Have you ever wanted to make a change in your health? Was it a success or did you quickly return to your old habits? If you did no worries, it can be very common. When it comes to making a change toward improved health, the new year is often the time people become motivated to do so. However, it seems like only a couple of weeks pass by and the old ways suddenly return. Talking with people this year, I hear many people say they stopped bothering with New Year’s Resolutions a long time ago. Simply because every time they tried, they gave up a short while later.
If you would like to make a change…and you would like to have the motivation to keep it up…here is a three step process to help you do so:
Step 1 – Identify why you want to make the change. What benefits do you hope to see because of it?
Step 2 – Identify your values. What gets you excited? What are you passionate about? What do you sacrifice everything else to do?
Step 3 – Link Step 1 to Step 2. How will the benefits of your change support your values?
For example, let’s say the change you want to make is to start walking every day.
Step 1 – I want to walk every day in order to have more energy.
Step 2 – I value my family.
Step 3 – If I have more energy, I’ll be able to spend more quality time with my family when I get home from work.
This is a brief and simple example, but the point is by linking the benefits to your values, you now have a powerful incentive to stick with the change you want to make. The key is to list as many benefits as you can think of and then list as many ways as possible that those benefits will support your values. If you link enough things, eventually you’ll realize there’s no way not to make the lifestyle change you are thinking of.
If you’d like more help and more depth on this topic, feel free to join me at my next workshop January 23rd, 2012. Details in the sidebar of this email.
Enjoy getting your New Year off to a great start!