySpace.

Keeping your fitness goals and staying on track may not necessarily be easy. But it can be successful with help, support, a good attitude and fitness program work ethic.