CHANGE CAN BE HARD! USE THESE TIPS TO MAKE IT EASIER!
Change is hard but simple steps can improve your health and fitness.
Many times we overlook the power of simple concepts such as just moving, eating slowly and being mindful. These concepts get lost in the mix of everything that seems to offer the magic solution. Unfortunately, the reality is that real change takes time and patiences but over time it works. We all have our ups and downs as well as victories and defeats. I wanted to share a few tips that can improve your health and life over time. The first tip is to only change one thing at a time. The second tip is write this change down as a S.M.A.R.T goal. Lastly, things will get in you way and stop your progress but you need to keep moving forward. Let's look at each one of these tips individually, then I will show you how it works together.
Only one small change at a time!
First tip to remember, we can only add one change at a time. You may say to yourself, “I have too many things to change to only change one thing at a time”. This may be true but if we try to change everything at once we will surely get overwhelmed, discouraged, frustrated and ultimately fail. You know this because you have already done it. It is probably how you found this blog. You are looking for different ways to change, and that will actually work. We can never learn a new skill without learning each concept individually, and applying the skills together little by little over time. One small change, little by little, can be difficult because it can feel slower than you want it to be (I know this is true because I can struggle with this one myself). However, the most success I see is when I stop and apply this concept.
There is one more aspect to this concept that is super important, you cannot just create a small change, it has to be the right size change for you. You may be asking yourself, “what does that even mean.”make sure that you are 90% to 100% convinced you can achieve this change. If not you may need to think of a smaller change until you are as close to 100% as possible. We are trying to build adherence and confidence to keep going and improve little by little.
Write Your Change as a S.M.A.R.T Goal
Second tip to remember, writing down your goals is super important. According to, Dr. Gail Matthaw’s research you would actually be 42% more likely to achieve your goals, if you wrote them down. If we go one step further and actually make them S.M.A.R.T goal we can maybe increase those odds. Now how do you make a S.M.A.R.T goal specific, measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based? You should ask yourself some basic questions to start such as what do I need to add-in or remove from my life to be well? Why is this necessary to change? Who am I changing for within this goal? Where will this change get me? When do I expect to fully achieve this goal? If you can answer these questions before committing to this change then you are ready to begin making this a future goal.
Now that you have your change and you set out to accomplish this S.M.A.R.T goal. You may be asking yourself, “ how can I get this done?” Let me give a simple example to see this in practice.
Here is an example of a change, “I want to start working out!” ok, so we have a basic change.
Now we have to test that change against our 5-W questions which are as follows: what, why, who, where, when?
What do I need to do to be well? Exercise.
Why do I need this change? I feel like I am heavy, weaker and have less energy than I use to
Who am I making this change for? (This one needs to start with you) you need to be the one you are making the change for first or it will not happen. You can then say that this change will also be for _________ (fill in the blank).
Where will this change get me? Adding in exercise will get me to feel healthy and well again.
When do I expect to achieve this goal? I expect to achieve the goal of committing to better exercise habits in 1 month.
Now we can make this a S.M.A.R.T goal.
Specific- I want to get to 300 minutes of exercise weekly (5 days x 60 minutes). I will start this journey by committing to 5 minutes of exercise daily.
Measurable- To measure this I will set a timer for 5 minutes in the morning and begin doing a simple body weight only routine. I will pick 5 exercises and run each one for one minute. Then after 1 week of no misses. I will increase the time to 6 minutes. Then so on and so forth until we reach the first month of commitment. If I miss a day within the current week I am aiming to achieve. I restart that week until compliance is fully met for the week.
Attainable- I know that 300 minutes would be difficult to ask of myself. I do believe that I can achieve it if I take small actionable steps such as aiming for 5 minutes daily and slightly increasing that weekly until I achieve my goal.
Relevant- Would the parameters that I just set be consistent with creating this change moving forward? If yes, explain to verify and challenge your position.
I know that consistency and commitment are both necessary to me if I want to achieve my goal. This is why I broke it down into daily small actionable steps that will help to keep me moving forward and slowly work up towards my big goal of 300 minutes weekly.
Time-based- I would like to be able to get there in 9 months. This time line will allow me to have some wiggle room if I miss up to 3 days and have to repeat 3 weeks.
Keep moving forward (even if you fail!)
No one is perfect! This statement is always true, we are bound to fail and that is ok. What is not ok, is not trying. If you are always successful then you are not pushing yourself to where you can experience growth. You have to push past your comfort level, you have to explore your limitations, you have to envision the future you want to see for yourself. This may sound like a bunch of cliche statements but they are true. Think about moments in your life that offered you the most rewarding feeling and changes to who you are and I am sure those moments did not happen inside your comfort zone.
I have a fear of public speaking and in order to be able to teach people in the health and fitness industry I have to face that fear. I had to make myself better at it and in doing so lead me to be a fitness coach. Now I know that I can be confident and speak without feeling sick to my stomach which has opened many doors for me. I am sure it will continue to open more doors for me in the future.
Closing Thoughts
I believe that putting these three simple tips into practice will help you create lasting change. It may not always be a straight forward path but if you never stop trying and you keep moving, you will get better over time. Now, it is time for you to take action on those things in your life that you have been wanting to change. If you ever need help getting started we are here to help you.
Reference
Precision Nutrition psychology of change
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/blog/nutrition-psychology
Research study summary from Dr. Gail Matthews
https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf