As I’ve been wondering why it’s so difficult to commit to a health goal, I realized that self-discipline is a little… lacking here in the American culture. I also realized that I often half-heartedly say I’m going to make changes. Yet I never stop to ask myself if I really want to make those changes.
Truth is I often say I do to make myself feel better. But, I never intend to actually make the change. (It’s a bad habit of mine.)
What I’ve learned from personal experience is if you want to build healthy habits, you’ve got to be committed. So, if you’re tired of feeling unhealthy, try committing to your health goals. If you don’t commit,your changes won’t stick.
Commitment is Key
If you commit to your health goal, it’s like building a house on
If you don’t commit, it’s like building a house on sand. All the changes toward that goal will fall at the first sight of temptation or hard times. All of your hard work will be lost.
So, task #1 in committing to your health goal is to choose a goal you can commit to.
Task #1: Choose a Commit-able Change
If you’re truly ready to start living a healthier lifestyle, success depends on you choosing a long-term goal you are ready to commit to. It could be anything from getting more vegetables in your diet or eating less fast food to losing weight or resolving your digestion problems.
If losing 20 pounds is your goal of choice, are you ready to do what it takes to reach that goal? Are you ready to cut down on how many cookies you eat or sodas you drink?
If your goal is to work out every day, are you ready to sacrifice TV time to work out? If the only time you can work out is at 5 am before work, are you ready to wake up that early? If not, then that is not the goal for you right now.
Whatever goal you choose, only you will know what you’re ready to do. Just be honest and realistic with yourself and everything else will fall into place.
Task #2: Determine Progression and Regression
After you’ve chosen a commit-able goal, the next task is to get clear on what progression and regression look like for you.
If your goal is to eat less fast food, then you could consider progression as eating one less fast food meal per week. Regression could be eating two more fast food meals per week.
If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, then you could consider progression as losing a pound a week. Regression could, then, be gaining weight or not losing any weight by the end of a week.
The purpose of this task is for you to be clear with what progression and regression look like for you. When you’re clear with yourself, you can better tell when you’re moving towards your goal or when it’s time to rethink your goal (more on that in task #4).
Task #3: Revisit Your Health Goal
After you get clear on what progression and regression look like, determine how often you’re going to revisit your health goal. The purpose of revisiting your health goal is for you to be aware of how you’re doing.
You can choose to revisit your goal as often as every day to as little as once a month. If you don’t know what works best for you, then just pick one that works for you now. If it turns out to be too much or too little then you can adjust it later.
The only recommendation I have is to not go longer than a month between goal revisits. You’ll need to use the signs of progression and regression to see if the goal you’ve committed to is right for you. If you don’t know if you’re progressing, regressing, or stagnant than you may be wasting your time on a goal that isn’t working for you.
Task #4: When to Rethink Your Health Goal
When you revisit your goal, you’ll need to know when the goal you’ve chosen may not be the one for you to work on right now. A good indicator of this is when you regress several times or haven’t progressed in a few weeks.
So, go ahead and decide now how many times you’ll allow yourself to regress before rethinking your health goal. Also decide how long you’ll allow yourself to be stagnant before rethinking your goal.
Sidenote: it doesn’t benefit you any to fake progression towards a goal that you’re not actually ready to work towards yet. It is way more beneficial to rethink your health goal ASAP so that you don’t waste time on the wrong goal.
That is why it’s important to set healthy boundaries. Boundaries are for you to know when you’ve chosen a goal that you’re not motivated to work towards. If you want to move towards a healthy lifestyle, focus on the goal you’re motivated to reach now.
Task #5: Make it Official
After you’ve chosen your health goal, determined what progression and regression look like, how often to revisit your goal, and when to rethink your goal, write it all down.
This last task is simple but the weightiest of the others… It’s time to sign your commitment. The more serious you take this task the more successful you’ll be in reaching your goal.
Giving your word to do something is not something to take lightly. Just remember to have grace with yourself when you mess up – no one is perfect and that is totally okay. At the same time, don’t say you’re committing to something if you aren’t intending to see it through.
I know this all sounds a little much for something as simple as setting a health goal. You might be right but when it comes to what and how we eat, nothing is simple. At times this is what it takes to actuall start living healthier.
If commitment seems to be too daunting for you right now, then that’s quite alright. It’s great that you recognize the weightiness of commitment. In time you’ll be ready to make a commitment to take control over your eating, so be sure to bookmark this page and revisit once you’re ready.
If you’re ready to start living healthier, click the button below to learn of the next step to making healthy lifestyle changes.