It’s that time of year: The holidays have passed and resolutions to improve your health, your relationships, your finances, your body, your job have begun. If you’re one of the many who begin the New Year with admirable, passionate resolutions that soon fade away under the weight of daily obligations, stress, and this crazy-little-thing called life, use these 8 steps to getting started and staying on track found below to help you stay focused and make 2014 your best year yet.
If there’s one thing every person (myself included), is guilty of, it’s waiting for the ‘right time’ to start. This is a huge mistake.
THERE IS NO PERFECT TIME! If you’re always waiting for the ‘right time’ or the ‘perfect time’ to start a new project, especially when it relates to health, you’ll never begin. Life is always busy and there’s always a reason to put it off until tomorrow, next week, or never.
THE PERFECT TIME DOES NOT EXIST.
By putting off your goals, needs, and aspirations, you are sabotaging yourself. You are thwarting your desire to grow, change and thrive. Perhaps you fear failure, disappointment, embarrassment or criticism. That’s perfectly understandable; we’ve all been there. Refuse to let it stop you from taking action.
The hardest—yet most critical—step, is starting. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS START.
Before work, family, fear, and life in general stop you, here are 8 steps to getting started and staying on track:
- Visualize: What do you want? Get specific. What do you want your life, job, body, etc….to look like? What will it mean for you to accomplish it?
- Draw a Blueprint: Write your goals and course of action on bulletin board or a piece of paper; somewhere you can see it daily. Write clear, specific goals and the actions you will take to accomplish them. Write down do-able, day-to-day steps. Chart out daily AND monthly courses of action.
- ‘Take 5’ Every Morning: Start the day with an intention. Set yourself up for success by reading a motivational quote or listening to motivational speakers. Believing is part of doing. You actions follow your thoughts, so start the day with positive intentions.
- Do Something: Make a healthy shopping list, schedule 20 minutes for physical activity, pack a healthy snack, or plan your next meal. It doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to initiate action. As long as something’s moving, that’s a start. Start anywhere!
- Embrace Setbacks: Even if you’re doing all the ‘right’ things, there are still going to be days that feel like a fail. Embrace them. Learn from them. Keep moving forward. What did you learn and how can it make you better? It doesn’t matter you fall as long as you get back up and refuse to quit.
- Push Though: There will inevitably be days you don’t feel well, eat well, or make the healthiest choices. That’s no reason to throw in the towel. Balanced health isn’t an all-or-nothing mentality. It’s pushing through resistance and setbacks in order to create the life, body, and health you want AND DESERVE to have.
- Stay Positive: Have fun! Thinking, planning, failing and moving forward take work. Enjoy it by staying positive, even when workouts feel draining or the day has taken its toll.
- Get Support: Everyone needs a boost. EVERYONE. Get support from a spouse, friend, or professional. When it comes to nutrition, what works for one person may not work for YOU, so it’s important to get support with your individual needs. When you understand the connection between what you eat, why you eat, how you feel, and as a result, how you look, you can begin to make small, sustainable changes that lead to a happier, healthier, more energetic you.
Life is never going to hand you the ‘perfect’ moment. YOU have to create them. YOU have to make it happen. And there’s no better time or place than starting now. Here. Today.
If you’d like extra support in starting and achieving your goals, contact Jodi for a free health consultation. And don’t forget that Eat Clean Health’s ‘New Year, New You’ 7 Day Detox starts on Monday, Jan. 13th. There’s still time to register, get started, and create your happiest, healthiest self.
