You’ve heard it being said that in order to create any lasting change you must change your lifestyle.

It’s an area that is often spoken about but very few people address this important aspect to their goal achievement.

Sure you could achieve your scale weight goal, your body fat % goal, your increased energy goal but it will soon be undone if you haven’t created a change in lifestyle.

In this article I will give you the process I go through with each of my coaching clients.

But first let me back up and preframe a few things.

You’ll only ever do things that are serving your highest values and for your nutrition habits to be part of your lifestyle, you MUST connect how achieving your goal is going to serve your highest values.

You must strengthen the connection continuously, and it must be fueled with emotion.

We very rarely read about this side of nutrition in mainstream articles because the typical way of thinking is to assume that what we lack is the how to’s, when really the most elusive part is the WHY.

A whopping 80% of your goal achievement comes down to your WHY and only 20% is attributed to the HOW.

That reminds me of an excellent book called “If How To’s Were Enough We’d All Be Skinny, Rich and Happy” by Brian Klemmer. How true is the title of that book?

We don’t need any more How To’s, there’s enough freely available information out there for you to achieve your goal but why aren’t you doing it?

I want to suggest its because no one has taken the time to help you make the proper connections between what you’re doing and how it can serve your highest values.

Generally it can be difficult to figure this out on our own because it causes us to question why we may not be operating from the highest place of integrity.

Your highest values are the things that take most of your time, your energy, your space, your thoughts. They are what you prioritise. They are what you will be making your decisions based upon. They will also determine how much value you apply to something. For example for one of my best friends music is high on his values. And so his price threshold is extremely high for music equipment and anything music related. 50% of his living space is electronic equipment to enhance his music. When I flatted with him, first thing in the morning I would hear he was up long before I saw him. He would always be humming a tune. His clothes and hair would replicate his love for music and the industry. You see my point.

A value is not something that you necessarily want it to be, it is simply what is showing up in your life.

You’ll likely find your top 3 in one of these categories.

Family/Spouse/Children,

Recreation/Hobbies,

Study/Learning,

Work/Career,

Social/Friends

Pick your top 3 in no particular order and ask yourself these questions for each.

• How is achieving your goals going to improve your e.g Work
• What would it mean to you to achieve that?
• How would you feel if you didn’t achieve those things?
• What action will you take to ensure that you are in integrity with what you say?
• Who can support you in getting there?

Strengthening this connection and most importantly fueling it with emotion is key.

Human behaviour is fueled more by emotion than it ever will be with logic.

It’s important that your support person, coach, mentor, nutritionist is supporting you in this area as equally as they are in the area of how to’s.

The actions that need to become habits like planning your meals, carrying snacks with you, meal frequency, sleep, exercise etc and the meaning you attach to these actions must be to serve your values. Your brain is also a muscle, and it too must be developing.

Key points

• Set your goals – make sure that they are measurable and they may also include things like improved sleep, clearer skin, even energy levels
• Identify your top 3 values so that you are aware of them. Remember they may not always be obvious to you but they will be showing up in your life in a very obvious way.
• Find a support person who is invested in your achievement – I believe it’s important for the person to have some sort of personal vested interest, that way there is an equal exchange of value and a uncommunicated trust there.
• If you would like that person to be me, I look forward to knowing you personally.

To get the process started for you – take my body type quiz here. It will help you determine which glandular weakness may be slowing down or even stalling your progress. And it’ll communicate to me your desire to start working towards your goals.

Yours in Health

Tarryn Thompson

Nutrition Coach