How to stick to your goals

While this applies to all types of goals, the goals referred to here are part of a healthy lifestyle.

Let's say you set a goal for yourself to eat healthy for whatever reason you have to pursue this goal, how do you know when you reached that goal? Unless you set it out to be specific, you most likely won't know.
So how do you set it to be specific, to be doable, trackable, visible?

First of all know why you want to set this goal, write it down (on a piece of paper or your phone), is it weight loss/gain, reducing inflammation/pain, clearing up your skin, feeling more energized, happier, calmer. Whatever it is, it has to be meaningful to you, meaningful enough to be willing to make a change, even if that requires you to get uncomfortable at times.
This could then look like "I want to eat healthy because I want to feel more balanced, have less pain, and look my best".

Once you know why you want to change your life(style), it's time to create the plan to reach your goal. For this an honest self reflection is required. What do you do now, how does it make you feel, what is causing your inflammation, your appearance, your mood, to not be at its best? Again, write it down, be brutally honest with yourself. Once you get behind this, making the change becomes easier, because (and this is just my guess) the reason why it feels uncomfortable to write down this honest reflection of your behavior, your patterns, routines, habits, etc because at least some of those make us feel embarrassed, is because we know better. We know they are causing negative outcomes but they are habits that have become so comfortable, so second nature, that changing them feels like too heavy of a lift. But, and listen closely, you are not weak. You have what it takes to make that change and you don't have to change everything in one day.

Here's the deal. Look at what you have written down now, all the things you do and where you want to be. Now pick one thing from that list and change it to something positive or cross it off. One small little thing. That's it.

Do this or don't do this for 7 days. See how it feels, take notes on it. And then do/don't do it for another 7 seven days. See how it feels, take notes on it. Repeat this, until you no longer have to struggle with it, and once this sets in as an automatic behavior, or the cravings weaken, then you can go back to your list and choose the next thing. Also small advice, keep updating that list whenever you notice a new pattern or habit.

Small steps are the key. Change can be really overwhelming, so don't push yourself over the edge, start small and start building up confidence in yourself first, build trust and start seeing changes. From there it will feel easier to continue. You got this.

I made a pdf for this as well, you can find it in the archive.

-Missy