When it comes to healthy living, there is no such thing as quick fixes. Despite the media’s best efforts to tell you otherwise. Rather, healthy living is about making gradual and sustained positive changes to your life. Healthy habits that stick. In today’s post I wanted to go through three key mindset shifts to help you do just that.
Start small
Rome wasn’t built in a day. We have to widen our scope and think of things long-term.
Whenever I think of this, I visualise a huge stack of boxes that need to be carried into another room. If I were to try lifting and carrying them all in one go, there’s a very good chance it will be too heavy or they’ll simply come unbalanced and topple down. However, if I carry them one by one it’s much easier and a lot more effective. Yes, it may take me a little while longer, but they will get to their destination safely.
The same goes for us. Taking too much on at once, especially when you already have a full plate on your hands with school, work, family, etc. will only lead to toppling. With that topple comes a dint to our self confidence and feeling ashamed or guilty that we weren’t able to see it out. So, of course, we’re less likely to want to try again in the future.
Thankfully, there’s a way to sidestep that vicious cycle and that is starting small. Lay down solid foundations one step at a time. It’s far easier to do and it’s a huge confidence booster.
Motivation vs consistency
The truth is, it’s impossible to always be motivated.
One of the best ways to work around this is consistency. Rather than relying on when you feel motivated, place your focus on being consistent. Show up, even when you don’t feel like it.
This is the beauty of starting small; it’s far less daunting showing up for small behavioural changes when you feel unmotivated. It doesn’t require nearly as much self discipline or organisation to achieve them and you’re more likely to sustain them.
To help you remain consistent, consider any planning that may need to do to help things run smoothly or to work around any obstacles.
Add, don’t subtract
We want to make building healthy habits enjoyable, so let’s focus on what we can add to our life.
Maybe you want to add some more colour into your meals (a great way to increase nutrients and support gut health). Or maybe you want to start adding some healthy snacks into your cupboard. Perhaps you want to learn to cook or experiment with some easy recipes.
By doing this, we can explore and have fun, rather than focus on all the things we want to change about ourselves or our lifestyles. Over time you may find that not only have negative habits quietly slipped away, but you’ve developed a balanced approach to health and an improved relationship with food.
Examples of habits to add to your life:
- Adding more home-cooked meals to your week
- Adding 3-4 vegetables on your dinner plate
- Choosing the healthier option on your lunch break
- Keeping nutritious snacks in your cupboard
- Making your meals more colourful
- Setting a reminder on your phone to drink an extra glass of water
- Increasing incidental exercise
- Walking or hiking on weekends
- Going to bed one hour earlier
- Read before bed rather than scroll social media
I hope these small, but effective, mindset shifts help you to build healthy habits that stick! What healthy habit are you going to introduce into your life first?
