HOW DO YOU CREATE WHAT YOU WANT? Week 1 of 2, Edition #5

Last week we discovered where we most want to focus our health journey with the readiness quiz. This week and next we will:

• Discuss the strategies, tools and methods we are going to equip ourselves with to create optimal health and wellbeing
• Explore the steps we can take to create what we want
• Discover the tools that will help us move forward, creating sustainable and long-term change
• Empower us to evaluation our progress and adjust as necessary along the way

It is essential to remember that the most important element in actually creating sustainable transformation of our weight, health, and wellbeing is the development of our own ability to take ownership of our choices.

This capability comes from mastering the ability to create a series of small sustainable changes in our daily choices that will - over time - create long-term-change.

Here is a process we can use to organize our goals in a way that will help us focus on our primary habits. Through its four steps we will build in the pieces that make it easy to get it right the first time.?

1. Use structural tension to organize our MacroHabits
2. Set up a habit loop for a specific healthy habit
3. Identify the microHabits to install
4. Connect present action to immediate and long-term rewards

We will start by building our first structural tension chart to help organize both our desired outcome and the secondary action steps that structure the healthy habit installation.

For most of us, the struggle is with our weight, so I will use the category of Healthy Weight Management as an example.

My desired healthy weight is 185 pounds and a waist circumference (at belly button level) of 33 inches.

When I visualize my desired weight goal and how I feel now in relationship to how I will feel when I reach my healthy weight, it creates a powerful tension that needs to be resolved. It also awakens a desire to install the secondary choices that will allow the generative improvement in my health and weight.

Now it is your turn to build your first structural tension chart! If weight management is where you want to start, feel free to use my basic example with your own numbers.?

Structural tension is a very powerful force in helping us create better health and wellbeing. It's a process we will use in each category as we establish what we are going to be working on.

(Note: Please let me know whether you would like more information on Structural Dynamics)

Now, let's move on to Step Two - setting up our habit loop for our secondary choices.

Habit loops activate an important area in our brain that helps when learning our new habits. They work beautifully as a means of installing the secondary choices we have decided will help us reach our desired outcomes.

First, there is the cue - the stimulus that activates the new habit. It can be any kind of reminder that will signal the brain to begin an action or habit.

Second, there is the routine - the secondary choice / action we want to install.

Third, there is the reward - an immediate benefit to reinforce the installation of the behavior.

?Using my example, one of the secondary choices I listed was eating six times a day. Since I want to make sure I start installing that new habit, I need to eat every three hours. So I create a habit loop labeled "fueling" every three hours:

The reward is immediate taste satisfaction, the feeling of fullness, and noting how great I feel in the hours that follow because I ate something healthy.

Now, it is your turn.

Pick one of the actions from your secondary choice list and set up a habit loop. It's important to remember to create a closely linked benefit or reward to enjoy once you complete your new habit. It can be as simple as saying "Good Job!" to yourself as you complete your new routine.

Now you have two very important skills and a process to install all of your healthy habits.

Remember that even with a system, consistency is key.

Next week, we will learn about a powerful tool in our arsenal: microHabits of Health (mHoH) and connecting our now to our later to make daily consistency as easy as possible.

Meanwhile, #stayhealthymyfriends

#healthyhabitheroes