How do you transition into new habits when old habits are persistent in your life? How do you transform your day-to-day schedule to fit a healthier, more balanced lifestyle? Changing anything in your life takes commitment and determination to reach your end goal, but through this process your life will become better and brighter, possibly leading the way for others to follow! Let’s dive into some healthy lifestyle tips to start living even better today!
Step 1: Evaluate EVERY area of your life
Step 1 is a hard pill to swallow. Who wants to dig in their deep, dark chest of secrets with a magnifying glass?! No one, but it must be done! When I talk about evaluating every area of your life… that means EVERYTHING! From the obvious food, fitness, and resting habits, to how your time is spent morning, evening, and night, to weekends versus weekdays and even seasonal habits.
Why take the time to evaluate different areas in your life instead of jumping into acquiring new habits right away? Just like following a strict, generic diet for a month, it isn’t tailored to you. You must identify common patterns or habits which are unhealthy and time-consuming. Only then will you find space for new habits and spend more time in the most important areas of your life.
Step 2: Identify what is MOST important to you
Jeez… this is almost as important as step 1! Now, comes the fun part… you must identify what is most important to you! Take a blank piece of paper or your journal and write down the first thing that comes to mind when asking yourself these questions (not one answer per question, but your initial answer to the question). Be honest with yourself. No one needs to read this paper!
What makes my life worth living?
Who are the most important people in my life?
What are the top three things I really enjoy doing on the weekends?
What are the top three things I really enjoy doing on the weekdays?
How often do I exercise a week?
In the last month, what self-development have I invested in?
What has been my favorite book to read in the last year?
How do I serve my community?
Finish the sentence: If I was on my death bed, I wish I would have…?
“The key is to consistently do whatever builds your strength and increases your capacity to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” Stephen R. Covey
Let’s flourish in this life by living with a healthy physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional mindset!
Step 3: Create a weekly, monthly, yearly game plan for a healthier lifestyle!
Once you have identified what is most important to you, start creating weekly goals for each area you would like to improve. The biggest mistake people make is creating a large, unreachable goal and becoming upset for not achieving it! Keep your blinders up as you are running a marathon with yourself… no time clock and no other participants.
Important takeaways:
- You are in a marathon, not a 100-meter hurdle.
- Find small, achievable weekly goals.
- Balance is key to a healthier life, so make sure your weekly goals are diverse.
- Did you create goals to live (fully), to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy?
- Don’t be afraid to start something new.
Especially when you are just beginning, you need to maintain a high confidence level to continue the progress of building a healthier you! That means to start small with your goals and work your way up to larger ones!
Step 4: Check-in weekly with yourself
Pick a day of the week to evaluate your weekly goals and see how you are doing. If you can, find time to do this by yourself with no interruptions. Praise yourself for your achievements and take responsibility for your downfalls. Tweak your small, but powerful goals to better fit you and continue building the healthier lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of!
Ask yourself:
- What habits am I starting to form from last week?
- What is my next step in achieving a heathier lifestyle this week?
- Where did I fall short on my goals this week? Why?
- How can I adjust this week to continue making progess towards a healthier lifestyle?
- How can I continue to challenge myself?
- Is it time to try or learn something new this week?
- Is there anyway combine two goals into one? (For example, spend more time with your kids and exercise. Do it together!)
“We may find it convenient to live with the illusion that circumstances or other people are responsible for the quality of our lives, but the reality is that we are responsible -response-able- for our choices.” Stephen R. Covey
Step 5: Calculate small steps into larger ones!
How do we calculate small steps into larger ones? It’s a day-by-day, week-by-week process. You must not be hard on yourself for taking five steps forward and six steps back. It happens. Life happens, but continue on and press forward with your goal of creating a healthier lifestyle for yourself, your family, and your community.
A little phrase I love is practice makes progress! Don’t worry about being perfect, as life isn’t perfect, but continue to make daily changes and focus on weekly goals to better yourself today and better your future!
Deciding on how you want to change your life is a huge responsibility, but with time and effort, you will see drastic changes even in a week!
One of the books I highly recommend would be Stephen Covey’s “First Things First”. It gives you a perspective of how to organize your daily life by weekly goals and really understand how to prioritize your time effectively and efficiently.
Use my healthy lifestyle tips step-by-step tips (as listed above), start reading a self-development book, and give me feedback about your process!
Remember:
Practice Makes progress!!!
