Making Achievable Changes for The New Year
Hopefully the New Year 2011 has seen you revitalized, rested and ready to set some realistic and achievable goals, to make your life happier and healthier and more productive. However most people make too many unrealistic superficial goals, that inevitable falls by the wayside. Then they wander aimlessly through the next year feeling helpless and out of control , blaming other people and things for not being happier, healthier, or slimmer. Guess what the next year the same process is repeated again. Instead one should look back at the end of the year and pinpoint areas of their life which made them unhappy, unhealthy, that has not worked for them physically, emotionally or practically. For example
• Reduce work load
• Physically challenge yourself by taking up a new sport
• Limit wheat intake e.g. bread to every other day to prevent bloating
Instead draw up a plan on paper of how one can improve their life.
Learn from previous mistakes and make appropriate changes to facilitate those improvements.
Everyone needs goals. We should not go from year to year doing what we always do and getting the same results. Change is good, so we should write down what improvements we would like to make and place it somewhere visible as a constant reminder of what we want to achieve this year.
These goals don’t have to be fitness based as long as it has a knock on effect on your fitness. For example; Going to bed earlier gives you more sleep , which reduces stress hormone (cortisol) in the blood stream which in turn reduces weight gain.
Changes don’t have to be huge but can be divided into smaller chunks. For example: If you are trying to lose some weight (25 pounds) for a big wedding or special occasion aim for about 2 lbs per week. By doing this if you don’t reach your target one week it won’t be difficult to work harder the next week and can make up for it by extra work out session and by reducing caloric intake.
You can also free up valuable time to make these changes by delegating jobs which are normally yours , such as cooking and cleaning to older children or partner making them more responsible.
Another way is to get rid of clutter in house or work, clearing out people who have a negative impact on your time and well being to achieve a happier healthy productive you.
Remember if you are stressed from work, relationship and life in general, your body chemical balance and hormone changes, causing fat storage and a poor quality sleep hindering the body’s repair. The body does not have the opportunity to clear out stress hormones from the blood, which results in weight gain corrosion of arteries and eventually stokes and heart attack.
Choose things to work on such as happiness, health, stop smoking, weight loss etc. Make sure they are your goals and not someone else’s. If goals seems huge or unrealistic, break into manageable changes, choose a friend or buddy/relative who can support you when you struggling. If you fall by the wayside get back up and do it.
Your goal is to achieve changes and win and get over your negativity.
