Many of us would like to live healthy lives but find that we keep making promises and New Year’s resolutions that we never keep. Making those promises to the most important person in our lives, ourselves, shows that we desire to change our lives for the better. So why then do we not follow through and complete our task?
There are two groups of people who do not complete their task of a healthy lifestyle change. The first group is the group of people who get started and then become discouraged and give up. This happens when we are not rewarded for our efforts. We go on a diet, exercise regularly, and one month later, viola! We are exactly the same weight we were when we started. There is no reward, no incentive to make us want to carry on. So, we do what any rational human being would do. We make ourselves comfortable by reverting to our old habits that have gotten us to this point.
For those of us with this problem, our disappointment and demotivation stems from mistaken beliefs. Beliefs that weight loss and healthy living are something you do for a while and then everything will fall into place. This belief gives us false expectations, which, when not satisfied, demotivate us and discourage us from continuing on our noble quest. Our expectations therefor must be altered to realistic expectations. We must know that the changes that take place in our bodies, even though they may not be clear to us, are taking place. You may not see them, but they are there. Those of us who are lucky will feel them. More energy, better mood, and more productivity. Healthy living is a lifetime endeavor. Healthy living means making a permanent change in our lifestyle.
The second group of people is those who never get started. These people know that healthy living is desirable, but are not motivated enough to even get started. For these people, I have proposed a simple three-step process to help you get started: Step one is to ask yourself why you did not start living a healthy lifestyle 10 years ago. Try to answer this question honestly and write the answer down. Then, look around you and you see that 99% of the time, those conditions no longer exist. They are gone. Things have changed. The world has changed. The biggest obstacle to getting started was removed from your life and you didn’t even realize it.
The next step is to tell 10 people who you respect, or even people you dislike, that you are starting a healthy lifestyle. If you want this to be more effective, go into detail as to what you are planning to do. Tell them what the final outcome will be. This step can be the easiest step if you tell this to people whom you like and respect. Make sure these are people you will see often, such as coworkers or friends.
The last step is to embark on the smallest step you can take towards achieving your goal. Your goal is to stop smoking? Smoke 19 cigarettes a day instead of one pack. Your goal is to stop drinking? Stop drinking on Sunday mornings. No alcohol before 12 noon on Sundays. Your goal is to lose weight? Replace one meal every week with a salad. Make the salad as tasty as possible. Avocados? Mango slices? Almonds sprinkled on top?
Follow these steps closely and you are 99% likely to succeed in your quest to living a healthy lifestyle. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!