Wanting to make changes in your life is a great goal. You need to have a plan that consists of motivation and steps that keep your motivation high. Past successes in your life can be key in helping you make lasting changes now. There's no external hocus pocus magic to making lasting changes The magic exists in you. If you succeeded previously in your life, you can do it again. Success with a plan of motivation and five steps will be yours.
The New Year represents new beginnings, hope, and all of the possibilities that are ahead for each of us. We reflect on our lives today and the changes we'd like to make. Changes can be made but the key to personal fulfillment is making them long-lasting changes.
You've acknowledged your desire to make change or changes in your life. Now, think about a specific time when you felt driven to accomplish a goal and achieve success. What were the reasons that motivated you? Why did you want to succeed? Why was the change important for you to make? Now that you have this in mind, feel that sense of empowerment. You can use this experience again and again to create the motivation you need to make changes in your life. You can create the life you want to live with long-lasting changes.
Motivation can seem fleeting. It can come and go without notice. You seem to have it easily one moment and the next it seems to have disappeared. The good news for making lasting changes is that you control your motivation. Reaffirm your motivation every single day. By reaffirming your motivation daily, you renew the promise of change that you made to yourself. You brush your teeth and take a shower every day, right? Reaffirm your mental motivation daily as well.
You can replay the experiences of past successes as many times as you need to reaffirm your motivation. Play the video of you achieving past successes. Remember and relive those feelings of accomplishment and personal power. If you succeeded once, you can do it again. Yes, you can do it and you will. Success in making lasting changes is yours.
In making changes that last, you need a plan. In creating your plan, here are five steps to lasting change. After each step, I've listed an example for your reference in making your own plan.
1. Identify an area(s) that you want to change. (I want to lose 20 pounds.)
2. Ask yourself three questions about each area:
a. Why do I want to make this change? (For my health, and to feel stronger and better about myself.)
b. Is it a good time to make this change? (YES!)
c. Do I have support to make this change? Identify your system of support. (Yes, my spouse or significant other, my best friend, my friends, my family, my coach.)
3. Select one or two things you will do to accomplish your change. One or two thing are the maximum. Remember, less is more so you don't get overwhelmed by trying to switch things in your life too abruptly. (To lose 20 pounds, I will: Eliminate simple sugar and refined carbs; Walk four days per week.)
4. Start slowly, making workable changes occurs in small steps. (I will replace fruit for the simple sugar and refined carbs food choices; I will start out walking three days per week for 20 minutes.)
5. Write down your reward system. (When I lose five pounds, I will download five new songs on my MP3 player to enjoy while I am walking.)
Write down your plan. Without a plan that is written down in a journal, in your computer, or a note posted on your refrigerator, your changes are merely a wish list. To put your plan in writing is the equivalent of planting flowers in soil.
To make changes requires personal commitment, dedication, and motivation. There's no external hocus pocus magic. The magic exists in you. When your motivation lessens, review your plan. When you wrote your plan, remember why making this change is important to you. Renew your excitement and the enthusiasm you had when making your plan.
Look at the changes you want to make right now as an opportunity to grow and improve your life. Embrace change as another way you are growing in your self-improvement and personal growth. The changes you're planning for today will be the habits that are second-nature before you know it. Just by making your plan using the five steps and replaying past personal successes, you're already on your way!
Being Perfect On Your Diet As Set Up For Failure
It's very important that you begin your healthier lifestyle with an understanding that there will be days when you will stray from healthy eating and exercising. You will not be perfect in your diet and exercise program, nor should you be. Success doesn't come from being perfect. Success comes to you from a balance and moderation of healthy habits.
It Is About Why You Eat, Not What You Eat
Your weight and body issues don't have anything to do with food. It isn't what you eat but why you eat. One of the problems with weight loss surgery and diet programs is our belief that they hold the answer. If only we can follow them, they will work for us. Unfortunately for many of us, we didn't experience long-term weight loss success. Did we fail? No. Absolutely not! The diets failed because they are not the answer.
Commitment List versus Wish List
Do you want to lose weight? Are you hoping for a way of life that includes losing weight, feeling good in your body, wearing a smaller size, and have strong sense of confidence? You can have it. To reach any goal, you need to be committed. To lose weight requires persistence and consistency. It requires saying no to food choices when you'd rather indulge. It requires a commitment to your diet and along with a promise to yourself.
