At New Years, or after a particularly glutinous meal, everyone says they want to “get healthy.” But what does that mean?
Get healthy isn’t a good goal to have. At all. Becoming healthy is going to require you to do things you do not want to do. You will need to eat kale. And put on running shoes. And get 8 hours of sleep a night.
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You’re going to need something much stronger than ‘get healthy’ to motivate you to drag your butt out of bed an hour earlier to get to the gym. Seriously, do you know how comfy your bed is?
The goal you need to have is what getting healthy will give you. Will being healthier, slimmer and full of energy help you feel confident in a bikini, not be in pain, start a business, run a marathon, not get winded hiking.
Focus on the payoff, the why, not the how. Eating kale and putting on running shoes is much easier when you’re doing it for something you actually give a darn about.
Do you know what is behind your motivation to improve your health? Do you want it badly enough?
This kidney stuff has required me to do a host of things that were/are/will be difficult, but there are things I want. Badly.
I’d love to be a mom. Maybe go back to graduate school. Travel. Hike. Grow old with my husband. For me, this is enticing stuff. Much more enticing than to just ‘feel better.’ I want to feel better so that I can take on the world.
These “why’s” are very important. They are the things you remind yourself of when you want to skip the gym.
I put a very (ridiculously) simple goal setting process in Chronic Resilience which I highly recommend you get…it’s fabulous! Until your book is delivered, you can start now by thinking about what you would do with improved health.
What are the goals that get you excited enough to do what you need to do to get there?