A desire to lead a healthier life is not uncommon. For many people, it means making a lifestyle change – or several – in order to lead that healthier life. It’s that lifestyle change that can set you up for success or failure. Consider these tips on how to make a lifestyle change to lead a healthier life successfully.
Educate yourself
You’ve heard it said that knowledge is power and this is especially true when trying to make a lifestyle change. Changing habits is difficult, no matter how motivated you are, but education can help with that. Education can help you create strategies to overcome obstacles before they arise. Education can help you take a broad change such as “I want to eat healthier” and turn it into a more concise, practical change you can really follow through on. Approaching experts in whatever change you want to make can be extremely beneficial, as well. Nutrition experts, for example, can show you exactly how to plan and a measured, achievable manner.
Choose a clear goal
If you really want to make a lifestyle change to lead a healthier life, you need to choose a clear goal. “I want to live a healthier life” is too vague. You might mean you want to exercise more, eat more nutritiously, stop smoking, or brush your teeth three times a day instead of two. Instead, set a clear goal, such as one of the ones mentioned in the previous sentence. Get detailed about what lifestyle change you want to make and what that healthier life looks like so you know exactly what you’re striving for.
Brainstorm obstacles and ways to overcome them
When confronted by obstacles, it’s tempting to just give up, especially if you’re not sure how to overcome it. That’s why it’s important to take some time before you begin to brainstorm obstacles that might arise and ways you can overcome them. Start with the easy, obvious obstacles that you think of first but keep going to think of other less obvious pitfalls. And for each obstacle, big or small, come up with at least one way you could overcome it. If you can come up with multiple ways, that’s even better. You’ll have much greater success if you can immediately turn to another way of overcoming an obstacle if the first method you try doesn’t work.
Adopt new habits slowly
It’s tempting to want to make big, sweeping changes, especially if you feel like you need to make a lot of changes to lead a healthier life. You want to see big change, all at once, and be done with it. But if you try to do too much at once, you’ll end up failing at all of it. Instead, make one new habit at a time. And adopt that one new habit slowly. Swap one sugary snack for a healthier option at a time instead of trying to overhaul your entire menu at once, for example. You’ll be much more likely to succeed if you change slowly instead of trying to rush it.
True lifestyle changes take time. They need time to settle, to feel comfortable, and to show results. When you use these tips, you’ll be giving yourself that time. You’ll stand a much better chance of seeing your lifestyle change lead to a healthier life. And then you’ll not only feel better but be proud of yourself for the effort you made.
