The following tips are my personal recipe for successful, lifelong personal wellness. These are the strategies I’ve used for the past 25 years that have kept me motivated to keep trying to improve my overall well-being. For the record, wellness encompasses the following three key components: fitness, nutrition, and stress management. These tips apply to all of these categories and can be considered my personal go-to recommendations for success.
battle against war
When we identify that changes in our well-being are necessary, the tendency is to want to change all aspects of our lives and to do it instantly. We decided that starting January 1st, you choose the year, our New Year’s resolution will include starting a 2 hour daily training program, starting a 100% vegan nutrition program and starting meditating 4 hours a day. We set the clock for 4 am and plan to start by jumping out of bed and hitting the gym for 6 hours, right after drinking 32 ounces of vitamin water, but not before facing east and leaning towards Mecca! Cut to the real world and we see the alarm go off at 4:00 am and our fist slams it into the next life as we go back to sleep for another 3 hours. Oh well… there’s always next year!
Sounds familiar? I know many people who have had good intentions to get going, but are not ready to make a change of such drastic proportions. It’s like the start of a war and they want to win the war that day. Forget it! We need to focus on a smaller part of the war and win one battle at a time. Anything more than that can be potentially dangerous to our mental health and well-being, and failure is virtually guaranteed. Starting slow and having a positive experience is much more likely to build a lifelong wellness program. Win small battles and you will win the war!
set realistic goals
A better plan is to take on small changes that make sense to you. For example, if you’re looking to start a wellness program for the first time, after your doctor tells you where it’s medically safe to start, you can begin your fitness plan by starting with a walking program. You could change your eating habits by adding a fruit or vegetable to each meal instead of depriving yourself of the things you like. You can start a stress management program by sitting quietly for 10 minutes every morning and night. The truth is that small, realistic changes are something you can do without impacting your system. Small changes are usually safe and achieve the goal of starting a lifelong journey. Lifelong wellness should always be our goal. Remember, you don’t lose shape overnight. This was a decline that has potentially occurred for years or even decades. It takes time to make positive changes, and change must be slow, realistic, and steady if you want to be successful.
apologize
That’s right… I want you to make excuses. Make excuses to exercise, make excuses to eat better, and make excuses to do something to manage your stress! I don’t care where your motivation comes from. The reasons to improve our well-being are endless! We want to live longer, play with our children or grandchildren, improve our survival, look better, manage our pain, feel better, improve the quality of our life, improve our self-esteem, etc. . It just doesn’t matter what our motivation is, we just have to find the things that matter to us and use them as daily reminders to push ourselves towards our goal of complete wellness. Stop reading right now and make a list of reasons that support you to store your motivation to work on your well-being. Post that list in a place where you will see it every day.
visualize success
Every night before you go to bed, take 60 seconds to see yourself exactly as you would like to be. He sees himself as lean, fit, healthy, relaxed, happy, and in perfect health. Tell yourself that when he wakes up he will feel great, refreshed, and ready to face his day. When you wake up that morning, make your first thoughts “I feel refreshed, energized and ready for my day!” Sit on the edge of the bed, sit up straight, and once again visualize yourself exactly as you want to be. These simple positive affirmation and visualization techniques are phenomenally powerful. Do not believe me; Try it for 4 to 6 weeks. It works because the mind controls the body, but first you have to prove it to yourself. Don’t take my word for it, but accept my challenge. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can do this simple technique. I don’t care how busy you are, you can take a few minutes each day to take care of yourself!
get help
I mean this literally. It is very difficult to stay on track without help and support. The type of help you decide to hire is entirely up to you. You can hire a wellness professional to guide you in all aspects of your personal development. You can make a contract with a friend to support each other. You can have a competition with a group of friends or co-workers to see who can lose the most body fat. You can make a family resolution, list your goals, and support each other in achieving those goals. The way you set up a support system is unique to your needs, but it’s also a critical component to your success. Nothing works better than having someone to help you or someone to help you.
make a contract
Write a contract with three sections. These three sections should include fitness, nutrition, and stress management. Under each section, you will list REALISTIC goals and set a REASONABLE time to achieve those goals. Write it down, sign it, give a copy to a friend or colleague so they can check your progress, and have that person sign your contract to support you. Frame your contract and post it where you will see it every day. This is a real contract, and as you’ll see in the next section, there must be rewards and consequences for keeping the contract or breaking it!
Reward yourself
I am a firm believer that once you set a realistic goal for yourself and set those goals in a formal contract, you also need to set two other components. Those components include consequences for not reaching your goals and rewards for reaching your goals. The consequences don’t have to be drastic, but they should serve as incentive enough to keep you motivated not to suffer them! The rewards should be something enjoyable that you really want to do. No, you can’t go to your local food gorge and order the whole decadent 7-layer chocolate cake! A better option might be to buy some new washcloths to fit your new slim body, treat yourself to a massage, or plan a vacation somewhere special. Whatever you decide, set these rewards and consequences as you go on your journey. Sometimes this added incentive is just the ticket to keep striving to improve your life.
Believe in yourself
Most of the people I see who continue to fail are, as a rule, people who just don’t believe in themselves. Many people are content to just complain about their situation and become so entangled in this created personal reality that they feel powerless to change. This can be very difficult for some people. Life, people and events can be cruel and leave us scared and unsure of ourselves. Sometimes making positive changes, even small changes, can seem completely overwhelming. This is where believing in ourselves becomes critically important. You have to accept the fact that it is okay to fail! Seriously, failure is just a part of life. We’ve all heard of seeing a glass half empty or half full. How do you see your glass? We have the option to fail backwards or fail forwards. We can acknowledge and accept that life is difficult, challenging, and sometimes overwhelming, and we can move on from there. Believe in the indomitable will of your spirit. See yourself as successful, reaching your goals. Believe!
find your thing
When it comes to wellness, we are all significantly different. Find things that appeal to you. If you are starting a fitness program and hate lifting weights, then start with a walking program or a swimming program. If you’re going to upgrade your diet, add a few extra fruits and vegetables to each meal and eat them first so you’re not as hungry for other foods that may not be as healthy. Get a book on different stress management techniques like “The Guide to Stress Management” by Dr. L. John Mason and choose a stress management strategy that feels right for you. Try different things and experiment until you find something that really appeals to you. Your thing is your thing and I don’t really care what it is, but until you find it, you’re not as likely to succeed in making long-term, lifelong wellness a success.
Get off your ass!
Well, when you get to the end of this paragraph, stop reading, get moving, and do something to improve your well-being. For example, take a fitness brake. Take a walk around your building at work, do some push-ups or jog on the spot. I don’t care, just move! Take a break from nutrition and instead of putting out a bagel, scone or donut, have a piece of fruit. Take a break from stress management and sit quietly for 10 minutes looking happy, healthy and fit! Do it now!!!!!