It’s that time of year again, the end of the holiday season, and the beginning of a New Year. At one point, you spent time looking for the perfect outfit. One that makes a good impression with your relatives, that will make the opposite sex notice you, and illustrates that you have a lot going on in your life.
However, frustration starts to set in as nothing you try on complements your physique. This is the final straw, at the beginning of the new year you are going to start the new you!
Exercising everyday and going on that clean diet; It’s all or nothing so you’re jumping in with both feet!
Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolution
More often than not, every New Year’s resolution is a large goal, that if not well planned and prepared, is very hard to reach. Sure the first week goes great and you are excited, but as the weeks go on life starts to get into your way, and you find yourself missing workouts and eating poorly. Now that you have fell off the ship, all hope is lost. You might as well just give in right? Wrong.
Here are key concepts that I use with my Wellness Coaching clients. Wellness Coaching is based off the principles of change psychology and stages and readiness of change.
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Create a Wellness Vision
A wellness vision is an overall look into your future and what that looks like if you were the perfect you. If all your needs and desires were being met, this would be your perfect wellness.
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Think about what would bring you fulfillment and joy.
To paint this picture, start to think about what would bring you fulfillment and joy. Do you want to lose 10 pounds? Be able to walk up the stairs without pain? Volunteer in your community more? If it will make you happy then it belongs in your vision.
There are seven domains of wellness; physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, educational, occupational, and social. In order to be in your complete wellness, all your needs need to be met. When you have unfulfilled needs, then there is a sense of longing, or a missing piece that needs to be in your life so that it can be the best you.
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Consider What is Relevant to You
More times than not, we walk into a fitness center and we are matched up with a personal trainer, which is great, but sometimes we are just not ready to make that giant leap into a full blown program.
Sure the first couple of weeks go well, but now you are feeling tired and worn down, you have been busting your behind and you are seeing no results. Is it because you aren’t going hard enough? Is it because you skipped the gym once this past week?
If you do not have balance in your life you can start to feel run down. This happens due to the fact that our bodies cannot tell the difference between “good” stress and “bad” stress, all it knows is it was already stressed out by your pain in the neck boss, your inattentive spouse and your screaming children. Now you have added the stress of exercise, system overload!
Sometimes, we need to balance our other areas of wellness before we can start in the gym or a new diet. By finding out what drives you and what you desire to change, you can start making strides towards a positive lifestyle, like a snowball once the optimistic ball gets rolling it brings everything else up with it.
[Tweet “Sometimes we need to balance our other areas of wellness before we can start into the gym or that new diet.”]
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Set Realistic Goals
Having realistic goals is going to be the key to your success. Setting goals that are too big, to far out of your reach is setting yourself up for failure. You want your goals to be a little out of your comfort zone, but not so far out that you miss your target completely. By setting SMART goals you can start making the right steps towards a better you. SMART stands for specific, measurable, action-based and timely.
You want to be specific with your goals, being clear about what you want will help you plan better. You want to be able to check that goal off a list without grey areas, either it was completed or it was not. You want it to be measurable. Saying you are going to lose weight does not quite cut it. How much weight do you want to lose? By when do you want to lose it by? these are the things that should be included in your goal setting process.
Once it is measurable provide the actions that you are going to do to complete this goal. The more specific the action, the better your chances for success. Remember you must walk before you can run, start small and build your actions, so that you do not feel out of control. Finally you want to have a timeline, this makes it concrete and provides you with a little motivation and avoids the, “I have time I’ll just do it later” mentality
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Find a Coach
Wellness Coaching is based off the principles of change psychology and stages and readiness of change. When you choose to work with a coach, you are choosing to start a partnership with an individual who wants nothing but the best for you. Your coach will provide you all the tools you will need to patch those holes in the road which stand between you and your optimum wellness. You will learn how to set specific, realistic, action-based, and time lines goals that will set you up for success this coming year.
The Take Away
If you aren’t sure you are ready to commit to a coach quite yet, here are some simple things to think about to help move towards a better you;
- Look at everything in your life and see what areas you think could use improvement or balance in
- Write out some short term goals you would like to achieve, and post them somewhere you can see them daily
- Write down small weekly tasks that will help you move towards your goals. Make them small and achievable so you do not feel overwhelmed
Want Help?
If you want to start taking control of your life, and have a helping hand along the way, then you may be in need of a new partnership between you and a new wellness coach! There are a lot of well trained professionals out there waiting for you to start your new journey today.
To find a coach in your area you can call local fitness centers to see if they have a trained individual on staff, or you can search using the internet for local coaches.
About The Author
Brianna Alianiello B.S Exercise Science, ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist, Wellcoaches Trained
Seeing how health leads to improvements in all areas of life for people has had a profound impact on me. It is what keeps me motivated to help others achieve the same success. My mission is to change lives through lifestyle change instead of just a quick fix or short term programs. I love the outdoors. It allows me to take a step back, clear my head and appreciate the moment.
When I feel that I am having a hard day or things seem impossible, I live by the quote “Straight ahead, never turn around, don’t back up, don’t back down”
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