Keep It Simple

Once you’ve identified what you will look and feel like, determine the steps you will need to take to get there. Keep it simple. Small changes have big payoffs if you are consistent.

If a pilot changes his route by just a few degrees, he will end up hundreds of miles off course. The same is true for (seemingly) small changes…they have the power to change your destination.

Don’t like where you’re headed? Make a small meaningful change, be consistent with it, and watch the ripple effect.

Make It Meaningful

A goal like ‘I will not gain any weight over the holidays’ is less meaningful than a goal like ‘I will fit into my jeans, have less fatigue and bloating, and have more energy to play with my kids’. Both could be driving forces to maintain your current weight.

Truth is, when you’re faced with those moment-by-moment micro decisions…you know the kind…where everything inside of you and most people around you seem to be shouting ‘it’s no big deal’ or ‘you owe it to yourself’ or ‘you can make up for it tomorrow’... having a deeply meaningful goal in mind will help you be more successful in staying the course.

After all, those micro decisions add up to be the few degrees of change that determine your destination.

Make It Attainable

Telling yourself you will completely give up sugar over the holidays, when you know you’ve got a mean sweet tooth, is setting yourself up for failure. Better to acknowledge your starting point and make a small meaningful change that you can be consistent with.

Break the goal down into steps. Ask yourself how likely you are to achieve it (and be honest). If you can’t say with confidence that you’re a 7 out of 10, change it up until you get there.

You are more likely to reach your desired outcome that way, and the momentum will propel you forward in the change process.

Anticipate Challenges

...and have a backup plan. Very few things go perfectly as planned. When we’re talking about making personal changes, we can guarantee that there will be challenges. This is only amplified with the added layer of the holiday season.

It is crucial to anticipate what the challenges may be and have a backup plan in place. If your goal is to exercise 2 days per week for 30 minutes from now until January, be realistic about what might prevent that from happening.

If you know your job gets especially demanding around the holidays, leaving you feeling exhausted…plan for it. For example, your goal could include a backup plan like, ‘On the days I don’t have the energy to exercise for 30 minutes, I will walk for 10 minutes’.

This will keep you from feeling like you’ve failed, because in reality you haven’t! You anticipated the challenge and you had a plan for how to handle it. This will help you be much more successful than deciding in the moment what to do when you’re dog tired.

When You Get Off Track

Those who make no effort to change have nothing to lose…but they also have nothing to gain.

Rather than focusing on what went wrong with your plan, celebrate what went right. Celebrate your partial success!

Guess what? You’re human and what you’re doing is difficult. It is definitely worth it, but let’s be honest…it’s hard.

We have the ability to learn from what doesn’t go quite right and make slight adjustments to our plan going forward. This is the key to success!

Those few degrees are going to correct our course and get us to our desired destination. We don’t demand perfection from ourself or quit when our plan goes awry. We shake it off and move forward with the wisdom we’ve gained, pressing on toward our goal.

When You Need Support

Find a friend, co-worker, or family member that will travel this journey with you. Someone who will support you and help you move closer to your goals, not distract you away from them. Research shows us that people are more successful in reaching their goals when they have a support system in place. Health coaching is a valuable form of support with tremendous research behind it. This is truly the way of the future with more doctors having health coaches in their practice to help their patients successfully implement their recommendations in a real-world practical way. Book a free Discovery Call today if you’re interested in learning more about working with a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). I would be happy to talk with you! Until then…Happy Holidays!!