The to-do list keeps getting longer. The social events are piling up. The time in the day just doesn’t seem to be enough. We start to put more and more of our health on the back burner and before we know it, everything you know you should be doing to improve your health habits seems more like a one day I will sort of thing. Let’s fix that. You can do a few things right now, that can help you improve your healthy habits overnight!
You very well know you can’t keep adding things to the back burner, yet you do and you prioritize everything else. Now, I’m not saying the things on the to do list or the calendar are not as important, I’m sure they are. But when it comes to your health, it’s often forgotten about until you’re stopped in your tracks from that go go go lifestyle with sickness. Maybe it’s not even an illness. Maybe it’s weight gain. Maybe it’s poor results from a health exam. Or maybe you just feel completely drained and worn out.
Whatever the case is, it often comes down to not taking care of ourselves when our best health is within reach.
So let’s fix that! I bet that if you followed these steps, you’d be on the fast track to improve your health overnight. We just need to switch things up and make your health attainable and on the to-do list!
1. Be honest with yourself.
Your health is not something you can fake your way into. Really dig deep and assess where you’re currently at. I’d suggest getting out a paper and writing down all of the things you have to get done and then make a separate column just for yourself and your self-care needs.
Do you need to get your annual done? Write it down. Do you need to start making more dinners at home? Write it down. Do you need to get your skin care under control? It all matters. Write everything down that is an outstanding item for you. Ones that will help you become or get back to the best version of you. Nothing is too small.
2. Grab low hanging fruit
Once you’ve got an idea of the whole picture, pick 1 or 2 items off of the “me” list and formulate a plan around this. For example, if it’s to get a doctor’s appointment out of the way, write out all the items that you need in order to accomplish this such as: make the call, get a date on the calendar, secure childcare (if necessary.) Action reduces stress. Get moving!
If it’s something a little less transactional, make sure you list out all the items/tasks you need to get started. Tackle each “item” one at a time on your overall to-do list. For example, if eating at home more (for weight loss or a healthier annual/physical) is your goal, then you should list out items such as: grocery shopping, time you’re going to allot towards cooking, equipment you need, and meals that are quick and easy.
Then, plug and place these items into your overall to-do list and daily planner. One. Thing. At. A Time.
Looking for a yearly planner? Blue Sky planners are my favorite and they come in many different sizes. I find them on Amazon and at Target!
(If you need an idea on quick and easy meals, check out my meal prep resources for a quick way to build meals – even if its just for dinner!) OR check out this easy mexican street corn chicken salad that can be made in no time (and no cooking required if you use rotisserie chicken!)
3. Prioritize your focus.
At this point you’re probably thinking, how am I going to do this when you just added a ton of things to my already long list of tasks? Hear me out. Take one thing at a time and start there. If you decide on a doctor’s appointment, just make the call. Don’t look at the end of the goal. Start at step 1. Baby steps to the larger goal will seem way less daunting. If it’s more meals at home, start by reducing your take out days by one day a week and deciding at the beginning of the week what day that is going to be.
Start at step 1 and only look at the next step until you can get to the end. Once you get through one completed task, you will start to see how these stepping stones fall together and you’ll be jumping quickly from one to the next in no time.
4. Build the right mindset.
This probably shouldn’t be number four but it is because now that we’ve laid out the groundwork, we need to talk about the thing that may be the biggest hurdle. Your mind. There will be days you don’t want to make the dinner that you said you were going to. You will feel tempted to call the appointment off and reschedule. This is where you need to have the right mindset. You need to remember why you started on this journey to begin with. It’s because your health matters just as much as the rest of your to-do list. If you aren’t in good health, who’s going to be prepared to tackle the rest of the to-do list anyway?
We can’t think of ourselves last. We need to start putting ourselves first, and then the rest of the to-do list can wait.
Health isn’t an overnight thing. But the things we choose to do day over day, week over week, turn into the things we call health habits. If we can improve our health habits we can improve our ability to get “all of the things” done and more.
Sometimes, I even suggest clients write down a saying and keep it somewhere close. On a day where you don’t feel like it, go back to the saying that reminds you why you started. Trust me, you’ll need it eventually.
5. Now go do it. But really what’s next?
This may seem repetitive but you really do need to plan for it. You need to have a plan to improve your health habits. They won’t schedule themselves.
And don’t cancel on yourself. Treat these appointments and these changes to your health habits as a non-negotiable task. No rainchecks, don’t reschedule. Have other items move around your main priorities, just like you would anything else of high importance!
Lastly, if you feel you need more than a good mindset and a plan, ask someone to hold you accountable. When we know there is someone who is going to check in on us, we tend to not want to disappoint.
No matter where you find yourself in this need to improve your healthy habits, just know that it will always be evolving. Give yourself grace and give yourself the respect you deserve. Your time and effort into accomplishing so many great things, should really start with taking care of you.
You’ve got this!
