What is Your Springtime Health Plan?
By: Dr. Peggy Malone
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carrol
Last week we talked about making the decision to get healthy and now it’s time for the plan that will get you there.
It’s time to start taking some action steps to get healthier.
People usually think about their health 2 times per year:
1. At their birthday. When people are thinking about getting older… which makes them think about their mortality… and therefore their current state of health.
And…
2. At the New Year. When everyone is making New Years resolutions
Other than these 2 times, most people don’t ever really consider their health (unless they lose it.)
Most people don’t take time to look around and take stock of where they are when it comes to health and wellness, let alone make a plan for their future health and wellness.
People might consider setting goals for their career or for family or for other areas of life…
Why not consider making some goals for your Health and Wellness?
And no need to wait for your birthday or the new year… today is a good day to start!!
Write Your Goals Down
Of those people who actually do make goals for their future, very few ever write them down.
Successful people write down their goals, and they use these written goals as road maps to achieve their dreams.
There is power in writing something down.
Specific, written goals help to clarify an idea; the act of writing is the first step in committing to the idea. It takes the goal from a thought or a dream or a wish; something that is vague and makes it concrete. The act of writing down a goal solidifies it as a real thing.
When it is something tangible outside of your head… your likelihood of success is that much better!!
Your goals should be SMART goals:
S: specific
M: measurable
A: achievable
R: realistic/reasonable
T: time bound
So a vague goal might be: I want to lose weight.
A SMART goal would transform that into: I want to lose a total of 20 pounds at a rate of 1 pound per week over the next 20 weeks.
Specific, written, measurable goals will put you in the top 3% of the people and will increase your chances for success!!
Make sure to revisit your goals often.
Just because you have them written down doesn’t mean that you can then throw them in a drawer and forget about them until the New Year or your next birthday.
Referring to them often (every day!) and having them posted prominently in a place where you can see them will increase your odds for success!
E.g.: Put a picture of you how you want to look on the outside or even the inside of the fridge!
Schedule Your Health and Wellness:
Make your commitment to yourself and to your health and wellness just as important as a work meeting, a dentist appointment or your daughter’s piano lesson.
Schedule your meal planning session, your grocery shopping, your exercise sessions etc. and then keep the appointments just as you would keep an important business meeting.
What will Your life look like When…
Visualize what your life will look like when you have achieved the goals that you have set for yourself. So if you want to lose 20 pounds, imagine what that will feel like, what you will look like in the mirror, how other people will react to you, what clothes you will wear, what your energy level will be like.
Your subconscious mind works in pictures, so if you give it visual images of your future with your goal achieved, it will work hard to lead you in that direction.
Expect Setbacks:
Every successful person has experienced a setback on the way to success.
They will happen. When they do, recognize it as a setback… not a failure. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off… forgive yourself and get back on track.
There is no need to wait until the New Year or your next birthday to start again.
You can start over at any week, day or minute moving toward your goals.
It’s about progress… not perfection 🙂
You are worth it!
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