Don’t Quit Your Day

It doesn’t take long for a problem to become clear to most people. When a problem arises, it is usually obvious. You can look at a situation and know very quickly that there is something wrong. When that something starts, there is usually no denying that it is there.
Finding a problem is not hard. In fact, we often find more problems than we need to. This is true in all areas of life and it is most certainly true in health. We can find problems day and night in any activity that we are trying to do. Think about a typical day and ask yourself:

How many things could’ve gone better today?
Or
What did I see that I didn’t like?
Or
What happened today that frustrated me, made me angry or embarrassed?

Even these three questions could lead to a list of things on a normal day. We find little things in everyday life that add up and drive us crazy if we don’t manage them. Luckily, we usually get over these things pretty quickly. The little annoyances stay little and we move on. The next little thing that happens is usually associated with the last thing, so there isn’t much of a cumulative affect.

In health, there is a different story. Health is all about the little things. We try to make it about big things like diet and exercise, but it is really about the little things. Health is nothing more than a series of habits. The degree that your health is relates to the habits that you apply on a day to day basis.

When we go about your day and apply these habits, we run into roadblocks and get stuck. We get thrown off track. We don’t keep going because we get frustrated and feel like we can’t make it where we want to go.

As we get deeper into this, it is alreadysounding more and more ridiculous. I am picturing some hilarious situations where people are doing day to day activities, but getting thrown off by typical little things. What if instead of shaking it off and pushing through, they just gave up. What would that look like? What would it look like if…

- Someone walking through the airport got bumped into by another person causing them to drop their bag. The bag is heavy, so it takes some effort to pick up. “Too much effort, I guess I’ll just leave it here.”

- A person driving to work and encountering a traffic delay. They are going to be late for work, so rather than going in late, they get so frustrated that they decide not to go at all. “I can’t make it on time, so I just won’t go.”

- Another person goes to the shower and stubs their toe on the way in. This has happened before and it drives them crazy. It is frustrating and annoying and it hurts. For those reasons, they don’t want to go through this anymore, so they stop going into the shower. “I don’t want to stub my toe, so I won’t go in there anymore.”

These are just three scenarios that come to mind when I think about letting little things get to us. Sure, we complain about the day to day annoyances. Sure we get frustrated. We may even do silly things out of anger. We may let things bother us enough to feel like we are having a bad day. But we never quit. We never quit the day, just because it gets tough.

Why do we quit health? We know that we are going to do certain things during our day. We are going to work, school or events that we have on our calendars. We will be where we need to be for who we need to be there for. We will do everything that is asked of us, day in and day out. Even when things get challenging, we will find a way to keep going.

That is how important our day is. That is our life. All we have is each day. We are on a mission each day to accomplish our tasks and we take great pride in that. The key to health is making sure that it is part of the day. If you quit on a health goal, you are quitting on part of your day. We know what would happen if we quit on all or even part of a day’s tasks. On most days, we would run into serious trouble.

We know that isn’t an option, so we don’t do it. We just need to make health part of that list of “must-do” activities. We have to make health part of the day. We have to make it part of the day so we can’t skip it, pass it by or quit it. Don’t quit on your health by quitting on your day.

Want to Live Healthy: Get Real

Health is a very important part of our lives. We think about it, talk about it and try to improve it every day. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t focus on our health at some point. Unfortunately, for many, this focus involves worry and doubt. For many people, health is something that they are seeing as a problem and an area they need to improve.

I don’t disagree with that. I talk to people every day that are in poor health. I see articles that illustrate our growing health epidemic. I talk to colleagues and clients daily and they are all hearing the same things from clients and employees. The fact remains: health is a problem for most people.

In this day and age, with all of the technology and education we have at our finger tips, it has never been easier to live healthy. Wait, did I say that correctly? It is never been easier? Well, that depends on how you look at health. In the old days, we didn’t focus on health, we just did what we thought was normal and it turns out that it worked pretty well. We lived good lives and stayed in good health right up until the end.

There wasn’t much education involved. Doctors were learning and sharing as they went patient by patient. People were starting to figure out what they liked and didn’t like in their own lives. Technology was starting to become a bigger part of medicine. Over the last few centuries, we have taken leap after leap forward in technology. Our life expectancy has jumped and the ways we can be treated and aided have continued to multiply rapidly.

This would make health easier, right? We have more technology to help us and we have more knowledge at our finger tips than ever before. We should all be living healthy and it should be pretty easy for us, right?

Wrong. Living healthy is not easy. It should be, but it is not. Why are we having such a hard time with it lately? There are many reasons that people are not as healthy as they should be. A better way of looking at it is: people aren’t as healthy as they WANT to be. That is the reality of the situation and that is what leads us to the biggest problem we have.

What is our biggest problem? We don’t want real solutions. We want the quick fix and instant gratification. We want results without effort. We want change to happen to us without actually making any changes in our lives. This is our big problem and it is not going away without some major changes.

There is only one way to solve this problem: Get Real.
We have to get real. We have to realize that change is something only we can do. No one can do it for you and if you don’t do it, no one can and no one else will. If we don’t realize this, we are going to keep going down the same path.

Based on conversation and our basic wants and needs, this path is not a path that anyone would choose, yet many of us are choosing it daily. When you ask someone the question: “Do you want to be healthy?” The answer is ALWAYS yes. There is not a person on this earth that would choose to be unhealthy if given the option. The strange part about this is that people are choosing to live unhealthy. They are choosing these health problems and choosing to go the wrong direction despite their desire to be healthy.

This sounds sick doesn’t it? It sounds like people are insane. It sounds like people are dumb and don’t understand. People are not dumb or insane. They are smart (for the most part) and know what they want. The problem is not their intelligence, sanity or education. Their problem is reality. They are living in one and trying to be healthy in another.

That is what we need to fix. Health needs to be a part of everyday life. If health is a part of real life, we can make real changes and see real results. That is the only way people are going to be able to do it. You have to find real solutions that work for you on a day to day basis in order to live healthy. You have to apply these solutions daily by breaking them down into simple steps. These simple steps will bring you real results.

Living healthy is not something that only some can do. It is something that we are all capable of. The results are real as long as the actions are too. In other words, in order to live healthy, you have to get real.

Health: Simple Steps for Simple Results

Health can be overwhelming. There are a million things to think about. How much do you eat, what do you eat, when do you exercise, what do you do when you exercise, where do you go, who do you ask, what do you look for…
The list can go on for hours if you are really trying to focus on health improvement. Or it can stop pretty quickly if you are overwhelmed and can’t think about it anymore and give up. Unfortunately, for most people, the second option is not only more likely, but has become the norm.

It feels more difficult to live healthy than it does to just “do whatever”. We all know what happens when you “do whatever”. You really do what is easy. That is ok if the results you are looking for are a continued decline in your health. It is not ok if you want to improve or even maintain your health at a certain level.

So, what do you do? You dive into a program that shows you “the right way” or read articles and watch programs designed to show you “the right way”. The way that they are showing you is very complex and specific to a certain philosophy. The program may work. It may actually be a good thing to do. The problem is that you have to think differently and act drastically differently than you are used to acting.

This makes changing quite difficult. When the only changes in front of you are sweeping and drastic, it will be difficult to make them. If changes are smaller and easier to manage, you can expect to complete them and be successful.

This is the mistake that most people make. When you go to the grocery store, there are a million choices and possibilities. Rather than defeat yourself before you even get there, make a small list of two or three items that you want to make sure you pick up. Going to the store is already a plus and will have positive impact on your routine. Getting a few choice items that you planned on will give you another step in the right direction and help you feel like you are getting the hang of the process.

Keeping it Simple

Food tip: Don’t worry about every detail on every label. Don’t worry about the difference in nutrient level between this vegetable and that one. Don’t try to change everything about your diet in one day. If you are eating fast food a lot, pick a level that would be a measureable improvement and stick to it. Don’t try to cut it all out immediately.

Exercise tip: Don’t try to run a marathon this week. If you are sedentary, don’t expect to be a on a world-class athlete’s training schedule next week. The only way to get started is to get started, but if you try to do too much too soon you can a) injure yourself and b) get extremely discouraged when you miss one workout when life happens in week two…or week one.

The moral of the story is: keep health simple and you can do it. If you make it too complicated, you will simply out-smart yourself and make it too hard. The longer you do it, the more intricate and advanced your process can be. I’m not saying that it isn’t good to be focused on the details and finding every way to live healthier. I’m just saying that if you don’t accomplish anything because your “perfect routine” is too hard to stick with, you might as well not do anything.

And that is the problem. Most people are saying that right now. “If I can’t do it, I may as well not even try.” That is the attitude that many of us have when it comes to health. The truth is, we can all do it. It doesn’t have to be difficult. As long as you are willing to put in a little time and make small changes, you can live healthy.

In fact, living healthy is pretty simple as long as you make it simple. The best way to make health simple is to focus on small, simple steps. When you can get a few simple steps going, you can start working on the next ones. As you work on these steps you will continue to see results. It’s all about simple steps for simple results.

Goals: Set and Let Your Habits Do the Rest

Setting goals is an important part of any part of our lives. If you want to accomplish something, you have to set goals and take steps toward them in order to be successful. That is the essence of goal-setting: taking measureable steps toward success. Taking steps toward success is more than just wanting to do something. When you set a goal it is turning an idea into action.

Goals are easy, staying aligned with the goals we set is where the challenge comes in. If the accomplishment of goals was as easy as setting them, we would all be wildly successful. Every New Year’s Resolution would come to be and we wouldn’t ever have to question it. The facts and our experience strongly show us that setting goals and accomplishing them are two very different steps in an important process.

So, what do we need to do to make accomplishing goals part of setting them? Well, once you are in the habit of setting realistic goals that work for you, it becomes that automatic. At least it feels automatic. Think about it this way:

When you get in the car and put on your seatbelt, you are doing so for a number of reasons:
1. Safety- you know that a seatbelt can mean the difference between safety and serious injury or even death if you don’t wear it.
2. Legal- you know that if you are pulled over and not wearing a seatbelt, you will be given a ticket for not obeying a basic traffic law.

These are the reasons you are using a seatbelt in your car. You do this every time you get in and drive anywhere. You do this each time, no matter where you are going and no matter how rushed you are. If you are taking a leisurely drive, you put your seatbelt on. If you are hustling to get to a meeting, you put your seatbelt on. You put your seatbelt on no matter what.

How did this become automatic? Wearing your seatbelt in the car became automatic because we know how important it is. We have two very clear motivators to keep us from neglecting this habit. Bodily harm is a good motivator and so are tickets and fines. These motivators are important and will keep us on track with our goals of not dying. They are helping us keep as much of our money as possible and keeping our driving record clean all at the same time.

The motivators behind goals are important to get you going and to help you start making changes to see the results you want. When you think about health, there are many motivators that become a factor to get us moving. Improved daily feeling, avoidance of long-term health issues, weight loss and other factors are enough to get and keep most of us setting and reaching goals to live healthier.

Motivators are important, but the biggest factor in our health is our habits. The habits of diet and exercise are what bring us the results we are looking for, or keep us from seeing them. If your habits are in line with your goals, you will see the results you want. If they are not, you will struggle and not see the results you want to see.

In other words, our habits are the most important factor in success. Remembering that success is nothing more than setting and reaching goals: our habits are what allow us to reach goals by making the actions part of our daily routine.

Often, the most influential things we do are things we no longer think about. When you put your seatbelt on, you don’t have to think about it. You do it every time, yet it doesn’t even enter your conscious thought most times because it has become so automatic. The motivators are there. You could recall in an instant WHY you are wearing your seatbelt, but you don’t have to think about it in order to do it.

That is what healthy living habits become for healthy people. You know WHY you are eating healthy foods and getting your exercise in each day. You know why you are doing this day in and day out, but you don’t have to think about it because you have set goals and made the action part of your daily routine.

It gets easy. It may be a challenge to get started, but trust me, the more you do something, the more you will be able to do it without it feeling difficult. The longer you do something, anything, the more natural it becomes. As it becomes more natural, you won’t be thinking so hard about the reasons you are doing it or the alternatives to doing it. You will just do it.

The best part about success is that you are reaching goals you wanted to reach. What is success? Success is when:
You set goals.
You are motivated to achieve your goals.
You develop habits that help you achieve your goals.
You achieve your goals.

The first step is to set your goals. If you set them, write them down and understand why you want to reach them, the habits that are necessary to reach them become clear and you can easily make them part of your routine.

As you do that and they become more and more natural for you, you will see success. Setting goals and keeping focus on the action is the best way to develop the habits you need to succeed. It is your habits that are going to help you reach your goals. So, if you want to be successful, set goals and let your habits do the rest.

Want to Live Healthy: You Can

Living healthy is not easy. The more we see in the media, the more problems seem to be plaguing our country. If you are human, which I think you are if you are reading this, you likely see the problems and may even be experiencing some of them yourself.

Health is not something that comes easy to anyone. There are many people that have made it easy for them, but only after many years of hard work and practice. It may look easy for them now, but they had to build those habits. They had to work their way to where they are now. When you see them in action, it looks easy. It may even be easy for them now, but trust me, it was not easy to start and there are still difficult times for them when it comes to sticking with the routine.

The difference between healthy people and unhealthy people is nothing more than the habits and routines that they have worked on for a long time. Even with new habits, the process is the same for healthy people. They know what it will take to make something stick, so they do it and do it until it is part of their routine.

Unhealthy people look at these people and think that the process is easy for them. They think that it is hard for themselves, but easy for the healthy people and they think that the difference between them and the healthy people is the ease. That is not true. No matter how much you struggle with health, there is a way to do it. You can be successful.
You can also fail. This is not what you want to hear, but failure is always a possibility. If you are trying something new, you can fail. If you are working to include new habits into your routine, you can fail.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can discuss some real solutions. Here are some solutions to help you realize that you can:

Stop Fearing Failure

If you acknowledge that failure is an option, you can get over the fear of failure. The fear of failure is worse than failure itself. The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that successful people are able to fail and keep going, try again or simply find a better way to do something. There is always another way to do something, so if you fail, simply try again, try something different and you will eventually succeed.

Determine Plan B

If you have another option, failure will be pretty short. The problem with falling short of a goal is that it leaves you feeling like you missed the mark. Well, it’s true. You did miss the mark, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try again. If you have a plan for getting back on track or a secondary goal that will allow you another option, you can succeed or simply limit the impact of a small failure.

Don’t Expect it to Be Easy

Health is not easy. If you expect it to be easy, you will be disappointed. The most common reason for failure is poorly managed expectations. We’ve all been there. You set out to try something new and expect it to be easy. When we run into one little issue, it is enough to derail us. We didn’t see it coming because we expected it to be easy. Success is not easy and often takes a lot of practice. If you go into it knowing this, you can reach it. If you go into it with the fantasy that it will be easy, reality will quickly catch up to you and failure will not be far behind.

So, what are you goals? What is the new habit you want to make part of your routine? No matter what it is, you can do it. How do I know that without knowing what your habit is or what your routine looks like? I know that you can because it isn’t as hard as you think it is. If you can move forward without fear of failing, have a plan B in place because you know that failure is possible and expect a few challenges along the way, you can do it.

It’s not rocket science. It’s not brain surgery. Health is hard, but it’s not that hard. We can all do it. You don’t have to run marathons or lose a hundred pounds in a week. All you have to do is come up with a simple plan that works for you. Determine what habit you want to improve and go improve it. Notice I said improve and not change, eliminate or create. We already have many habits. If you can improve just one habit gradually, you can make a significant impact on your health.

Can you improve your health? Of course you can. Is it going to be easy, of course it won’t be easy. But no matter what it is you are trying to do, if you are focused on your health and willing to create a realistic plan, you can do it. Trust me, you can.

Health: Simple But Not Easy

Health is simple. There are two things you need to know. 1. If you exercise, you will be healthy. 2. If you eat healthy food, you will be healthy. Is that all you need to know? Of course not. Health may be simple, but it certainly isn’t easy.
We all know what to do in order to be healthy. We all know what not to do to avoid being unhealthy. Unfortunately, there is a big difference between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it. That is where health throws us for a loop. It isn’t the knowledge we have a problem with, it is the application.

Why is health so hard?

Well, the hardest part about health is not knowing what to do or even how to do it. The hardest part about health is finding a way to make it part of your life. We all have busy lives with many things to do, places to go and people to see. We have long to-do lists and short attention spans. We need more time just to get what we already have on our lists done, let alone adding anything to them. Healthy habits seem to get left off the list a little easier than most things. It is hard to get them on the list as it is, and it is just as hard to keep them there.
What can you do?
It is actually simpler than you think it is. Living healthy is simple by nature. We have made it more complicated than it needs to be. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it doesn’t have to be as hard as we are making it. If you want to live healthy, there are a few simple steps you can take to make it work for you:
1. Select One Habit
It can be walking, running or going to a class at the gym. It can be packing your lunch at home or substituting with a healthy item at dinner. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you are able to something healthy, you will improve your health. The bottom line is that if you don’t do anything, you will not be healthy. You don’t have to change your whole routine overnight. Something is better than nothing, so just pick one thing that you can do and start doing it.

2. Track Your Progress
How do you know if you are successful or not? You have to look at your progress to determine success or failure. You can write down your goal in a journal, on a napkin or track it an online app. With exercise you can get as detailed as you want to get by tracking time, intensity and frequency, or you can keep it simple and just track the days you are doing it. With diet you can just pick one meal to focus on and write down what you are eating. You can get as elaborate as you want and it doesn’t have to be difficult if you use an app that does the work for you. It doesn’t matter how you track as long as you track.

3. Give Yourself a Chance
We all know that health is not easy. Why do we expect it to be easy when we start something new? We expect to be able to change overnight without any challenges. With this expectation often comes failure and discouragement. Give yourself a chance by putting some realistic expectations on your new goal. Focus on the long-term habit rather than the results, that way you are able to build yourself up rather than being frustrated that the results aren’t coming fast enough for you.

4. Don’t Quit
It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? In fact, this is the simplest part about health. If you quit, you get nothing. If you don’t continue, you don’t get results. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. Keep going on your goal. If it is a realistic goal, you know you can do it. It may take planning, patience and motivation, but you know you can do it. That is why it is your goal: because you want to do it. If you didn’t want to do it, you wouldn’t set the goal in the first place. So, keep going and remember that any progress is positive. You can’t get where you want to go in one step, so don’t quit when step one or two are a little challenging. You certainly can’t get where you want to go without taking some steps. So keep taking them even if they are difficult. It is the only way to get there.
Health is that simple. If you set a goal, track your progress, give yourself a change to reach it by setting realistic expectations and commit to keep going even if it is difficult, you will be healthy. It’s all about habits. If you can get into the habit of doing one thing, it will become easier and easier as you go. When that goal becomes habit and you don’t have to strain to get it done, you can start on another habit and start making that part of your routine too. The more healthy habits you have in place, the more healthy you will be. That is all you have to do. Start with one and work on it until it becomes part of your routine.

So, when you are you going to start?

There is no perfect time to get started on anything. If you are waiting for the right day or for things to slow down for you, you are going to be waiting a long time. Let’s be honest, when you are “waiting for the right time”, aren’t you really just putting it off? It is just an excuse to go one more day without taking action on your goal. The best time to start is right now. The best way to get started is to simply look at your calendar and put something down at a time that works for you and do it.

Health is simple. It may not be easy. If it were easy, we would all do it without any challenges. If it were easy, we wouldn’t be talking about it like this. We would all be up and running with no issues and in perfect health. If you can remember that it is simple, it will feel a lot easier. Pick a goal and start working on it now. It won’t get any easier to get started.

New Year, New Start

Each year, we push through the holiday season and all of its craziness. When January rolls around, we have a chance to wipe the slate clean and set new goals. A detailed plan makes it possible to stay on track and reach your 2013 goals. If you are going to be successful, your routine has to be in line with your plans and goals. Hopefully you have a plan to meet your goals. Hopefully your plan is more than just a “resolution” made as the year ended.

Your health and wellness impact your life in many ways. The cost of your future medical care and the current cost of insurance and other medical needs are impacted. This all leads to overall financial impact. Your day to day energy, mood and ability to get through the day are impacted as well. You can choose to impact these areas positively or negatively.

The more you make health part of your routine, the better you will feel and the better you will function. It’s no secret that health works and it’s no exaggeration to say that everyone wants to be healthy. This year, you can make it the year that you meet your goals. Since it is January we have a fresh start and we already have New Year’s resolutions on our minds, so we have a few questions for you on an individual level as we kick off 2013:

What are your goals?
What do you want to change about your health?

If you want to see any changes, you have to have a plan and you have to take action. The most important question is:
What is your plan to reach your goals?

We challenge you to put together a plan that works for you and will keep you achieving your goals all year long:

• Write your goals down
• Tell someone about your goals
• Think about what challenges or barriers you may encounter
• Create specific steps to overcome these challenges and barriers
• Determine how you will measure your progress
• Decide what rewards you will give yourself to celebrate success along the way

No one wants to look back and wish they had started sooner, so get going now! No matter what your goals are, you can get started now and set yourself up for a healthy year. Even small steps now will pay dividends later in the year.

We continue to hear about the healthcare crisis, obesity and diabetes epidemics and many other health problems around our country. Clearly, living healthy is not easy. Deciding to focus on improving health might be easier than actually doing it, but getting started can be overwhelming. It all starts when you do. And you can start anywhere at any time.

Getting started is important, but sustaining the momentum is even more important. January is a great time to get things moving, but it is only the beginning. This is the first step in a long-term plan that will provide long-term results. We want you and your family to be successful in life and in health. That is why we are here to support you. Hopefully your year is off to a great start and you are on track with your goals. If you haven’t set goals, now is a great time to do it. Let’s make 2013 a successful, happy and healthy year!

Happy New Year from The Wellness Division!

Your Health: Are You Playing to Win?

Winning and losing is clear and there is seldom confusion as to which side you are on. When you talk about a sporting event, the winning team is clear and the losing team is clear. In an individual competition, you know who wins and who loses. It is not difficult to understand who is on which side.

Health is something different. You are constantly playing, so there is winning every day and there is even losing every day. You can lose daily and still be healthy. As long as you are able to win more often then you lose, you are still able to live healthy. That is where the trick comes into play. You have to understand that in order to truly live healthy. Many people try to win all day, every day, but it doesn’t work. When it doesn’t work, they quit because they think they lost. That is where the real strategy begins.

Winning vs. Losing

Winning is easy. Winning is getting what you want and doing what you set out to do. Winning makes a day go smoothly. Winning brings you results you want. More accurately, winning is the result you want. You have to play to win in order to win. It sounds simple and even sarcastic, but it’s true. Winning is something we all want, but until we start playing to win and expecting to win, we don’t win and we will never win.

Losing on the other hand, is difficult. Losing is not getting what you want and not being able to do what you set out to do. Losing makes things rough and challenging. Losing doesn’t bring you the results you want and it means that you are getting results that you don’t want. Losing is what we dread and what we hope never happens, but it does happen. Once we realize that losing happens, we can get on with it and keep pushing forward.

Offense

In health, there is offense and defense. Just like a game, there are multiple parts in each game and you have to be able to focus on if you want to win. Just like sports, it is easy to focus on offense. The offensive part of the game is easy and fun. Some people think that exercise is like offense because they like it and it is easy. Others think diet is like offense because they are better at picking and choosing healthy foods. Whatever you think is easier in your healthy routine that is your offense.

Not only is it important to know that it is the side that is easier for you, but you also need to know how to use it to your advantage. When a team is better than another team, they are able to score more points and put themselves into a better position as the game goes on. The team is able to take advantage of each situation and build a lead to ensure that the other team can’t come back. Even if they score more as the game goes on, with a big enough lead, they won’t come back to win. The team that used their offense to build a big lead is able to hold on and win the game.

Defense

Defense is a very important part of any sport and it is certainly an important part of a healthy routine. Defense is not fun. Defense is not glamorous or pretty. Defense is gritty and takes hard work. Defense brings results because it helps you take care of important things. During a game, defense helps you keep the other team from winning. Defense allows you to establish a baseline and keep things close when the other team is on the move. If you can put a solid defensive strategy into place, you can ensure that it never gets too bad. You never get too far behind and are always able to come back when your offense is play again.

Health is really just a balance of offense and defense. If you can take advantage of opportunities to score more points and advance your offense, you can build a lead. If you can keep your defense strong and keep things under control, you can keep the game close until you are ready to go back on offense.

Putting it all together

In order to win in sports, you have to do both. You have to be able to play offense and defense at a high level. The better you are at each, the more likely you are to win each game you play. The same is true in health. You have to be able to manage both sides. The key to remember with health is that you are playing games all day every day. You are playing offense at breakfast, defense after and each time you are making an eating choice or exercising, you have the opportunity to build a lead or defend to prevent falling behind or to protect your lead.

Each day, you have the chance to win or to lose. You are making choices all day that determine whether you are going to win or lose. The choices are not always easy, but the results are clear. When you put in the effort to build you routine in all areas, you are playing to win. Wanting to win is great, but the action of putting your routine together is the key to actually getting there. Are you playing to win?

Hard to beat someone that never gives up (Personal Wellness)

Health is something that we all talk about. It is something that we all think about. Is it something that we all are doing something about? That is where things get a little less clear. We all want to be healthy. The difference between wanting to be healthy and being healthy is a finer line that most people think.

Let’s think about a healthy routine for a minute: you have to exercise, eat mindfully and take time for yourself to do these things on a daily basis. While everyone is busy wanting to live healthy, those that are living healthy are busy…living healthy.

What is the difference? Well, it’s not a matter of will or determination. It is not a matter of being stronger or being a healthy person or not. Living healthy comes down to the ability to keep going. The ability to get up when you’ve fallen down is the only way to live healthy.

The great baseball player, Babe Ruth once said: “It’s hard to beat someone that never gives up.”

This is true in all areas of life. Since we are talking health, let’s keep it focused on that area. How often does living healthy get difficult? That is a trick question, because living healthy is always difficult. The day to day can be a challenge and keeping it going week in and week out, month in and month out gets even more challenging.

The key is to keep going. When things get difficult, you have to find ways to overcome the challenge. When you get knocked down, and you will get knocked down, you have to do three things:

1. You have to decide that you are going to get up.
2. You have to figure out the best way to get up.
3. You have to decide where you are going to go when you get up.

Try it

When you set a goal, you are trying to do something. When you are simply thinking or talking about it, you haven’t tried anything yet. It may be take energy to focus on the goal even before you get started, but you haven’t gotten started yet. When you start trying, you will be putting in real energy and real time.
Get up and try again

This is a good start, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be set-backs. When you get started and start getting some progress made, there are going to be days that get difficult. There will be challenges that make you wonder if you can keep going or not. There are even going to be moments that make you feel like you can’t go on.

That’s right, there are going to be times that you have fallen and don’t know if you can get back up again. Guess what: you can get back up again.
Where will you be if you quit?

You have to keep going. You have to get up and you have to move on. Where will you be if you don’t get up and keep going? What will you have accomplished? Have you reached your goal? Are you going to be satisfied if you stop now? Probably not. That is why you have to keep going.

What progress DID you make?

It is one thing to say that you want to keep going. It is another thing all together to actually do it. That is where thinking and talking turn into doing. You have to look at where you were when you fell down. Did you get as far as you wanted to get? Probably not. Now it is time to think about what you need to do to keep going. You have to pick yourself up and get moving again. One way to do that is to look at the progress that you DID make. When you can look at your routine and realize that you made some progress, it is easier to start getting back on track because you are not starting from square one again. You don’t have to go back to the beginning.

What’s next?

Now that you have decided to get back up again, what are you going to do? What is the plan? The sooner you set a plan and get going on it. When you get your plan in motion, you are free to make choices and do what will make it work for you. If you run into challenges, you have to remember the reasons you started doing this in the first place. If you still want to reach your goals, why would you stop pursuing them? Why would you give up?

After all, if you don’t give up, you can’t lose. That is the beauty of health. The more you do, the more you get. As long as you get up and keep going, you get results.
When Babe Ruth was talking about not giving up, he was right. Baseball takes perseverance and determination. So does health, but in health, you are even more likely to succeed if you are willing to keep going. As long as you don’t give up, you can’t lose when it comes to health. In other words, it is hard to beat someone who never gives up.

Your Results are Hiding Behind Your Excuses

When it comes to health, the results we want may be different from one person to another. The results we want differ based on our goals. Some people want to be skinny, others want to be big and muscular. Many want certain numbers that will tell them that their overall health is good. And many others just want to feel good from day to day. No matter what your results are, you have something that you want to achieve.

Whether you are achieving the results you want depends not only on your goals, but on how well you stick to them. If you stick to your goals, you will reach them and get the results you want. If you don’t stick with your goals you will not reach them and therefore, you will not get the results you want. There is no way around it. You can try to find a way around it, but you won’t. If you keep trying to find ways to get results without actually reaching your goals, you will always end up in the same place…failure.

The dreaded “f-word”. Failure is one of the worst words in the English language. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to be there at any point and time. When you set out to do something, the last thing you want to do is fail. In most cases, that is the worst case scenario. In health, it should feel even worse, but it doesn’t for most people. In fact, many have gotten used to failure in health. Many even expect it because they are so used to it.

Why do people fail so much in health? They fail because they are letting one thing get in their way. The various things that derail routines are not one thing, they are many different things that come up and various times. That is not the issue. The issue is that we allow these things to become one thing. This one thing is the dagger in the heart of any routine. This one thing is the killer of more routines, more goals and more successes than anything else.

What do the little hurdles turn into that allows them to get us off track? What is the one thing that can end any good routine? It is called an excuse. This is the one thing that can knock you off track. No matter what you are doing, no matter how long you have been doing it, if you allow yourself to make an excuse for something, it will end your successful run.

Why do we make excuses? I’m not sure what makes excuses so easy, but I know that we make them because it is the easiest thing to do. When something looks difficult, the easiest thing to do is allow it to truly be as difficult as it seems. You don’t have to do anything to make something difficult. In fact, when you do nothing, it becomes so difficult that it is impossible to achieve anything.

That is what is so dangerous about excuses. As soon as you make one, you are telling yourself that you can’t do something. Not only are you telling yourself that you can’t, you are actually reasoning and providing support for your argument that it can’t be done. Whatever it is, no matter how easy it may be, if you are able to come up with a good excuse, you not only won’t do it, you will actually believe that you can’t do it. Even if you want to do something, you can’t do it if you have an excuse not to.

That is where so many people are with their health. They have struggled to get into a good routine that brings the results they are looking for. This is the result they are getting now. That is not the problem, but just the product of the real problem.

The real problem is that people not reaching their health goals have found excuses for not doing it. They have found reasons that they can’t and they have decided that it is not possible. Even when they tell themselves they are going to do it or try again, they have gotten into the routine of finding that perfect excuse to fail.

Failure is a word that no one wants to hear when they are getting into a routine. Excuses are something that no goal wants to hear when it is being set. There is a reason that goals are difficult to achieve. It is not because they are too tough. It is because it is so easy to find an excuse. We make big excuses, we make small excuses and they are all just as impactful. Any excuse can shut us down at any time.

The key to beating excuses is not letting them exist. When you set a goal, sit down and think of the possible challenges. When you know the challenges that may come up, you can be prepared for them. You can find a way to overcome the challenge ahead of time, you will be able to put it into action when the time comes. If you can find an excuse to let it stop you, you will and it will stop you.

The fact is, when we fail it is not because we aren’t good enough strong enough or dedicated enough. We fail because we are too good at making excuses. If you look at the most successful people you know in any area, what do they have in common? They don’t make excuses. When they are choose to do something, they do it. They find ways to do it, they refuse to let anything stop them and they succeed. Look at someone in your life that is not successful in any area. What do they do? They make excuses. They find excuses to fail and they accomplish that.

Accomplishments are all subjective, so success is completely up to each of us in our own routines. Success to me means getting the results you set out to get. When you make excuses, you can’t get those results. When you are in the routine of making excuses, your results are never visible. They are hiding. Your results are hiding behind your excuses.

Weight Loss through Good Nutrition

Losing weight is important. Maintaining a healthy weight is more important. There are many plans out there that can help you lose weight. The main key to losing weight and keeping it off is creating a calorie deficit. This can be accomplished by eating fewer calories or burning more calories. In an ideal situation, you are able to do both. This will give you the greatest health benefit.

Health is also an important factor that often gets overlooked when it comes to weight loss. It’s strange, considering weight loss is usually driven, at least in part by health. Health needs to be considered for weight loss to be effective and sustainable.

Exercise can improve health while you lose weight and so can nutrition. You don't need to kill yourself in the gym or put on hundreds of miles on the trail to lose weight. In fact, many of the tools you have to lose weight are already in front of you. In some cases, leaving them alone is the key, but in others, simply including healthy choices can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy.

Nutrition is more important than many people realize. The foods we eat (and don't eat) are making a significant impact on our health. It is easy to think only weight loss. It is easy to restrict ourselves and lose sight of a healthy body in favor of a thin body. But it is very important to live healthy in order to lose weight and keep weight where you want it. The best things you can do for nutritionally healthy weight loss:

Drink More Water
We always hear about how soda and other beverages are causing such problems. Drinking has become an issue. For many, the first step to losing weight is to drink less of the sugary drinks. The next step is to drink more. More water that is! Hydration keeps the body functioning properly, keeps energy up and allows you to do everything you need to support yourself.

Eat More
Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive, but eating more can actually help you. If you eat more good foods, you will be better off. Fruits, veggies, protein and whole grain are all good items to make sure you get more of. Healthy snacks can ward off cravings and keep your metabolism burning.

Eat Real Food
Sit down to good meals of foods that you enjoy so you can stick with it. Portion control is the most important factor is weight loss. Eating real foods that taste good and satisfy you will keep you going strong. If you can reduce the amount, you will still get enough to take you to the next meal, but also trim some calories out of your day.

These techniques can help you lose weight while improving your health and making it possible to sustain the routine for a long time. Here are the benefits to good nutrition to help your weight loss:

Energy
If you starve yourself, you won’t be able to function on a day to day basis. Keeping your energy up will not only give you better function and help you to take on more tasks, but it will also keep your body burning more and make weight loss and maintenance easier over time.

Health
Obviously, the healthier you are, the better life will be. You can lose weight for whatever reason you want, but the bottom line is that health is improved with weight loss…if it is done the right way.

Success
The longer you can do something, the better the results will be. The more you learn about how to live a normal life while practicing healthy habits, the more likely you are to stick with those healthy habits. Living healthy is more important than losing weight. Weight loss is simply a result of living healthy.

Set realistic goals around your eating and you will have more energy, see health improvements and as you progress, you will see more success. Losing weight with good nutrition leads to weight loss and good health.