Duplicate what's already working
12th July 2010
How are you going with your game plan for a healthier you? Hopefully you’re now well on your way to meeting your health goals and incorporating better habits into your lifestyle once and for all. But if you’re still struggling from time to time, don’t despair. We’ve got more inspirational advice for you from Wallabies Coach and Thompson’s Brand Ambassador Robbie Deans.
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Robbie knows all too well that the road to success can be a long one and often includes a few twists and turns on the way. “You have to be in it for the long haul” he advises. “Reaching a higher level means working hard. It takes self-awareness and more often than not you need discipline and sometimes some sacrifice to get there. But when you can do that you tend to gravitate towards the good stuff, the winning stuff, naturally.”
What’s working?
Self-awareness is invaluable when it comes to formulating effective strategies for change. And that doesn’t necessarily mean remembering to beat yourself up every time you absentmindedly put your hand in the biscuit jar. Focussing on and replicating your successes has even more impact than berating yourself for your slip-ups.
For example, if your health goal involves giving up an unhealthy habit or behaviour, spend some time identifying occasions when you’re resolve feels effortlessly strong. Similarly, are there times that it’s never a struggle for you to exercise or make nutritious food choices?
You might notice that you’re never inclined to smoke when you’re gardening because your hands are busy doing other things. With this new insight, think about other manual activities that might distract you from cigarette cravings next time they occur. Maybe that’s a good time to wash the dishes? Or perhaps you should head out to the garden for 15 minutes of weeding next time you get the urge to light up.
Perhaps you’ll realise that you’re much less inclined to skip your morning walk on Thursdays, because that’s the day that you walk with Jenny and you have a good natter as you pound the pavements. Can you convince Jenny to come walking with you on Mondays too? Or how about inviting Maria along once a week to keep you company and keep you motivated?
What’s worked for others?
It can also be valuable to learn about the strategies that others in your shoes have found effective, and then emulate their behaviour.
As with goal setting , it can be particularly beneficial to approach this from a combination of intellectual and emotional angles.
Let’s say your mission is to lose a certain amount of weight and keep it off.
You’re intellectual approach might be to investigate the most well proven weight loss regimes for long-term results. Here, a resource like the US-based National Weight Control Registry can be invaluable, providing scientific analysis of what’s worked for thousands of people who’ve already succeeded in meeting similar goals. (In summary, the most successful strategies appear to be exercising for an average of an hour a day, reducing calorie consumption – but always eating breakfast, weighing yourself weekly, and watching less than 10 hours of TV per week).
Statistics and data will appeal to your rational mind, and can help give you a commonsense approach to your goal. But it’s sometimes difficult to apply scientific data to your own daily struggles.
So, you might also like to seek out an individual person who’s already achieved the goal you’re striving for, and take emotional inspiration from their results.
If you don’t know someone personally who can inspire you in this way, perhaps there’s a public figure you can relate to? Many Australians have been spurred to take action about their weight problems by the high profile example set by comedian Magda Szubanski, who showed the whole country that getting fit and feeling fabulous is worthwhile despite the hard work involved – and can even be fun!
