We’re so close to the end of the year, and whenever I’m approaching the silly season I’m reminded of the crazy amount of opportunities to let my habits slip.
Throughout the year we’ve been forming a lot of positive habits, whether it be habits with our nutrition, habits to do with our mindset and also habits with exercise.
All of these are necessary in order to live a healthy lifestyle and also to maintain our weight but there is a habit that often gets missed and that is goal setting.
Which kind of person are you?
Whenever I start working with a new student and we start of with a session on goal setting, I find that they are either 1 of 3 people.
They either don’t bother setting goals in the health area of their lives, so they rarely achieve any
Or
They are someone who sets such big goals that are hard to achieve, so they don’t often achieve them
Or
They they are someone who sets small goals and achieves most if not all of them.
When I look back at how I used to do things, I had gotten myself into the habit of setting such big goals that more often than not I didn’t see them through because of 2 things;
And
THIS IS WHAT I LEARNT
Each of these 3 types of people have created a habit. Either they’re in the habit of reaching their goals or consistently falling short of them.
The key is to set up your goals in a way that ensures you consistently reach them. You want to reinforce the trust in yourself that you do have what it takes and you can finish what you start.
BEWARE OF THIS TRAP
The trap is, that if it’s not a huge goal then what’s the point in setting it?
People so often fall into the trap of overestimating what they can achieve in a short time and underestimating what they can achieve over a long time.
How often have I heard, I’m a perfectionist. I like to do things 100%. I’m either all in or all nothing.
Unfortunately our ideas about success are often times incorrect.
What makes people successful in any area of life, is building little success, upon little success, upon little success.
Achieving a goal triggers a strong reward signal. It completes the habit feedback loop.
You set a goal, take an action, achieve that goal, and then receive satisfaction from that win. That builds self trust and increases self belief.
That small win is needed in order to reinforce the new behaviors you’re working on.
SET 6 WEEK GOALS
Anyone can look ahead and see 6 weeks from now so set a 6 week goal, and then another and then another.
What are the top 3 habits you could work on over the next 6 weeks in order to reach your goal?
Is it eating within 1 hour of waking up and to stop eating within 2 hours of going to bed?
Is it eating every 2-3 hours so you don’t starve and want to eat anything in sight?
Or is it managing your carbohydrate intake by eating Low Glycemic load
Perhaps you need to get into the habit of including protein into your meals?
Choose 1 habit every fortnight to focus on and in 6 weeks you might be surprised at how you, not only moved closer to your ideal body but you also feel better, sleep better, moods have improved and you’re confidence has increased.
There should be very little doubt in your mind that you can accomplish your goal.
You know you’ve set the right goal when you feel slightly nervous but confident.
Put some accountability in place. Let someone else know about the goal you’ve set.
Make sure you have something to lose so that during times when motivation is low you do what you need to do anyway regardless of the way you feel. Trust me, this will bring out the best in you.
Learn to trust in yourself again so that you can reinforce the new belief that you do what you set out to do. You finish what you start.
If you are unsure about the size of your goal I recommend you read my book about the 10 health habits you need to have in order to achieve your ideal body and live a healthy lifestyle. You can click here to download the ebook it’s very easy to read.
I also recommend you take my self evaluation that lists all 10 habits I talk about in my book. Score yourself out of 5 on how well you currently adhere to each of them. This will also help you decide which habits are the ones you should address first.
Remember that a healthy body is a result of your habits and until you address your habits you will not be able to achieve the body you want, long term.
So do the self evaluation so you know where you are starting from
This self evaluation will give you a score out of 50.
If you score between 1-15 then I want to congratulate you on making a start. It may feel like you have along ways to go but a big part of this is not the destination it’s the journey and who you become in the process.
If you score between 16 – 31 you’ve got a great foundation to work from however there are likely 2 or 3 habits that you may not have enough understanding about and need to scratch up on.
If you score between 31 – 50 then there are a likely 1 or 2 habits you may not have enough understanding about. Your likely struggling with not being able to shift the last bit of fat from a certain area.
Where ever you are in your journey it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you are making slow steady progress towards your goal. And lastly, remember what I told you about goal setting in this article – make it small, make it manageable and don’t let your high expectations hold you back from living your best life.
Tarryn Thompson
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