Healthy Lifestyle Habits Of Mind To Help Create The Healthy Life You Deserve
Aristotle said, "Become by doing." You may not see the end of the path. You may wonder if you have it in you to accomplish it. But, with each step forward, you build your skills for the journey. Doors open. Possibilities are uncovered. You draw in new ideas. Inspiration and intuition grow stronger. What does he really mean by this?
When we decide to change our life, we also have to commit to changing our beliefs and habits of mind, those thoughts we have about life and ourselves that seem to return again and again, like commercials during a sponsored television show. You know the ones I mean, "I have never been fit before so why start now." "My family are just 'big boned'." "I am to tired (too busy, too poor, too fat...) to get fit." and the even more insidious, "I am not worth it." and "There's no point, I'll never be able to do anything worthwhile." Yes, those 'habits of mind.'
Everyone and I mean everyone can change these beliefs and habits of mind, and the process may differ slightly in how we prioritise setting up our goals, but the main facets of doing so are the same. Set your goal/s, find a reason to commit to them, and don't worry about whether you can see how you will achieve them, or even the results, just take the steps one by one and allow your mind and your life to grow in the ways that support your commitment to your goal. This is in a nutshell what Aristotle was talking about. It's the same for any goal and especially true for health and fitness goals.
Firstly: Set Specific Goal/s: Yes I know you have heard this one before, but have you actually done it? When you have a goal that is not written down, this is just called "a'wish'n and a'hopin'", so get clear and write your goal. My advice right here is to get a new notebook and let it be your goal/s journal. On a fresh page write a specific goal for your health and fitness, give yourself a reason why you want this goal, make it measurable (give it a time frame) and make yourself accountable in some way and give yourself a prize (a carrot on a stick) to look forward to. What does a goal written in this way look like?
Goal #1. Because I want to enter the regional weight-lifting competition (your reason), I have decided I will be able to bench press 10kg more than I can now within the next 10 weeks, (here is a specific goal with a time frame - a great start) now to make yourself accountable I well ask (my personal trainer, my partner, my best buddy) to remind me to stay on task and to ask how I am going every Monday night. When I have achieved my goal I will fill out the competition entry form and enter the contest (your prize).
Or it might look like this:
Goal #1. Because I want to feel healthier and have the energy to play with my children and feel sexy again (your reason), I have decided I will be 10kg lighter than my current weight within the next 10 weeks (specific time frame), I will ask my (personal trainer, yoga teacher, mother, partner, my best buddy) to remind me to stay on task and to ask how I am going every Monday night (accountability). When I have achieved by goal I will buy that sexy lingerie I saw last week and wear it and I will also go to the beach in my swimsuit and play beach soccer with my kids (your prize).
Secondly: Prepare a list of tasks or steps that will help you achieve your goal, if you need help with this step ask a personal trainer, a nutritionist, your yoga or pilates teacher anyone who has the expertise to help you to identify and create a step-by-step list and daily activity log. When you break your major goal/s down into bite size chunks like this, the whole task does not seem so large and overwhelming. It is also very important, unless you have lots of willpower to enlist the help of someone else to coach you through to the end, once you have achieved one goal it is much easier to stay on task and coach yourself toward a second and a third etc...
Thirdly: Accept that you will make mistakes and stuff-up and that it's ok. Yes! It's ok, you will without doubt make some mistakes and you will at times deliberately stuff up as a way to maintain your old status quo. This is normal behaviour, we all get comfortable with the way our lives work, even if we do not like it, and we can then create behaviours or make choices on our way to a "Lifestyle Makeover" that seem to deliberately sabotage our best efforts. The sooner you accept this and that it is normal behaviour and that you can get right back on the horse after forgiving yourself for the slip, the sooner you will be able to move forward and get on with your new life.
These mistakes can be a great tool for you to use as information and feedback about your blocks to success in any endeavour and what is working for you and what is not. If something is a really big stumbling block you and your coach can either adjust your steps to accommodate a needed change of pace or bring in a new strategy to get you past the block you have to your success.
Fourthly: Begin to think about yourself differently, I use an "I take that back, what I meant to say was," approach to new habits of mind. For instance, when I say things like, "I can't lose weight, nothing seems to work," I immediately catch myself and say, "I take that back, what I meant to say was, I am slimming down, it is already working and I just have to believe I can do it for it to happen.." I even say this out loud if I am feeling in a particularly deep slump. I want you to notice a couple of things about the way I have phrased my thoughts, "I take that back," this effectively tells your subconscious that this kind of thinking is no longer acceptable.
Fifthly: Imagine your way to your goal. Give yourself a few minutes every day, it only takes 3 to 5 minutes a day to do this so please do not leave this out. Use your imagination to imagine yourself as having achieved your goal, NO, not the details, just how great you will be feeling, what kind of comments you might hear (only good ones) and what you might be doing - winning that regional weight lifting competition, wearing that sexy lingerie and seeing the interest light up your partners eyes (whew! I'm just fanning myself so that I can get on with this article). This is not a step to be missed this is a crucial step in your health and fitness journey. Did you know that Olympic athletes visualize winning every day before an event? They imagine themselves pushing through pain barriers, speeding through the finish line ahead of their competition and they most of all visualize themselves standing on that podium holding that gold medal.
Medical science has found that deep changes occur in the minds and bodies of people who use this kind of full sensory visualization, their muscles get stronger than those of people who train, but do not visualise, and the psychological benefits are amazing. So keep your eyes on the goal. At the start, daydreaming about the goal and reading about the goal will help keep you focused. They will help you refine your goal and make it more concrete. When you feel you are stuck in a rut, reading and positive imaging will build your enthusiasm. It takes drive, resolve, action and passion to make big things happen.
Start thinking and acting, right now like a successful person who has already accomplished your goal. Anticipate how it will feel to be slim, trim and terrific. What could you achieve now that you have energy to spare. Live the success by anticipating it. Describe yourself as that successful person. I am fit and healthy. I am a competitive weight-lifter. I am slim and sexy.
Reflect on your progress and how far you have come. And as you make progress, recall the breakthroughs you've experienced and claim the success that is yours. Extend thanks to those who lent a hand along the way. You are a success, you are already amazing and everything you need to be, you just have to let yourself out of the cages you may have built along the way, cages made out of beliefs and habits of mind that no longer serve the healthier, fitter, more successful you.
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