Making lifestyle changes

Resolve says: I will. I will climb this mountain. They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, too rocky, and too difficult. But it’s my mountain. I will climb it. You will soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying. Jim Rohn (1930-2009)

Bad lifestyle habits are hard to break. The reasons are usually a complex mix of psychosocial, biochemical and DNA factors. Our pleasure seeking minds don’t easily let go of things that make us feel good, even though in the long term, these things may be detrimental to our physical or psychological health.

Making changes:

1. Write it down.
2. Acknowledge the problem habit.
3. Own the problem.
4. Understand why you want to change that problem habit. The more that reason is internally driven the more likely you will succeed. The road will be long. Others may help at times, but in the end you are the one that has to roll your sleeves up and to do the hard yards. In all cases, refer to (3) above.
5. Determine what “steps” are needed to change that habit. These “steps” need to be realistic and sustainable – you are looking at a lifelong change.
6. Schedule those “steps” into (or out of) your daily routine.
7. When you get started, measure only how often you are able to meet that schedule of steps. Remember, your daily habits are massively influenced by a web of commitments (real or perceived) to other people. They too need to change their expectations of what you do and when you do it. It takes as much time to “train” this new expectation into family, friends and work colleagues as it will take you to establish a new routine of doing (or not doing) things. Relationships that can’t accommodate your new, healthier way of living need to be ruthlessly abandoned.
8. Don’t worry about the end results when you get started. Once you have a routine (meeting the scheduled steps consistently), the results will follow.
9. Know that there will be ups and downs, and that success is simply having more wins than loses over a period of time.
10. Get professional help to help remove barriers to change.