Now that you are signed up for the 90 Day Transformation Challenge, you have valiant plans on heading to the gym daily, prepping healthy food on Sundays for the rest of the week, and getting the requisite 8 hours of sleep a night. But somewhere along the way, your 4pm training session turns into a date with the bed for a nap, and that brown rice and chicken meal has morphed into Taco Bell. How can you still maintain focus and get yourself up on the winner’s podium at the end of 90 days? Author Craig Ballantyne has created a holistic approach depicting how you CAN accomplish all you desire. In his book The Perfect Day Formula, Ballantyne outlines five pillars to help you reach your goals (and are equally important in getting you to winning the challenge):

1. Plan ahead (follow the three C’s: Control your morning, Conquer your afternoon, and Concentrate at night).
2. Get accountability from a coach or a trainer.
3. Recruit positive social support to encourage you when things get tough.
4. Give yourself a meaningful incentive for reaching your goal.
5. And set a hard deadline for achieving it.

Lets look at how these five steps can be implemented to help you win the 90 Day Challenge.

1. Plan ahead! If you know you are heading to the gym right after work, pack your clothes before going to bed so it’s easy to grab on your way out the door. Similarly, plot out how you will eat beforehand to give you energy and NOT make you sleepy or too full. Are you one who says you have no time to workout? Look at your schedule and see where most of your day goes. On the internet for hours? Watch too much Netflix? That’s time you could be training. Too many responsibilities to get to after work? Then plan for a pre-work gym session. It may mean you have to sacrifice staying up late in order to wake up earlier than normal, but if you want to change (and win!), sacrifices must be made.
2. Get accountability from a coach or a trainer. Even the best trainers need someone to sharpen their skills! It’s much harder to push past your physical limits on your own, and a trainer can safely, and with great encouragement, get you to do activities you never thought possible.
3. Recruit positive social support. Facebook and Instagram are overflowing with motivating pictures and sayings, but do your friends post positive images or ones that discourage you? If you notice your feed being inundated with negative talk, ditch those individuals that are not helping you towards building a more positive outlook. Surround yourself with at least five successful people—and in the end, you’ll be number six. Spouses can also be supportive, but if you also desire him/her to make a lifestyle change as well, lead by example and be his/her positive social support!
4. Give yourself a meaningful incentive. Why work hard if there is no reason to? Winning the 90 Day Challenge is great incentive to continue the hard work at the gym, but setting up smaller weekly goals along the way (i.e. drink a gallon of water daily, not eating out when you know you normally would) and then rewarding yourself with a prize at the end (i.e. a new workout shirt or massage) will bring you that much closer to achieving the bigger goal.
5. Set a hard deadline. The 90 Day Challenge will end on June 11. June 11!!! It may seem like quite a while away, but that date will quickly approach, and you CANNOT make significant life and health changes in a span of a week. So start now!!! It takes a good month for daily alterations in actions to become habit, so just think that all the good you are doing for and to your body now will soon become secondary nature in May.

Ballantyne’s five pillars are a great model to help you win the 90 Day Challenge, and are also applicable to help you achieve whatever personal goal you may have. Take it step by step, do the best you can with the resources given, and know that with these lifestyle improvements, you CAN be a winner!