Health is one of the most important topics that we can talk about. Clearly I think it is important as it is part of my life and business. You are reading this, so it is on your mind at the moment too. With all of the discussion around health, it is obviously on others’ minds as well.
Most of the time when we talk health, it involves tips on getting enough exercise, eating the right foods and things that involve action. Taking action is the best thing you can do for your health. With action comes results and satisfaction.
How do we know what actions to take? Well, we discuss that in many articles and there is no shortage of information out there that you can find to help you. I would like to stress the common sense approach and remind you that we have known the best actions for years. Moving your body and not over-eating are the basics that you need to live healthy.
Obviously there is more to it than that, right? Well, of course. You can do more and get more. You do less and get less. You can even do nothing if you want. You know what you will get when you do nothing, so we often think of it as a bad thing.
As an overall strategy, doing nothing is not recommended for your health. I wouldn’t tell my coaching clients to do nothing. I wouldn’t help my clients plan “do nothing” programs for their employees. I wouldn’t expect any doctors to recommend the nothing plan for better health. I have yet to see those published anywhere.
Doing nothing can actually be a good thing for you. If you are working out throughout the year, you may want to take a scheduled break to let your body recover. You muscles and joints can recover. Your body simply needs rest sometimes to get back to normal. Most trainers, coaches and other professionals would recommend taking a week or two off each year to make sure that the body is recovering.
When you have been focusing on specific diet choices, it can get difficult to stick with it. When holiday season rolls around there are some particular barriers that we all run into. As you approach these times of the year, it can be helpful to take a break from your strict routine. I’m not suggesting eating everything in sight, but easing up a bit can have benefits over short periods of time.
Although there are physical benefits to taking a break from your routine, it always comes back to mental energy. When you work hard all year to stay on track with exercise and diet, it can be mentally exhausting. The break is going to allow you to take a step back and refocus.
If you are mentally strained, it will only get harder to stick with your routine. Again, I don’t suggest you try this over a long period of time because you want your routine to be intact and consistent in order to get the results you are looking for. Doing nothing can actually have positive effects on your routine. But you may want to have a routine going before you try this approach, but in short stints, nothing may be just what you need.
Just like we took summers off in school and take vacations from work, it can be helpful to take short breaks in our routines to make sure that we can recharge and come back stronger. So, if you are feeling run down and burned out after months of dedicated diet and exercise focus, it’s ok to give yourself a break.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Goal Clarity is the Key to Success
As the year winds down, I have many thoughts to coming to mind. Most of the thoughts involve the year and how fast it flew by. Each year seems to come and go a little faster. That reminds me of the importance of my goals. As I think of my goals a few questions come to mind:
- Did I do everything I wanted to do this year?
- What challenges did I run into this year?
- What will I do next year to overcome those challenges?
- What are my goals for next year?
These questions are not rare. Most people are asking themselves these questions as December comes to a close. The questions themselves are not the significant factor here. I am more concerned with the answers.
Each year, I am able to answer these questions with certainty. Why am I able to do this? I am certain of my answers, because I have clear goals and know exactly how I did throughout the year. Most people have goals. The problem is that they are not very clear. This makes it very difficult to succeed or even to know if you are succeeding or not.
You may hear about New Year’s Resolutions. You may even see some short-term success on these ideas, but when it comes to true long-term success, you need goals. In order to have success this year and through many years in the future, you need goals.
Goals are great. Goals are what we need to succeed. If you have a goal, you are ahead of the game and you can get the year started on the right note. If you don’t have a goal at all, how can you even get started?
As you start the year, or more importantly, before you start the year, it is important to make your goal as clear as possible. The goal itself is important, but if it is not clear, you may as well not set one. If there are questions or gray areas, you will find yourself guessing and possibly even losing track of your progress.
What makes a goal clear? Well, the goal itself can help you here. When you set a goal, make sure you are specific. If you are specific, you can tell the following:
1. If you are reaching it or not
2. How well you are doing/not doing
These are important measurements. First of all, you have to know if you are reaching your goal or not. If you are reaching it, you can give yourself credit and keep going. If not, it’s time to figure out what you need to do in order to start reaching it.
The questions you ask yourself are what allow you to look closely at your goal and your progress. Let’s take a look at the questions, I asked myself about this year’s goals:
- Did I do everything I wanted to do this year?
- What challenges did I run into this year?
- What will I do next year to overcome those challenges?
- What are my goals for next year?
These questions are important. The answers are even more important. If I didn’t do something, how can I get myself on track so that I can do it? What do I need to change to make it more realistic? The next question is about the challenges I ran or am running into. This is the difference between a New Year’s resolution and a real goal. If you don’t address the challenges that you are going to face, you are pretending that they aren’t going to be there. This is not realistic and will only make it more difficult to reach your goals.
The next questions are simple. They are simple because they are nothing more than building on what I learned from the last goals. I am setting new goals, but they are not pulled out of a hat. They are not some ideas from out of the blue. They are old goals with adjustments that allow them to become my new goals.
Those new goals are as clear as they can be. This is the benefit of setting real goals, analyzing your goals and then making those adjustments. It only makes your goals clear. When you set clear goals, you know that you are reaching it. If you are not reaching it, you know what you have to do to start reaching it.
Goals can be set on any day at any time of the year. Since many of us are focused on next year, it is important to clear up your goals. It is also important to clear up the difference between resolutions and real goals. If you simply through ideas out there and try to pass them off as goals, you will have a tough year. If you set a clear objective, you can locate and navigate challenges. When you make adjustments, your goals become clearer and your success becomes not only possible but probable. It is this clarity that brings success.
- Did I do everything I wanted to do this year?
- What challenges did I run into this year?
- What will I do next year to overcome those challenges?
- What are my goals for next year?
These questions are not rare. Most people are asking themselves these questions as December comes to a close. The questions themselves are not the significant factor here. I am more concerned with the answers.
Each year, I am able to answer these questions with certainty. Why am I able to do this? I am certain of my answers, because I have clear goals and know exactly how I did throughout the year. Most people have goals. The problem is that they are not very clear. This makes it very difficult to succeed or even to know if you are succeeding or not.
You may hear about New Year’s Resolutions. You may even see some short-term success on these ideas, but when it comes to true long-term success, you need goals. In order to have success this year and through many years in the future, you need goals.
Goals are great. Goals are what we need to succeed. If you have a goal, you are ahead of the game and you can get the year started on the right note. If you don’t have a goal at all, how can you even get started?
As you start the year, or more importantly, before you start the year, it is important to make your goal as clear as possible. The goal itself is important, but if it is not clear, you may as well not set one. If there are questions or gray areas, you will find yourself guessing and possibly even losing track of your progress.
What makes a goal clear? Well, the goal itself can help you here. When you set a goal, make sure you are specific. If you are specific, you can tell the following:
1. If you are reaching it or not
2. How well you are doing/not doing
These are important measurements. First of all, you have to know if you are reaching your goal or not. If you are reaching it, you can give yourself credit and keep going. If not, it’s time to figure out what you need to do in order to start reaching it.
The questions you ask yourself are what allow you to look closely at your goal and your progress. Let’s take a look at the questions, I asked myself about this year’s goals:
- Did I do everything I wanted to do this year?
- What challenges did I run into this year?
- What will I do next year to overcome those challenges?
- What are my goals for next year?
These questions are important. The answers are even more important. If I didn’t do something, how can I get myself on track so that I can do it? What do I need to change to make it more realistic? The next question is about the challenges I ran or am running into. This is the difference between a New Year’s resolution and a real goal. If you don’t address the challenges that you are going to face, you are pretending that they aren’t going to be there. This is not realistic and will only make it more difficult to reach your goals.
The next questions are simple. They are simple because they are nothing more than building on what I learned from the last goals. I am setting new goals, but they are not pulled out of a hat. They are not some ideas from out of the blue. They are old goals with adjustments that allow them to become my new goals.
Those new goals are as clear as they can be. This is the benefit of setting real goals, analyzing your goals and then making those adjustments. It only makes your goals clear. When you set clear goals, you know that you are reaching it. If you are not reaching it, you know what you have to do to start reaching it.
Goals can be set on any day at any time of the year. Since many of us are focused on next year, it is important to clear up your goals. It is also important to clear up the difference between resolutions and real goals. If you simply through ideas out there and try to pass them off as goals, you will have a tough year. If you set a clear objective, you can locate and navigate challenges. When you make adjustments, your goals become clearer and your success becomes not only possible but probable. It is this clarity that brings success.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Health Doesn’t Change with the Season
If you show me a person that is off track “because of the holidays” I would bet you anything that they were either off track before the holidays or were never on track to begin with. The holiday season may bring many challenges, but if you are actually in the habit of something, you will keep doing it.
Do smokers forget to smoke between Thanksgiving and New Year’s? No way, they are in the habit and their patters likely change very little from month to month. Do you forget to put of decorations in your house because the season is too busy? Do you decide that you can’t fit in meetings at work or activities with family and friends during the holidays? No, in fact, that is what makes the holidays “THE Holidays”.
With all of the things we have going on, it is easier to say that we wanted to exercise, but didn’t have time. It is easier to say that we would be on track if we didn’t have so much going on. The fact is, you will make time for things that:
1. You are obligated to do
2. You really want to do
3. You are in the habit of doing
These 3 categories are what drive us to do everything. You name it, if you do it, you are doing it because of at least one of these 3 things. You are either obligated to do it, you really want to do it or you are simply in the habit of doing it.
Things that you are obligated to do
When you have to do something, there really isn’t much argument. You have to do it, so what do you do? You do it. Getting out of bed in the morning, going to work and taking care of household tasks are all things that we do without giving it much thought. If we don’t do them, there are serious consequences that we have already decided are too great to risk.
The only difference between people in healthy routines and people that are not in them is the fact that they look at the consequences of not doing it and see them as too great to risk. They also have found that the result of doing healthy things is far better than the results of not doing them. That is the beauty of it. When you are truly healthy, you know first-hand what happens when you do things differently and you have decided that it won’t work for you because you won’t get the results you want.
Things you really want to do
This is another no-brainer. When you really like something, you make time for it. The people that feel obligated to do healthy things have found that they LIKE the results of these things and so they keep doing them. You can always make time to see your friends. You can always make time to watch your favorite TV show. You like to do these things, so it is easy to make yourself do them. In fact, that is the key. When you really like something, you are not making yourself do it. You want to do it.
That is how people in healthy routines look at exercise and healthy foods. I like exercising because of how it makes me feel. It may be hard for someone that doesn’t exercise at all to hear that and go out for a run today. What makes it easier is another thing that I like about exercise: I like looking in the mirror and being happy with what I see. That is another thing that people like: results.
Things that you are in the habit of doing
Healthy habits are no different that unhealthy habits. If you do them enough, you will keep doing them. It won’t matter what time of year it is. If you are in the habit of doing something, you will do it no matter what other things are going on.
People in healthy habits don’t change because things are more stressful. In fact, they take comfort in their routine and actually use it to keep balance in all areas. People in routines are successful. Even if you are in a routine of unhealthy habits, you are successful. You are successfully keeping your health in a steady decline as you age. The longer you keep the unhealthy habits going, the more difficult it is to break them and the more damage is done.
So, no matter what time of year it is, think about your health and how it ranks with other priorities. You will be doing things that you are obligated to do. You will do things that you like to do. You will certainly do things that you are in the habit of doing. The more healthy items you can fit into this, the better your health will be all year. The holidays change anything. They just give you an excuse to do other things that you are obligated to do, that you like to do more and that you are simply in the habit of doing.
The worst habit during the holidays is the habit of blaming the season for you lack of motivation. If you want to do something you will do it, no matter what time of year it is. That is why the holidays is so difficult, right? You have so much that you HAVE TO DO? Well, I have found that habits don’t really change during the holidays. The only thing that changes are the excuses that we use to justify our habits.
Health is something that takes around the clock effort. What we eat, how much we move and many other factors come into play. The more you can focus on them, the better results you will get. Successful people don’t let things stand in the way of their goals simply because they are busy. That is all the holidays does to us. They make us busy and present an easy excuse to forget about our health. Health doesn’t change during the holidays. The same principles apply. If you don’t change your habits, your health will change you. And those changes will be far more stressful for you than shopping for gifts this year.
Do smokers forget to smoke between Thanksgiving and New Year’s? No way, they are in the habit and their patters likely change very little from month to month. Do you forget to put of decorations in your house because the season is too busy? Do you decide that you can’t fit in meetings at work or activities with family and friends during the holidays? No, in fact, that is what makes the holidays “THE Holidays”.
With all of the things we have going on, it is easier to say that we wanted to exercise, but didn’t have time. It is easier to say that we would be on track if we didn’t have so much going on. The fact is, you will make time for things that:
1. You are obligated to do
2. You really want to do
3. You are in the habit of doing
These 3 categories are what drive us to do everything. You name it, if you do it, you are doing it because of at least one of these 3 things. You are either obligated to do it, you really want to do it or you are simply in the habit of doing it.
Things that you are obligated to do
When you have to do something, there really isn’t much argument. You have to do it, so what do you do? You do it. Getting out of bed in the morning, going to work and taking care of household tasks are all things that we do without giving it much thought. If we don’t do them, there are serious consequences that we have already decided are too great to risk.
The only difference between people in healthy routines and people that are not in them is the fact that they look at the consequences of not doing it and see them as too great to risk. They also have found that the result of doing healthy things is far better than the results of not doing them. That is the beauty of it. When you are truly healthy, you know first-hand what happens when you do things differently and you have decided that it won’t work for you because you won’t get the results you want.
Things you really want to do
This is another no-brainer. When you really like something, you make time for it. The people that feel obligated to do healthy things have found that they LIKE the results of these things and so they keep doing them. You can always make time to see your friends. You can always make time to watch your favorite TV show. You like to do these things, so it is easy to make yourself do them. In fact, that is the key. When you really like something, you are not making yourself do it. You want to do it.
That is how people in healthy routines look at exercise and healthy foods. I like exercising because of how it makes me feel. It may be hard for someone that doesn’t exercise at all to hear that and go out for a run today. What makes it easier is another thing that I like about exercise: I like looking in the mirror and being happy with what I see. That is another thing that people like: results.
Things that you are in the habit of doing
Healthy habits are no different that unhealthy habits. If you do them enough, you will keep doing them. It won’t matter what time of year it is. If you are in the habit of doing something, you will do it no matter what other things are going on.
People in healthy habits don’t change because things are more stressful. In fact, they take comfort in their routine and actually use it to keep balance in all areas. People in routines are successful. Even if you are in a routine of unhealthy habits, you are successful. You are successfully keeping your health in a steady decline as you age. The longer you keep the unhealthy habits going, the more difficult it is to break them and the more damage is done.
So, no matter what time of year it is, think about your health and how it ranks with other priorities. You will be doing things that you are obligated to do. You will do things that you like to do. You will certainly do things that you are in the habit of doing. The more healthy items you can fit into this, the better your health will be all year. The holidays change anything. They just give you an excuse to do other things that you are obligated to do, that you like to do more and that you are simply in the habit of doing.
The worst habit during the holidays is the habit of blaming the season for you lack of motivation. If you want to do something you will do it, no matter what time of year it is. That is why the holidays is so difficult, right? You have so much that you HAVE TO DO? Well, I have found that habits don’t really change during the holidays. The only thing that changes are the excuses that we use to justify our habits.
Health is something that takes around the clock effort. What we eat, how much we move and many other factors come into play. The more you can focus on them, the better results you will get. Successful people don’t let things stand in the way of their goals simply because they are busy. That is all the holidays does to us. They make us busy and present an easy excuse to forget about our health. Health doesn’t change during the holidays. The same principles apply. If you don’t change your habits, your health will change you. And those changes will be far more stressful for you than shopping for gifts this year.
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