3 Key Tips to Conquer Your Wellness Goals
I'm sure many of you have already started your goals for the year. Or some, like me, maybe navigating through figuring out this year's goals. The beginning of the year is a great time to reflect, reset, and refocus. Think about our successes, failures, good times, and not-so-good times. It's a moment to think of new ideas and beginnings. We intently think about ourselves and areas we would like to improve and change. It's the beginning of another year. It is time for us to make positive changes for the betterment of ourselves within our mental, spiritual, and physical health. Understandably, not everyone is into goal setting. But for people like me, where goal setting provides guidance, structure, and somewhat of a blueprint for the year.
But it's now February, and some may have completely thrown in the towel about you not meeting your goals. I mean, I get it. Our habits and lifestyles are so deeply ingrained in us that it's hard to retrain our brains and bodies to create and stick with new habits. The adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," has stuck around all these years for a reason. We're not animals; however, after many years of living, humans have adapted to our environments and have become wired to act subconsciously in response to our environment and daily lifestyles, making it hard to make the changes we desire. Throughout our lifespan, we've developed actual physical grooves within our brains resulting from our daily actions, behaviors, and habits. These grooves cause us to have automatic responses to our common daily lifestyle. For example, we wake up in the mornings, and we're prompted to use the restroom. After the restroom, we're prompted to shower. Next, we wash our faces, brush our teeth, floss, moisturize, get dressed for the day, and so on. These are automatic habits that our brains have developed over the years. For many of us, these habits are easy; we do them without so much of a second thought. These are the healthy habits that we want to keep and continue.
However, what about those not-so-healthy habits? You know, coming in from a long day's work and crashing on the sofa, binge-watching TV until the TV cast members watch you, eating the entire sleeve of your favorite Girl Scout cookies all in one setting (It's that time of the year!), or the late night snack trips to the pantry after you've put the kiddos to sleep. We all have these habits and behaviors that we so desperately want to change but just can't seem to change or commit to changing. However, there is hope. We don't have to throw away all our health and wellness goals for the year. Although, indeed, our habits are deeply imprinted on our brains, our brains can change. Scientists have discovered that our brains can change and mold, like plastic, to our environments and daily experiences. This is called neuroplasticity. So not only can we change, but those deeply implanted grooves in our brains can be conquered. This should give us hope that not only do we now know that we can change, but our brains have the ability to grow, develop, and maintain new healthier habits.
However, there's a caveat. The brain won't automatically create healthier, productive habits. We must train our brains. That's right, practice. Our brains are currently on autopilot with our regular habits, so we have to get the brain off autopilot to begin building those new habits. So, how do we begin to use our brain's neuroplasticity to begin building better habits and really meet our health and wellness goals? I've provided three tips
Develop self-efficacy. I've discussed self-efficacy and the importance of knowing you can achieve your goals. When we tell our brains that we can change or reach our goals, we're creating positive self-talk, and this type of self-talk creates a positive environment for our brains to flourish. This is what makes self-efficacy important because when we flood our brains with positive thoughts, it gives our brain the positive chemicals needed to thrive. According to Michael and Scott Warrick's book, Healing the Human Brain, "when we expose ourselves to a supportive environment, our brains secrete positive eustress chemicals such as oxytocin, dopamine, endorphins, and telomerase." The more you use these chemicals, the more your brain will want to feel the same way again. Our emotions and thoughts play an important role in creating new habits. So allow your brain to thrive by having empowering and positive thoughts about knowing you can reach your health and lifestyle goals.
Start small. Many of us, especially type A individuals, make overly ambitious, grandiose goals. However, when those plans fall flat, our entire world falls apart, and everything stops. We give up, we stop trying, and our goals are never reached. Setting initial large goals sets us up for failure. Therefore, we need to set small daily habits and build upon those habits little by little. Losing 60 lbs. this year is a lot easier if we break this goal down to losing 5-10% of our body weight; or, instead of attempting to drink a gallon of water per day, start by simply sitting a bottle of water on your nightstand as a reminder to begin your day by drinking one bottle of water in the morning when you awake. Walking for 10 minutes a day is much more attainable than having a goal to run a 10K in six months. Is going from couch potato to marathon runner is six months attainable? Maybe. However, walking 10 minutes per day, then increasing to 30 minutes per day, increasing to jogging twice per week, jogging a 5k, then running a 10k is highly attainable. By starting small, you've given yourself a fair chance to win. Once you've attained those smaller goals, your brain will crave more success, and you'll want to continue building and reaching more goals.
Be repetitive. Many of us dislike mundane tasks. We become bored with repetition; it's neither fun nor exciting. However, success often comes through repetition. According to BJ Fogg, PhD, the nationally best-selling author of "Tiny Habits," the more we repeat a behavior, the easier it becomes. Once we experience success from a small habit, we can achieve this success repeatedly, which leads to further accomplishments. Consider how you feel when you complete a task or reach a goal and now imagine feeling that same sense of achievement each time you successfully conquer your smallest habit. You're building a routine of success.
“Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve and an endless process to refine”
Before you give up on your goals for the year, consider rethinking your strategy and approach to achieving them. According to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, "Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve and an endless process to refine."
Be true, balanced, and well.