Hello! Welcome back to 2017! I don’t know about you but I am amped up and excited to be back in the swing of things! Of course at this time of year we are all flushed with excitement and enthusiasm and New Year’s resolutions and avoiding desserts after over-indulging for the past few weeks! The Boost team aren’t any different, and we have some big plans for this year. For starters we will be posting a new blog every fortnight; these blogs are going to take you on a journey exploring all the things that contribute to your health and well-being. We are going to be giving you plenty of tips to minimise your stress levels, keep you organised and on track to reach your health goals and stick to some of your resolutions. And we are planning some big events for the community, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for those later in the year! But back to the moment…
How do you set your resolutions or goals for the year? And how often do you revise them? One great tip that I use is to work backwards. Think big. Let’s go with a really common example of losing some weight. Let’s say we want to lose 20kg by December 31st 2017. And since we are already half way through January, let’s start working for this from 1st Feb. 20kg seems like a big goal and that can be pretty overwhelming and easy to think “Oh it’s too hard/I can’t do that/It’s too much” and we forget the goal and live life as per normal. So once you have your big goal (20kg) break it down. 20kg divided by 11 is 1.8. So that’s 1.8kg’s you need to loose each month. Divide that by 4. That’s 450g you need to loose each week. All of a sudden, 450g each week is REALLY achievable. Make a few small changes to your nutrition and hold yourself accountable and you’ll hit your goal.
How about another example? Saving! How would you like to have $10 000 extra dollars in your account next Christmas? It’s a big chunk of money! Run the same backwards process and it’s $227 each week. Now, that may still seem like a fair amount to save each week, but if you add up the cost of buying coffees, buying lunches at work, eating fast food twice a week or eating a meal out with the family once a week, you’ll be half way to finding your $227.
Of course, we are focused on health, which doesn’t necessarily equate to weight. So what are my health goals? I want to be 10kg lighter by Dec 2017. I want to be able to do a yoga headstand. I want to be able to run 15km in 75mins (currently I can barely run 15m without falling over – it’s a huge goal for me!). So for each of those goals I have broken it down and worked backwards. I have tiny goals to achieve each week. And that makes them do-able and not such an overwhelming target to reach.
Considering your body completely replaces 98% of itself in less than 365 days, you have plenty of time and certainly the ability to make some massive changes to your health this year. So, I want you all to go away and THINK BIG. If you could have anything you wanted health wise this year, what would it be? Less medications? Weight loss? Better Cardio fitness? Do you want to be NZ’s CrossFit champion? Finally shake of depression? THINK BIG! Then break it down. And make it achievable week after week. Studies show that if you do something for 3 months it becomes a habit. So break it down. Start living the life you want this week. Keep doing it next week. In 3 months it will the normal way for you to live your life. And by December you’ll be a different person to who you are right now. You CAN do it. You CAN change your life.