This week’s guest post is from Diana Fletcher. I hear from my clients all the time that they just can’t get motivated and today Diane is offering solutions for how you can stay fired up and keep moving towards your health and wellness goals.
You decide that once and for all, you will get the excess weight off. You are tired of not feeling good and you want to start having exercise be a part of your daily life. You are FIRED UP!
You have great intentions and you plan your walks, your gym time and your healthy eating.
That first day works really well. You are proud of yourself and feel healthier already.You follow your plan the next day although it’s a touch harder to get started.
The third day you think of an excuse not to follow your plan.
What happened? You truly did want to feel better!
You moan, “Why can’t I stay motivated?”
It’s a matter of changing your mindset.
Once you see results, the motivation will come. We have been told that we need to be motivated to begin something new.
Wrong.
Motivation is the reward you will feel after you start changing habits
It takes 21-28 days to establish a new habit. This tells you that it doesn’t happen overnight.
You need to remind yourself that you didn’t get where you are overnight. The habits that you have developed took months, maybe years to settle in. It will take time to establish new habits, and discard the old ones.
You need to be patient with yourself and use some tricks.
If you already know that it can take 21-28 days to establish the habit, tell yourself that all you have to do is a new activity for that amount of time.
Get a calendar that you can put a star or a big X on, and get started. (Fun!)
If your goal is to walk everyday, don’t make this a huge deal.
Start with 10 minutes. (You are trying to establish a habit, not run a marathon!) For the first week, just get yourself out that door and walk for 10 minutes. (Or get on the treadmill for ten minutes.) If you want to walk more fine, but remember, you want to walk everyday.
You cannot store up and skip days! You are working on creating the habit.
The following week, add five minutes and the third, five more. At the end of 21 days, you will be walking 20 minutes a day.
And, if you can do 21 days, you can certainly do 28 days!
Once you have done this new activity for 28 days, you know you can do it! And if you can do it this long, you can do it forever!
You can use this technique with other habits too. Make one change at a time with your eating. It can be as simple as adding one piece of fruit each day, drinking an additional glass of water, or ordering smaller portions at restaurants.
Perhaps you can start limiting the drive-thru visits and cut out desserts a couple of times a week.
In order to break old habits and develop new ones and STAY FIRED UP, you need to give yourself time, stay patient and celebrate each success, however small.
Make the commitment to make small changes.
These are the new habits that will stay with you.
Then feel the reward of motivation. That’s how you will stay FIRED UP!
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Diana Fletcher is a Stress Reducing Expert Writer, Life Coach and Speaker. You can read more of her articles at www.thoughtsbydiana.com.
Photo Credit:Stuart Miles -FreeDigitalPhotos.net
