“The Greatest Wealth Is Health”
-Virgil-
April 2016 Insights
Spring is a great time to launch or ramp up health & wellness priorities. Let’s face it, whether it’s about the 10lbs you’ve been wanting to lose forever, improving your flexibility and/or strength, managing health concerns and stress, or increasing your energy and stamina for daily living, the powerful affects of attending to our health & wellness impacts every aspect of our lives, supporting us to break through plateaus and tap into our potential. Almost every women I work with, regardless of age and reasons bringing them to our coaching relationship, inevitably winds up exploring this very important component of their lives with me so I thought I’d take advantage of this naturally motivating time of the year and use this month’s newsletter to highlight a four step process. This four step process, if practiced will result in lasting support of any and all health & wellness goals.
4 STEP PROCESS TO SUPPORT YOUR HEALTH & WELLNESS PRIORITIES
STEP #1: EVALUATE where you currently stand, what you want, and what it is you desire. Ask yourself….
- What health & wellness blessings/strengths can you count today?
- What, if anything, is bringing you down with the way your body feels and performs?
- When you were at your “healthiest”, what factors were at work then?
- What habits or attitudes do you believe currently contribute to less then desirable results now?
Then consider most importantly what forces are at play driving your desire regarding your health & wellness priorities and how will attending to them benefit you in ALL aspects of your life? Give some thought to the life circumstances and contexts that will likely influence success. Ask yourself…
- Who or what may be an obstacle (internal and external)?
- What can you do to work around potentially negative influences?
- What necessary skills or resources do you need to acquire to assist with health & wellness priorities?
STEP #2: COMMIT on paper to your health & wellness priorities. Take into account your lifestyle, personality, and core values to create optimal personal and emotional buy-in. Ask yourself…
- What life changes are you willing to embrace to demonstrate that health & wellness are priorities?
- What types of changes are most appealing to you right now and how much time can you commit?
- Who will be involved in supporting your goals (life coach/instructors/trainers, doctors, friends, spouse)?
Then develop a plan, create a system to make your commitment realistic, visible, and measurable so you can track your progress (i.e. calendar, daily/weekly to-do list, SMART GOALS…can be found on website under valuable downloads).
STEP #3: ASSESS your progress and modify if necessary. Naturally, no matter how solid your plan seems when you set it, challenges will inevitably occur. That’s why monitoring your progress, and being willing to adapt is essential. Ask yourself, what’s working and what’s not…
- Where are you having success and where are you running into trouble? Under what circumstances (physical, emotional, mental) do you tend to lose sight or are spot on with your health & wellness priorities.
- Would developing certain skills and/or supports help you overcome obstacles (i.e. enhanced time management, nutrition education)?
As you pursue your health & wellness priorities keep tabs and ask yourself…
- Are you having fun along the way, are things getting easier, boring, overwhelming?
- Are you ready to step it up or try something new or do you need to take a step back?
STEP #4: RECOMMIT to the information you’ve gathered in STEP #3. Based on the discoveries you’ve observed thus far, identify those areas for adjustment or deeper work. Look back on the notes you gathered during the assessment step, then identify at least three follow-through adjustments that warrant greater attention and return back to STEP #2 COMMIT, to develop a now “revised” plan of action.
The key thing to remember here is that ideally these four steps are meant to be a continuous and interconnecting process. Success or failure regarding original health & wellness priorities is not the focus. Rather the biggest potential lies within the wisdom gained through the process itself in order to assist in creating better outcomes that ultimately support your health & wellness overall.
Wishing You Always The Best Of Success
-Holly-
Reference: July/August 2015 edition of Experience Life