How to achieve your health goals.

How to avoid failure when adopting new patterns.

Its that time of the year, on the top of everyone’s list is losing weight and eating healthy. Although the information I’m going to share really applies year round.

Most resolutions will be out the window before valentine’s chocolates hit the shelves of your local stores. Is it that we lack willpower and discipline?

No. Not even close.

But to break the cycle of missed resolutions or health goals that we fell short on, we need to recognize the patterns.

There’s something incredibly synergistic about the way we make food choices and the way we live our lives. We choose convenience. When we choose things that are easy or fast regarding what we eat and our diets, we make similar choices in other areas of our lives.

To break the cycle of missed resolutions or health goals that we fell short on, we need to recognize the patterns.

When we repeatedly reach for the glass of wine even though our doctors told us that we should stay away from it, or we know that it doesn’t do us any good, or it affects are our ability to have a good night sleep. When we reach for gluten even though we know that our body doesn’t digest it and can’t support it. When we reach for a morning cup of coffee because were exhausted when we know what we really need is to get a good night’s sleep. When we pass through the drive-through on our way home from work to pick up dinner when we know that it won’t nourish our sustain us. When we make these choices which one of convenience over sustenance, we choose ease over our well-being.

To be clear I’m not talking about the occasional treat that we allow ourselves. I’m not talking about the piece of grandma’s coffee cake that she only makes once a year. I’m not talking about denying ourselves those simple pleasures. I’m talking about the things we reach for on a daily basis.

So here are three steps to help get ahead of this. You may want to grab a pen and paper to run through this.

Step 1:

Take inventory of your diet. Look for areas where you’re choosing convenience, where you’re choosing things that don’t nourish or sustain you.

Look for the things you reach for on a daily basis even though you know you’re not making the healthiest choices, choices that will not support your well-being in the long run. Take some time to write them down.

Where could your diet be better? Where are you making easy choices instead of healthy ones?

Step 2:

Now take inventory of the areas in your life where you’re making similar choices, areas where you’re repeating this pattern. Where you’re choosing convenience. Is it in your relationships? Is it with your colleagues at work? Is it in your marriage? Is it with your spouse?

Perhaps you’re resorting to similar patterns when it comes to your career, or perhaps when it comes to setting boundaries, or establishing healthy limits, or healthy goals and objectives for yourself.

We always know deep down what’s right and what’s good for us.

Where are you choosing to ignore this inherent wisdom and making the comfortable choice of convenience?

Step 3:

Here’s the final step, and the most important. You’ve just made two lists. This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s where convention tells us we need to change all of these behaviors and cut all these foods out of our diets to be healthy or lose weight.

Our problem isn’t a lack of willpower or discipline, it’s that we’re trying to change too much at once. We set ourselves up for failure when we try to make all of these changes all at once and we overwhelm ourselves.

Even if you’re a type A personality, it’s still incredibly difficult to change everything overnight night, and that’s why these resolutions and goals come around over and over again.

Choose one action, just one, that you want to change over the coming month.

We set ourselves up for failure when we try to change everything at once and we overwhelm ourselves. Click To Tweet

There’s no rush, we’ve got time. So choose one thing and just one thing and concentrate on improving that over the coming month. Then once you cemented that, once that has become a part of your daily rituals, choose something else on of your list and start to work against that goal.

Start small. What is the smallest item on your list that you can tackle tomorrow. And this isn’t exclusive to health goals, it applies to everything. Maybe its drinking water with your meals instead of soda. Notice I said with your meals, instead of trying to cut it out completely, start small, just replace it at meal time. Gradually work yourself up to crowding it out of your day by incorporating healthy alternatives.

What is the smallest action you can take tomorrow. Click To Tweet

Maybe your diet is fine and you need to work on other areas of your life to support your well-being. Maybe its setting boundaries or incorporating exercise.

What is the smallest action you can take tomorrow. Write it down, and start with that.

Let me know in the comments below, what small step you’ll take tomorrow. If you enjoyed this video and I certainly hope you did, I’d be truly grateful if you shared it.

Sending you love,
Stay strong warriors.

David D