How To Do What You Should Do
Before I jump into my thoughts on this question, I want to share a link to an interview I did on the Sustainable Ambition Podcast. In this episode the host and I talk about a topic important in midlife, navigating identity shifts and embracing new beginnings. She is a wonderful interviewer and I think you will enjoy the conversation.
According to a recent Harvard Public School of Health piece, “roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent). I have also seen statistics putting this number as high as 73%. While these numbers make me sad, I also find myself thinking, “How did we get here?” When being healthier often equates to more joy, better relationships, and feeling better about everything in life?
I do not believe it is a lack of information. And the steps to avoid this fate are on one level fairly simple: eat whole foods, prioritize sleep, exercise & move your body, and control stress. And yet despite all the information available and a relatively straightforward formula, people are getting unhealthier every year.
This led me to wonder why we do not do what we know we should do to be healthier.
What Gets in The Way
The more I thought about it, the more it seems like the usual villains which prevent us from doing what we should:
a lack of sleep
too many external commitments
setting overly ambitious goals
not structuring your day to support healthy habits
self-sabotage/setting ourselves up to fail
going at it alone
not being realistic about the amount of intentionality it takes to create new habits
How To Bolster Your Chances of Success
Despite these obstacles which confront us daily, there are steps we can take to overcome them and do what we need to for our health.
First, set a clear intention and be specific about your health goals. My sister-in-law is a successful coach with Beach Body, and they always say to their clients, “Find Your Why.” As she said, “maybe your dad died of lung cancer, and you don’t want to. That might be your why. Or maybe you want to live for your kids and show them you can be healthy. That might be your why.”
Next identify the specific challenges or obstacles that prevent you from taking the necessary steps or making better choices. For example, I do not buy chocolate or granola because if it is in the house I will eat it. I do not want to count on willpower alone to stop me from eating it all in one sitting. It just is not enough sometimes!
Third, don’t aim for perfection. Instead, try to do a little better each day. Make your goal consistency. Take baby steps. We underestimate how little steps can add up to significant gains over time.
Then use your calendar! Schedule your workouts. Carve out time on a Sunday to shop and prep ingredients for healthy meals during the week. Set a bedtime. Buy a series of classes and put the sessions in your calendar so you feel obligated to go. Plan ahead as much as possible. Make it hard to give yourself a pass.
Fifth, mark your progress and celebrate your wins. My sister-in-law shared how many of her clients find it powerful to log their workouts. Being able to see your accomplishments is powerful.
Sixth, make yourself accountable to others. Try using a coach. My sister-in-law was first a Beach Body member and then became a coach. She said signing up for Beach Body helped her get back on track with exercise and stay committed to her own fitness journey.
Or leverage the power of community. Find a buddy with a similar goal, join a group fitness class, become active on an online forum, or share your goals with friends & family. My sister-in-law says for some of her clients the group chat is the most important part of the program. These clients find the praise and support of the coach and other members inspiring. And she found seeing the workouts logged by others motivated her to do her workouts.
Lastly, think of your health goals as an opportunity to learn something new.
Parting Thought
We live in a time where we get constant messages of “do what you love” or “play to your strengths.” Maybe these are somewhat misguided. Maybe the reality is life is full of tradeoffs, hard decisions, and short-term actions which we might not like but will serve us well in the long-term. Maybe being a grown up means finding the courage to make the hard choices and to not be a slave to our wants (I will always want the chocolate chip cookie over the cold plunge all things being equal!).
To be continued…
