Have you ever tried to make a change, only to take on too much at once and fail miserably? If so, it’s not because you couldn’t do it. It’s merely because you unknowingly set yourself up to fail.
It’s safe to say that most people have something in their life that they would like to change. Oftentimes it has to do with fitness and nutrition, like eating better and working out more.
Taking the proper steps to set up how you go about making a change is key to being successful. To help you do so effectively, here are three steps to creating healthy habits.
1) Start with one change.
This first step is key to ensuring success and not failure. It’s very common for most people to try and overhaul their lifestyle completely in order to make a change. Going from not working out to setting a goal of five workouts a week is not realistic, nor is going from not eating any vegetables to eating five or six servings per day. Creating such unrealistic goals will only end in failure, without a doubt.
“Next week, I’ll make it to the gym every day.”
“This is the last cookie, I swear.”
Instead of drastically changing your entire lifestyle, begin with one small change, such as going to the gym twice a week or adding in two servings of vegetables per day. Once you are able to maintain this new change for at least a few weeks, you can move onto the next change, such as working out three times a week or eating vegetables with every meal.
2) Create the right environment.
Creating the right environment is also very important in order to sustain new habits. If your goal is to work out twice a week in the morning, make sure your gym bag is packed the night before and everything you need is ready to go.
If your goal is to eat more healthily by consuming more vegetables throughout your day, make sure you are prepared. Set aside time to grocery shop on the weekend as well as time to prepare the vegetables. Don’t just place them in the vegetable bin in the refrigerator—take the time to cut them up and place them in Tupperware so they are easily accessible and ready to be consumed.
3) Hold yourself accountable
The third step to successfully creating healthy habits is to hold yourself accountable. This is important for a few reasons. The most obvious reason is to ensure that you are committed to making a change. Without accountability, it’s very easy to blow off the goal.
The other reason why accountability is so important is so that you’re able to tell if your approach is working or needs to be adjusted. If you’re having a hard time sticking with your goal, make the goal easier. Instead of trying to work out twice a week, start with once a week and build from there.
Jason DeHenzel has trained some of New York’s most prestigious clients, including high-profile lawyers, advertising executives, movie producers and musicians. Sophie DeHenzel is a Pn1-certified nutritionist and former downhill ski racer. The pair founded DeHenzel Training Systems to develop customized fitness plans for clients of different abilities, experience and commitment. Find out more at dtsnova.com.
