Our latest Super Six Fix Newsletter talked about the importance on giving our tasks and goals as much attention as possible and not trying to overhaul everything at the same time. We are always looking for sustainable habits that let us build positive change without backsliding every 17-25 days. This post is all about how we might accomplish that in relation to our Super Six Elements of Health (Sleep, Stress, Mindset, Movement, Nutrition, and Network).
We have heard these tips given in relation to productivity at work, but I wanted to provide information on how these same principles can apply to your next health and fitness goal.
- Prioritize tasks: Identify the most important or urgent task and focus on completing it before moving on to the next one. Look at the Super Six Elements of Health and decide which of the six areas you’d like to make a positive change in. Choose only 1 area to focus on and leave the rest as is for the time being.
- Minimize distractions: Set up a new habit, and more importantly a plan to accomplish that habit every week. Do not be distracted by what your friends are doing (or not doing), what you see in a magazine, or hear in a podcast. Stay focused on the habit that you’ve identified for yourself. Trust that this is the right next step for you.
- Time blocking: Allocate specific time slots for different tasks, dedicating each block to a single activity. Figure out all of the steps that need to happen to have success with your new habit. If you’ve decided to eat fruit and veggies twice a day – you will need 14 servings of fruit/veggies for the week. When are you going to shop for them and what will they be? Try and think through all days of the week to see where obstacles might arise and how you can circumvent them.
- Practice mindfulness: Cultivate awareness of your thoughts and bring your attention back to the task whenever your mind wanders. Our world is full of shiny, distracting statements and objects. Stay focused on your own habit until you don’t have to think about it much anymore (you just do it!). Then you can move on to a new habit if you feel you need to.
Giving one small habit change the attention that you have left after regular life activities can yield wonderful results. Trust in the habit that you’ve selected for yourself and ignore everything else suggesting you do more, better, faster. You’ve got this.
