Picking up from the last post, this week we will discuss simple starter steps to begin implementing your personal health goals or healthy habits after you have determined,
What do you want your Health for?
*Pro Tip: Write down the following steps and tips in a journal you have designated just for your health and wellness.
#1 – Ask yourself, what has been preventing me from reaching my health and wellness goals so far? Ex: Meal Prep? Heavy Workload? Time Management? Priority?
#2 – Make a Health “To-Do” and “To-Ditch” list. List no more than 3-5 things.
On the “To-Do” side write down what you want to do, list a goal, habit or practice you want to incorporate into your life. On the “To-Ditch” side, write down what habit or practice needs to go so that you can achieve the habit or practice you wish to do.
#3 – Pick one item to begin with on the “To-Do” side. What is the first thing you wish to incorporate into your routine?
#4 – Pick ONE action step towards accomplishing your goal. Make it easy and make it simple. The easier and more desirable a habit is to implement, the more likely you are to implement it.
Be specific about your action step. Make it realistic and assign a time frame to accomplish it. Also, think about how you will measure your success of accomplishing this habit or goal?
Don’t spend much time focusing on the habit or practice you wish to get rid of on the “To-Ditch” side, instead place more emphasis on what it is that you desire to do. You will notice that as you do this, the thing that you desire to do will outweigh the thing that you think is opposing it. Does that make sense?
Example.
“To-Do”(Goal): Get more Sleep
“To-Ditch”: Late Night TV watching
Naturally one of your initial first action steps could be “setting a bed time” or “establishing a night time routine” which will automatically replace the late night tv watching. Old habits or roadblocks that stood in your way before will not be able to co-exist with the action steps you begin implementing to reach your goal.
#5 – Determine your Support. Who or what do you need to support you during this process? A large wall calendar in the kitchen so that you can remind yourself to stay accountable, a sticky note on the bathroom mirror, phone timer or reminder, etc. You may desire to enlist the help of an accountability partner, someone who can help you stay focused on achieving your goal, this can be a family member, friend or even a health coach like me! 🙂
#6 – KEEP IT UP! Now this is a flexible step because it really depends on what your goal was, whether short or long term. If you have seen success in implementing your first action step, KEEP IT UP and determine whether or not it’s time to expand upon this action step by implementing another step to achieve your overall goal OR move on to building upon this goal by working towards another.
This process must be customized to suit your specific needs. Remember to measure your progress often!
If you have not seen the success you desire, take a moment to step back and assess what needs to be moved around or tweaked so that you can get the results you desire.
#7 – Reflect. How has your life improved since working towards or accomplishing this new health goal or habit? Are you encouraged to continue to move forward? What are your thoughts?
You CAN achieve your health goals this year, and I want to encourage you to pursue them with all your might! If you need help reaching your health goals this year and putting small steps into action, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can signup for my health coaching waiting list here!
Talk with you soon!
Take care and Be Well!
Choose Life & Live,