Fit for Life: Habits - Out With the Old, in With the New
Matt Espeut, GoLocalProv Health +Lifestyle Contributor
Fit for Life: Habits - Out With the Old, in With the New
Mindset.
The first thing you need to do is create a positive mindset and program yourself to habitually follow patterns that will result in positive actions. Not until this is done will you be able to create a positive outcome. Let me tell you what I mean by giving you an example that I’m working on right now. This is a “habit” that’s been eluding me for a while. The habit I need to form is meditation.
It came to me while I was on an early morning bike ride. I had just come back from a business trip on the west coast and my head was in turmoil. My administrative assistant had just quit and I was left with a pile of loose ends. I have one of the biggest transformation challenges at my gym coming up in a few days and I want it to run perfectly. I am trying to balance my time between GSD and training a new assistant, as well as keeping myself physically healthy.
My sleep was off, and I was feeling exhausted. So, I turned to nature and went for a ride on my newly tuned mountain bike only to find it wasn't tuned properly. Rather than throw it in the water, I sat on a rock and decided to disconnect for five minutes. While sitting there I stared into the water and realized that there was a lot going on beneath the surface. Things were living and breathing, and life was good.
Then for some reason my thoughts drifted to the movie “The Martian” that I recently watched. Weird, huh? But the situation that the lead character was in was critical. Every move, every action he took had to be meticulous and planned, or disaster would occur. Then I started thinking back to earth – to reality. That's not the case here. I thought deeper and realized that things aren't that bad, and what I'm stressed about was not out of my control. I have a thriving business, my clients are happy, and they’re getting great results by getting fit and healthy, and I am just a few moves away from creating the kind of success I want for myself. I don't live in an atmosphere where a pin hole in my spacesuit will cause death, and I'm not on the brink of starvation, and my family is alive and well. So what's the worst that can happen?
I have now decided that making a habit of sitting down and clearing my head will be a great addition to my physical health and fitness lifestyle, because positive mental focus is also a key element to success and wellbeing. Rather than worry about what could go wrong, I need to set my mind on what's right. Yes, things could always go wrong and problems are always going to arise, but I will expend the energy, and deal with them when they happen, rather than stress about them or predict them before they arise. For me, learning how to stop – to meditate – to “take five” is an essential new habit – and I’m hell bent on mastering it.
Do yourself a favor, and think of a habit you can incorporate, today, that will help you improve on one level. Not two or three levels, but one. If you don't exercise regularly, create the habit. If you eat poorly, or smoke, or stay up too late, change your habits. When you master it and have it engrained in your daily routine, then move to the next one.
Remember you will not reach the pinnacle of success until you develop enough good habits to take you there. And it starts by doing one good habit at a time.
