Staying Motivated to Living a Healthy Life

The challenge with living a healthy life is not figuring out how to do it – resources are everywhere (books, videos, personal trainers, etc.). If you are like the rest of us, you know exactly what you need to do – you just need to figure out a way to STAY motivated. So today, I’m going to give you a 3-step framework that you can use to make any change happen in your life: 1. REBOOT YOUR THINKING: Living a healthy life requires that you reset and “reboot” your thinking with regard to your health. Whether we like it or not, there are certain things that we do every single day that are BAD for us (smoking, drinking too much, eating fast food, etc.) Action Step: Start thinking about some of the things you KNOW you need to change. Think about what is going to happen to your health if you don’t change it now. 2. BE SPECIFIC: To make any change you want to your health, the first thing you need to do is be very specific about where you want to go. Whenever I ask people what their health goals are, they usually tell me something like, “Well, I want to feel better,” or, “I want to lose some weight.” Don’t get me wrong, those are great goals, they just don’t have any real meat to them. And when your goals don’t have any real power, it’s going to be hard to stick it out when things get tough. Action Step: Make sure your goals have two numbers attached to them: (1) the first number should be something measurable you want to change (weight, body fat, measurements, etc.), and (2) the second number should be your timeline for achieving that goal. For example, saying “I want to lose 20 pounds in the next 4 months” has a lot more power than saying “I want to lose some weight.”) You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Make sure you know exactly what you are trying to accomplish because your mind will move you in the direction of what you think about every day. 3. DEVELOP A PLAN AND STICK WITH IT: Whether you create a plan yourself, or you hire someone to do it for you – either way, you need to have a direction before setting out on your journey. rnAction Step: Splurge just this once... give yourself a gift - hire a personal trainer, a dietitian, a weight loss coach, someone who can help you reach your goals faster than trying to do it yourself. The reality is that our current level of health is a reflection of us and how we’ve chosen to live our life every day for the last 10, 20, or 30 years. Our health is always moving – the question is: in what direction, up or down? Our health is either evolving or dissolving; ultimately it’s our choice which direction our health goes, so make the right choice.