This is the time of the year that change seems so possible. For many of us change is going to be absolutely necessary, especially coming off a 5-week dessert binge. And we better get after it, because football parties and Valentine’s day are right around the corner!
On the brighter side, every day is a new day, and a chance to commit or recommit to a healthy new regime. Exercise, drinking more water, eating more vegetables, Eating less sugar.
Goals or changes can be broken down into two basic types. There is the “get to” and “have to”. “Get to” are more like increasing a habit you really like. If you like to exercise, adding an extra workout is not a big deal, because you like to exercise. The “have to” goals are when you add exercise, and you rarely, or never, use your treadmill, rowing machine, or gym membership. The “have to” changes are the hardest to start and maintain, but more than likely they are the most important thing you need to work on!
This comes down to will power. There appears to be a 15-minute reserve of will power. It is not a muscle that you can build up, and that is why it is important to tackle any new “have to” goals one or two at a time. If you add exercise, drinking more water, drinking less sugary drinks, and eating more vegetables to your regime you will definitely be healthier and in relatively short time to boot. Sadly, that will probably give your healthy goals the boot all to soon too.
If the aforementioned goals were in the “get to” category, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we (wink)? We admire people who can train like no tomorrow or are not tempted by dessert, but that doesn’t mean they have more will power, that just means that those areas aren’t triggers. Rest assured, they, too, have their own “have to” goals that are extremely hard for them, they just don’t happen to be the “coveted” exercise or diet related ones.
The long and the short of all of this is, we all have areas of our lives that need improvement, and most of us have a pretty good idea what areas those are.
I would like to encourage you to pick one, two at the most, lifestyle change. Lifestyle changes fall into the “have to” category and they are going to require you to say “no” to something and when you say “no” it will drain your will power reserves. The beautiful thing is that once you start to win at that “have to” goal it becomes easier with time and requires less and less of your will power. YEAH! And then you can apply the same technique to another lifestyle change!
Embrace change and get after that first goal, you know exactly which one to tackle first!
You got this!
-Tristan
