Are Your Values Hindering Your Health and Fitness Progress?

Today's Movement Mail is a bit of a long read.

So, here is a breakdown of what’s in today's edition:

Part 1: Values. What are they and what are Nathan’s values?

Part 2: Why your values can help you or hinder you when it comes to health and fitness

Part 3: How can we align our values so that our health and fitness doesn’t suffer

Part 1: Values. What are they and what are Nathan’s values?

I recently revisited my values relative to money and wealth, and through some coaching (yes, coaches need coaches), I saw how my actions and perspectives on money weren't lined up to my highest values.

The same goes for your health and fitness.

If they aren't matched up then any behaviour change for your health and fitness will be thwarted right from the start.

What are values?

Well, in a nutshell they are the areas of your life that you prioritize most above all else.?

You can see my top 4 in the image below:

1. Self Care
2. Relationships
3. Learning and teaching
4. Business

This is basically saying that in my current place in life, I will prioritize looking after my own emotional, mental and physical needs above all else. This can be seen in actions like exercise, meditation, stretching, food prep and eating, having routines and structure, walking my dog etc. All of the good habits that you would associate with self care.

It’s important to note, though, that I do also behave in perceived negative ways to ensure those values are taken care of.?

For example if I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed, or for some reason my mental or emotional state is off, then I’ll probably do things like procrastinate, neglect work that needs to be done, stay in bed longer than usual, over eat, be ‘lazy’ and refuse social interactions, not open up and talk, be emotionally and mentally withdrawn, (all of which I know I do actually do), simply because those are ways for me to withdraw from stimulus in my life and protect my internal state.

Anybody outside looking in might think I’m being uptight, rude, disrespectful, snobby or just plain unemotional….and they would be right from their perspective, but all because I am taking care of my highest value of self care.

You can get a good idea of your values if you simply observe your lifestyle and your behaviours. If you want to get an idea of how you value money, take a look at what you spend your money on. Where do you direct your money to? How do you generate money? Do you have a system around money and wealth?

The same goes for your health and fitness. If you want to know how you value it simply become aware of things like how you think about your health and fitness? Do you frequently exercise or play sports? Do you buy into the narrative that you have to be sore and stiff as you get older? Is there always something else to do other than exercise?

Your values can and will change as your life goes on but it doesn’t mean that other areas of your life have to suffer simply because certain values are higher priority than others.

Part 2: Why your values can help you or hinder you when it comes to health and fitness

It’s pretty obvious that your values can help your health and fitness if they are oriented around heath and fitness.

If you value being strong and fit then obviously you’ll workout more frequently to feel that way. If you value socializing with others then you might play a sport to keep active. If you value quality food then you’re more likely to eat well and be conscious of what you are eating.

However, if you don’t value your health and fitness as highly, or haven’t linked health and fitness to your highest values then the chances of you changing your behaviour to incorporate it into your lifestyle becomes very slim.

One important point to remember is that we don’t have to have something as a high value in order to make it a part of our lifestyle. What I mean is you can link your lower values to higher ones to ensure those lower ones get taken care of.

Just like I described above when it comes to my value of self care, I can do it in perceived positive and negative ways. But, if I am taking care of myself and am taking care of my highest value, then are those behaviours actually negative?

You will always make sure that your highest values are taken care of, regardless of how you do that. You could value alone time as part of your self care and, if you are in an unbalanced and dysregulated state, actively seek to push other people away in order to get that time to yourself. Just like creating a feeling of safety, stability, heaviness and calm in your nervous system can be done by eating, especially over eating.

Part 3: How can we align our values so that our health and fitness doesn’t suffer?

As I mentioned above you don’t have to have health and fitness as a high value in order to make it a priority. You can link it to or tie it to your highest values.

Want to be the best Dad you can be? Then being able to keep up with your kids by keeping fit and strong would definitely be beneficial.

Want to grow your business? Well, having a disciplined fitness routine will build your resilience as well as a healthy mind which, in turn, will only help your business to grow.

Want to learn more and be able to teach others? Did you know that exercise drastically improves your brain health so it can better adapt to learning and teaching through neuroplasticity?

The examples are endless.

The key questions to ask yourself when you’ve identified what your highest values are ones like these:

• How will being healthier, fitter and stronger further benefit this value?

• How will a structured health and fitness routine benefit my highest value?

• What outcomes would I see for this value if I were healthier?

• How would I feel about myself if I saw the outcomes that I want as a result of being exceptionally healthier than I am now?

A great exercise you can do when you go through this process is to reinforce it by noting down 50 ways that raising your value of health and fitness will benefit each of your highest values.

The more you can do this the more it will start to stick within your mind, and once it starts to stick within your mind your reticular activating system will filter information so you start seeing how those ways are coming true for you, further reinforcing the behaviour and desire.

As you start to incorporate your values together and link the benefits of better health to your highest values, you will start to shift your identity.

Remember you won’t grow past who you believe you are.

You won’t achieve past who you believe you can be.

You won’t consistently act beyond your identity.

If you want to find out what your highest values are, take the Values Determination Assessment from Dr John Demartini.

If you want to work out how you can line up health and fitness to your highest values, even if it doesn’t show, then send me a message and I’ll give you some guidance.

Until next time, have a valuable time,

Nathan