Episodes
Sunday Jan 21, 2018
#13: Connecting Your Health Goals to What You Care About Most
Sunday Jan 21, 2018
Sunday Jan 21, 2018
#13: CONNECTING YOUR HEALTH GOALS TO WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT MOST
How many times have you set a health goal (lose weight, get fit, eat more veggies, etc.) only to find yourself losing interest or not being consistent, long before you’ve reached your goal?
You’re so fired up about your goal at the outset.
You create a plan, map out how the next 30 days/12 weeks/etc. will go, and envision what you will achieve at the end of it. You sprint out of the starting gate, excited to be on your way!
Fast-forward just a few weeks.
Things got busy at work so you missed some of the workouts you’d planned. The kids started back to school and time for meal prep got subsumed with their activities. You’re eating out more often than you anticipated. You find yourself making excuses for eating off-plan.
You find yourself becoming less consistent with each passing day. You tell yourself something like, “I’ll get back on track when life calms down”.
Perhaps several months or even a year goes by and you find yourself back at square one, only more frustrated and disappointed than last time (or the times before that).
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? WHY CAN’T WE SET A GOAL AND STICK WITH IT UNTIL WE ACHIEVE IT?
Most of us don’t genuinely care about health and fitness for their own sake.
This is why we allow the things we DO care about to take precedence over healthy behaviors.
We haven’t taken the time to get clear on how being healthy is a vehicle for showing up much more fully in other areas.
When we consciously make this connection, we’re much more likely to be consistent. We will find it much easier to align our actions with our goals when we’ve tied our goals to things we care deeply about.
STEP 1: GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOU ACTUALLY VALUE:
Write down what you value most as these are what you will prioritize when time and energy are in short supply:
These may include:
- Spending time with your kids
- Building a business or career
- Pursuing higher education
- Cultivating a healthy relationship with your partner
- Travel
- Volunteer work
- Socializing
- A hobby you’re passionate about
STEP 2: CONNECT THE DOTS BETWEEN THESE VALUES AND YOUR HEALTH GOALS
In order to stay consistent with your health goals, you must be ultra clear on WHY improved health matters to you.
How will your health goals/healthy behaviors enhance your ability to show up more fully?
The reality is, your brain is not going to connect the dots on its own. You have to get specific about all the ways feeling better will help you be a more engaged parent, a more positive partner, a more energetic volunteer, or a more focused employee/business owner.
Don’t just think about this, write things down.
THE GIFT OF THIS EXERCISE:
- You can reduce/eliminate resistance to healthy behaviors because you understand they are tools for showing up more fully in areas you care deeply about.
- You can avoid disappointment, frustration, and the sense that you can’t effect meaningful change in your life.
- You can start to trust that you will do what you told yourself you would do, even when you didn’t feel like it (grit muscle).
STEP 3: LET GO OF NEEDING TO LOVE THE TOOLS
You don’t have to love exercise, meal prep, eating vegetables, or packing your lunch in order to be consistent with these behaviors.
You just have to get clear on how these behaviors will positively impact your ability to live your biggest, boldest, brightest, and best life.
By making this connection, you are much more likely to keep moving forward and much less likely to repeat the cycle of goal setting, derailing, and sabotage.
How cool is that?
xo,
Jenny and Lisa, co-hosts
The Mind Your Body Podcast
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