The
SMART Approach To A Healthier Lifestyle
Have you already quit your New Year’s Resolutions?
Follow these steps to get back on track.
If
you started the New Year by promising yourself that you’d commit to living a
health lifestyle this year, then good for you! But if you’re one of the 48.4%
of people who have already broken
their resolution to quit smoking, the 37.6% who have failed to drink less
alcohol or the 30% who haven’t managed to eat more healthily, then it might be
time to take another look at the goals you’ve set yourself! Get back on the track
to good health by designing bespoke goals that will make you want to commit.
Check out these tips to define your own personal strategy to get you where you
want to be!
Use
The SMART Approach
When
creating your personal health goals, you can use the following method to help
you stick to them. The SMART acronym stands for Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound.
Specific
–Your health goals shouldn’t be vague.
Instead of saying, ‘I want to improve my diet’, you should come up with details
to help you reach the goal. Perhaps you want to follow a plant-based diet for 5
days of the week, or else stop buying chocolate and crisps. Break your goals
into smaller ones, perhaps by giving yourself time to book a gym induction, research
a gastric band costto
compare against weight loss hypnosis treatments, or go through healthy recipe
books to find suitable meals.
Measurable
– to ensure that you feel great when you
achieve your goal, make sure that it’s easy to measure when you’ve got there. You
might tell yourself that you want to train to run a 5k by July or lose half a
stone by your summer holidays. Remember to promise yourself a reward when you
reach your measured goal.
Attainable
–don’t be tempted to go for huge personal
health goals that are out of reach. Bear in mind other factors such as your
age, family life and other commitments that may make it difficult to climb Mount
Everest or to acquire six-pack abs when you’ve had four children. Setting
unattainable goals will make you feel like a failure so it’s really important
to be realistic about what you can aim for, which will make celebrating even
more sweet once you get there.
Relevant
–Setting health goals for the sake of
them will make it hard for you to commit. Ensure that you’re at the right stage
in life to be able to take on switching to a Paleo diet for example. If you’re
about to go travelling, then it might make sense to wait until you return
before making any largescale dietary changes as you’ll be in a better position
to control your nutritional intake.
Time-Bound
Always
give yourself enough time to reach your personal health goals. It’s unlikely to
be safe to lose a stone of body weight in a calendar month, but equally if you
give yourself until the end of the year to quit smoking, you could easily put
this off. Come up with a sensible timeframe to commit to.
Before
beginning and then quitting your health goals, set some time aside to come up
with a detailed plan of action. The trick is to identify any possible barriers
along the way too before you come up against them. Give yourself the power to
reach your health goals and start creating your new lifestyle choices today.