The first step in improving your health
Chris Desmond
Health and Wellbeing Consultant | Injury Prevention Consultant | Physiotherapist
We're getting ready to sell our house. It's our first home and we've been here almost 10 years. It's an amazing place but with two little boys getting bigger by the day it can feel a little small at times.
We're sorting out a few things that need tidying up before putting it on the market. Touching up some paint, replacing the carpet, tidying up the gardens.
Last weekend I washed the house.
It didn't look particularly dirty until I started. After a few minutes there was a noticeable difference between the area I had cleaned and that I hadn't.?
The house is nice and shiny now, but we hadn't noticed that it was particularly dirty beforehand.?
We weren't aware of it because it's something we saw every day. To us it just looked normal. But what had been happening is it had been getting slightly dirtier every day since the last time I washed it - probably last summer.
People often ask me where they should start to improve their health and performance.?
The first step in improving your health and performance is developing awareness.?
Just generally being aware is helpful and may make you an enlightened being BUT for making sustainable change we want to focus on some specific areas.
Awareness of your current health status
Much like my dirty house, we are often unaware of our current health status. Sometimes blissfully, at other times detrimentally.
Taking time to honestly build awareness of our current health status is vital. It allows us to identify areas we’re already strong in, as well as areas for improvement.
We want to improve from where we are now, to a new desired state of health and performance. To do that we need a path and a plan.
It's tough to create a plan to take you from HERE to THERE if you don't know where HERE is.
When you understand where you are, and why you're here, then often THERE changes for the better as well.
Clients I work with often find it helpful to review their health in different facets so that they can be more specific and set priority areas for improvement.?
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?? To start to build your awareness try this.
?? Rate each facet of health below on a scale of 0 to 10
?? Ask WHY you gave yourself that rating
??Ask what other information would be helpful to know in this area before you start to make change
?? Energy levels
?? ♀? Fitness levels
?? Social connection
?? Mental Wellbeing
?? ♀? Flexibility
?? Sleep
?? Diet
?? ♂? Relaxation
??Positive stress
?? Daily purpose
and whatever else you might want to add.
Spending the time to create awareness of your current health status can be confronting because it shines a light on areas of your life that you may not have been paying attention to. You might not like what you see.
And it also sets you up for success when developing a health strategy.?
You know the areas to improve. You know the areas that are important for you. You realise why you are there. You also begin to identify barriers you will have to navigate as you improve.
Take some time to review your current health status (and let me know if you want the worksheets I use).
If you want to improve your health and performance in 2023 then book in a free health strategy call with me https://calendly.com/healthmentors/30min
If you want to get better at doing hard things then listen to “Uncomfortable is OK” a mental wellbeing and performance podcast helping us get better at navigating challenge https://uncomfortable-is-ok.castos.com/?