Phuket Health – Reality check of New Year’s resolutions

PHUKET: So January 1 has quickly passed and I wonder how many of you are still on track with your new year’s resolutions? The good news is you still have time to create lasting goals and redeem yourself if you’ve all ready fallen off the wagon!

First, a ‘Reality Check’: Staying motivated and committed toward accomplishing your dreams is often tough. It doesn’t matter if you want to earn more, lose weight, create abundance or reduce body-fat, we all know that life sometimes gets in the way. Life as we know it, is deeply rooted in our subconscious, and it is our subconscious that indirectly, directs our lives.

You see the inspirations that pop into your mind at the beginning of each year often melt away as your subconscious directs you back towards habitual routines. These routines are based on daily thoughts that have been the basis of who you are and what you have been doing for years and years and years.

Needless to say that thinking and acting the same way year-in year-out engrains deep patterns in your mind. And those patterns, my friends, keep taking you back into your own little comfort zones. That means new action rarely lasts. In fact, what usually happens with New Year’s resolutions is, by the time February comes around, your normal routine has sideswiped any New Year’s resolutions so that in one year’s time, the exact same resolutions reappear. Crazy huh?

So what is the secret to achieving any health or wealth goal? How does one stay motivated and plant new seeds into the subconscious mind? Here are a few reminders to keep you moving forwards.

1) Get Real. Life will get in the way. There will be highs and lows, ups and downs. There is effort involved when it comes to making a positive change in one’s life. The ideal circumstances are never going to appear. Conditions will never be ‘just right’. If you can’t make time now, you never will. Understanding this early on helps one persist through the struggles that will arise. For persist you must.

2) Goals will only be accepted into your mind if they are congruent with your values. Resolutions that you truly value will bring more meaning, motivation and power. Ask yourself, what is really valuable to me? What do I really want? Why is this important to me? Jim Roan once said, “the bigger the why, the easier the how”. Focus on the ‘why’ and build a strong and valid reason to make change in your life.

3) Jim was a smart bloke, he was also fond of saying, “For things to change, you have to change”. In order for you to change I suggest starting with SMART.Goals:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time orientated. “I’m going to lose weight” will quickly be swept away because the mind cannot grasp it. “I’m going to lose 5 kilos by May 31st 2013” ticks all the SMART boxes. Note that SMART goals begin to really have power when they are steps along your path to bigger dreams.

4) Back up your SMART goals with action. “That’s obvious” you mutter under your breath. Yet very few people actually live with solid integrity and do what they say and say what they do. Just have a look around. Actions speak louder than words.

5) Break your big dream into smaller chunks that you can get excited about. Once a big dream is broken down into smaller pieces it becomes easier to focus and achieve and thus keep you excited.

6) START. This is the hardest thing for most of us. You’ve got to take the first step because you are the only person living in your shoes.

In brief…
Adults from 19-64 years old should complete at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week.

Those who are overweight are likely to need more activity than the recommended minimum in order to lose weight. This activity should be combined with dietary changes and reduced caloric intake.

Energetic dancing, whether at a class or home alone with your headphones on, is great fun and good exercise. If you enjoy what you’re doing you’re more likely to stick with it and exceed your 10-minute target.

For a 60 kilogram person, 10 minutes of energetic dancing burns around 65 calories.

Hayden Rhodes is the Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist at Royal Phuket Marina Health Club. Follow Hayden on Facebook/RhodesToHealth.

— Hayden Rhodes