Using Consistency To Achieve Your Health Goals

We are already in the 2nd month of the new year! How have you all been sticking to your new year resolutions? There is a lot of excitement at the start of the new year. It brings a new beginning, the chance to bring about change or improve things you wish you had.

Once the excitement dies down, can you stay motivated to hit your goals? In pursuing our health goals, living on the extremes often comes to mind. For nutrition, you must eat well 100 percent of the time to reach your goal. For fitness, you need to work out every day or rely heavily on physical activity to reach your goal. In other words, zero-sum thinking is plaguing your mindset.

“I am not able to eat one meal or get in one workout, so there is no point in trying.”

“I’ll start eating right or working out when all the conditions are perfect.”

Establishing consistency is the key to avoiding the trap of zero-sum thinking or living in extremes.?

“A small action or step in the right direction is always better than nothing.”

We are all at different levels within our health journey, and choosing a routine that makes sense for you and your lifestyle is necessary.

Consistency is a thread that is relevant to many areas of our lives. If you want to become more consistent, it's helpful to have a way to track your progress. There is power in keeping track and assessing how you are genuinely doing.?

Here are a few questions you can use to reflect on your progress:

• What could you have done better yesterday?
• What could you have done better this week??
• What concrete action items can you take to set yourself up for success?
• How can you make following your regimen easy?
• If you fail early in a day or at some point in the week, what will you do to get back on track?

The questions are meant to help elicit a comparison within yourself. A chance to compare your present self to your past self. Are you happy with your progress, or are you still trying to figure out where you want to be? Either way, the next step is to take action to develop a better narrative for the subsequent reflection ultimately.

Small daily steps to help with your goals, no matter the size, will help in the long run. The culmination of your many decisions is directly shown in your progress or lack thereof.