Something I want to do more of this year is write. So here’s my idea. At least once a week I’ll write a weekly update of what’s going on in Lou’s world. Introducing the new series… The Weekly.

Firstly, and most obviously happy new year! This is technically a diary of my first week in 2020. I won’t dwell too much on 2019 but it was a great year and I personally got a lot out of it, but things are already different for 2020 and I’m looking forward to seeing what lies ahead.

There’s something quite incredible about the turning of a new year, but this time it is more powerful as it’s the turn of a decade too. Not sure if you feel it, but I certainly do and it is empowering. For me it’s a time to not only reflect but also plan and look forward to the coming year and the achievements and goals I want to set and accomplish.

I guess I should probably dive into those so they’re written down and I can come back in 12 months time and see if I’ve actually done what I wanted to do, or the thing called life took me in a new direction.

Here’s what my year looks like in numbers:

• 200 workouts
• 300 days of 10,000 steps 
• 12 books
• 52 Articles
• 300 pieces of useful content
• 5000 IG followers
• 5 new countries
• 50 online clients

My own Health and Fitness

Despite the 2000 mile cycle I did last year, I really did neglect my own health and fitness. I felt soft. I gained a lot of weight, it’s fat but shh. Overall I don’t feel great in myself and for the first time ever I went on holiday somewhere hot and I didn’t take my shirt off. That’s not ground breaking for most, but that was a big hit for my own self confidence.

Over the past few years, probably 4 or 5 since owning my own gym and travelling, my workouts and training have majorly suffered. I’m determined to make this the year where my gym time per week increases and I can start feeling happy and confident with my body again.

For that I’ve set 200 workouts to hit over the entire year. That’s 3.8 per week. An achievable number and one I am feeling very confident about hitting.

The reason I’ve set a number as apposed to just wanting to “look better” is because it’s measurable and manageable. I know that if I workout 200 times this year (3-4 times per week) I will get back into the shape I want too and with that will come my own self confidence too.

This also ties into me doing more steps and tracking more calories. Even someone like me, who has an extensive knowledge of nutrition, it’s still easy to fall off track. There’s no better way to be accountable than to track your calories. Something I doubt I’ll do for the entire year, but I’m going to give it at least 90 days to give me the boost, and time I need to lose some, a lot, of fat.

Currently I’m aiming for 300 days of 10,000 steps, which is 3,000,000 total steps. I’m fairly confident that I can keep track of that. Again, this is something that I know if I do I’ll achieve the objective which is to be confident enough to go shirtless again.

Business and Personal Development 

I think reading more is always one of the goals most people set in the new year. But this is something I’m 100% serious about achieving this year. I’ve got a daily goal to commit to at least 20 minutes of reading per day. That should be enough to see me hit a total of 12 books over the year. Anymore and I’m golden.

This will have a knock on effect to my own development with business, knowledge and growing my business to where I want it. Without this daily action, it’s going to be a struggle to grow the business to the heights I want to grow it too.

I want to help 50 people minimum by the end of the year and I’ve already got a huge start on that. Ideally, I’d like those 50 to be clients by December next year as this will fulfil the goal of helping more people cut through the bullshit that is the fitness industry. 

Whether or not this is actually a business related goal, I don’t know. Maybe it is more ego driven but I’d like to grow my IG following to 5000. In my head, this gives me a bigger reach and wider audience to help more people – which is the underlying goal.

This years travel goals

I won’t lie. I want to spend as little time in the UK as possible this year. Last year I was away for 6/7 months and it was awesome. I was more creative, more motivated and certainly more happy. For the same to happen, I want to be away for more time this year.

No time like the present, but on the 16th of January I leave the country on a one way ticket. But more about that next week.

For countries, I’m not too fussed and I certainly don’t want to become a traveller, but I know that the environment that being away gives me makes me more productive. That’ll give me the time, the focus and the energy to be able to grow my online business bigger than what I would if I was stuck inside the same routines, habits and behaviours. 

For a goal I’ve set 5 countries and I’d be really happy if those included South Africa, Australia, India or Nepal, anywhere in eastern Europe and maybe New Zealand again.

Off to a flying start

I’ve been fairly motivated and on track for more than the turn of the year, but I’ve been on absolute fire this week and I’m feeling super motivated and positive moving forward.

This weeks numbers look like this:

• 7 days at 10,000 steps
• 5 workouts (Push, Legs, Pull, Push and Legs)
• 80,030 total steps
• 1 book completed – Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
• 7 days calories tracked 

To be fair I’ve put an incredible amount of pressure on myself this week as next week I leave the UK behind and I’ve had so much to sort out. But I work best with deadlines and goals so I knew that it would be the best thing for me.

Some big things have happened too.

Having finally paid a huge tax bill, something that was looming over me like a black cloud. But that’s been cleared and dealt with. I’ve got some huge opportunities moving forward with writing and online work. Which is absolutely my biggest aim for this year. To become a more accomplished and better all round writer.

I’ve had the most incredible start to my online coaching and had a huge response which is humbling and incredible that people still believe in Coach Lou. It’s funny because I always doubted online coaching but I’m actually finding it a better way to coach. Touching base with clients much more frequently and the results so far speak for themselves.

Overall, it’s been a great week and proof of that is this article. I said I’ve wanted to write for a long time and I’ve just ‘not got round to doing it’. Bullshit excuse that was just easy to use.

If you’ve got this far, I appreciate you taking an interest in me and my small little world. But I truly do appreciate any support you’ve given or shown me. If you could go over to my instagram and follow me (@loubrierley) or give this a little comment I’d appreciate you even more.

Here’s to a great 2020.