11 Tips to Drive Your Health Goals

Have you ever had that something from beyond the stars feeling? It was an intangible force that beckoned you or provided a desire to do something. You know you would succeed; you felt it deep inside you. Whether you call it burning desire or your super why, this immeasurable force gives you drive to accomplish the greatest of things. However, not every goal we seek to achieve will have that same level of energy. When that drive is not there, we need to call upon our will power.

How do we muster up the strength to accomplish all the things we need? It comes down to will power. Let’s look at how to keep our drive alive throughout our days.

1. Start with clarity. To keep you on task, narrow your focus on what you want. Further, these key goals or desires keep your will to achieve high. Ask yourself, “what would have the greatest positive impact on my health?”
2. Schedule yourself for success. A task is easier to complete if it is scheduled for action. To do this, make a 24 hour schedule. The schedule should have all the tasks including the when, what, where you will engage in your new health behavior. Now, prioritize the list on your schedule. You can use your own rating system, but ABC and 123’s work well.
3. Just thinking about starting and finishing it can provide you the motivation to do it. Find that quiet space to go visualize your upcoming day. While you are in this space, include positive self talk. This, in the end, will build your confidence that you can be successful and the leverage to complete your healthy behavior.
4. Do something every day.  Yes, even little steps help move the needle forward for betterment of your health. Remember, motivation requires motive. Moreover, every action we take accumulates to a greater and healthier you.
5. A euphoric feeling compels us to continue the behavior. You have heard of a runner’s high, right? To the same level, when we complete a more difficult task such as training three days a week for a month, our satisfaction rating goes through the roof. Make sure you create a challenging health goal.
6. What does the vision of your future hold? Your health, ultimately, is about the choices you make and the action you take. Thus, we should all look at how we want to see ourselves in the future. Furthermore, what deeds need to occur for this future realization.
7. We all have weaknesses. Identify it do not rationalize it. To overcome weaknesses, write 5 health related items you want to work towards. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the greatest and 1 being the weakest, identify your most needed area of improvement. Next, make a plan to work on it every day until you become very good at it.
8. Have everything before you begin. If you walk out of the house with all your bicycle gear but forgot your bike, it is hard to pedal to better health. Been there, done that! Preparation makes it easier for your decision to stick.
9. Identify the time in the day you are at your best. Likely, this is when your will power is at the highest. Therefore, make sure you plan your health behavior such as exercise in that time frame.
10. Continuous learning is the minimum to succeed. We all can improve in any area of life. And, our health is no different. The more knowledge, skill, and ability we gain creates easier pathways to actively doing and pursue that objective. To that end, you can acquire greater knowledge for your health by getting a coach, listening to a podcast, or reading Fitness Oomph’s blogs daily. More importantly, plan 30 minutes each day for this activity
11. Make the most difficult task manageable.  This can be accomplished by cutting into smaller sections. For example, you could exercise 10 minutes in the morning, afternoon, and again at night.

In summary, utilizing these tips will create automation in your pursuit towards your healthy behavior. This automatic response mitigates our need to call on our will power. Basically, get out in front of your health by creating a systematic schedule, understanding what you want to accomplish, and add in several micro wins towards your major focus. This will create a land slide of positive health impacts. Rise and shine, my fitness friends!