4 Ways You Can Transform Your Health And Build Better Habits
By Doug Bennett aka The Goals Guy® with special guest Cynthia Williams
Everyone seems to be talking about the golden years and to a large extent, we can’t fault this. Life after retirement definitely seems like a swell time; vacations, no working hours – you name it. But it’s time to address the elephant in the room: a changing body.
As we get older, our bodies start to break down and at some point, it feels like you’re riding a horse that just won’t take instructions. I’m known as The Goals Guy® and believe it or not, one of my goals was to successfully ride out these changes with my wife, Bonnie, and ensure that we both came out unscathed.
I recently chatted with Cynthia Williams, a wellness and nutrition coach who’s clocked up over 15 years of experience. Cynthia is committed to eradicating fad diets and helping women achieve their health-related or aesthetic goals by becoming health advocates.
You can listen to our full conversation on the Goals Do Come True podcast by clicking here.
In this blog, I’m going to share four tips from Cynthia on how you can transform your health and achieve your wellness goals.
Find an accountability partner
Cynthia: “Goals are lifelong. Although we may achieve tiny goals, those are just bite-sized chunks that are helping us get to the actual long-term goal. So you can break your goal down into little pieces, achieve each one, and then set the next goal until you get to the final destination – the long-term goal.
However, you need to have somebody following up with you along the way to help pull you back in when you deviate. You want someone that will hold your hand to the fire and support you, giving you a firm push when you need it.
I offer a 12-week program and after the 12th week, my clients continue their journey on their own. So, in week 11, the goal for my clients is to reach out to someone else and tell them what they’ve been doing and what their continued goals are. It’s important to find that accountability partner to keep you going after the 12 weeks.”
I often talk to my coaching clients about the importance of having an accountability partner. Only a few people are fully capable of following a track all the way through without deviation. While it might be tempting to try and find out if you’re one of the select few, it’s always helpful to have an accountability partner from the get-go, nudging you along the path to success.
Write down your goals as if you’ve already completed them
As you already know, I’m a strong believer in writing your goals down, not only for accountability but also to track your progress over time and it’s thrilling to find that Cynthia shares this sentiment:
Cynthia: “It’s not enough to speak your goals aloud; you need to have it in some kind of concrete form where you’re reminded of it day in and day out. You can write it down on a piece of paper or even in an app on your phone.
I’m a list person and I always have a list going so that I knock things out and continually work towards my goal. And I do the same thing for my clients. They have a weekly check in that they have to do which basically involves reviewing the goals that they’ve set for themselves. Where did they make progress towards the goal this week? What areas do they need to continue to work on?
People tend to make New Year resolutions and about 60 per cent of people quit their resolutions by the first week of February. The hard truth is that those 60 per cent probably didn’t write their goals down nor put any preparations in place in order for them to achieve those goals.”
An equally important nugget to remember is that goals drift in and out. What may seem top-of-the-list-worthy today might be inconsequential tomorrow. So, write down your goals daily without referring to the ones you wrote yesterday. This will help you weed out the fluff and ascertain which goals are truly important to you.
Take a walk regularly
Cynthia: “Walking is highly underrated. Interestingly, it has probably one of the biggest health benefits. Merely walking or even moving five to 10 minutes after you eat will help block the glucose and insulin levels, and as a result, help decrease inflammation. It will also aid in digestion and regulate hunger hormones, keeping you from overeating.
I’ve just seen a new study that states that if you walk between 7,500 to 10,000 steps a day, you reduce your chances of mortality by 60 to 70 per cent. That’s huge! In essence, you’ll be reducing your chances of cardiovascular incidents and metabolic syndrome.
Today, we’re eating more ultra-processed foods and less whole foods and we’re drinking way more caffeine. Getting your daily steps in is a good way to negate the havoc that’s being wreaked on our bodies.”
Simply integrating one positive habit into your daily routine can make a massive difference and bring you one step closer to your health goals. I often suggest to my clients that they put new habits in their diaries until it’s completely ingrained in their system and you should do this too. This way, it’s easier to stick to these positive habits instead of dropping them like a hot potato after only a few days.
Pick yourself up and get to work
Cynthia: “We love to push the narrative that everybody’s a winner and everybody gets a trophy. But I disagree with that. I think you have to have a lot of failures in order to be successful in life.
I like to encourage my clients to pick themselves up and get to work. Basically, when it comes to achieving a goal, nobody is going to do it for you. So unless you get out there and put the effort into these goals that you say that you want, you’ll probably not achieve any results.
We need a lot more mental toughness and ability to push through. As a business owner, you’ll most likely go through numerous failures and hear the word ‘no’ over and over again. If you just let every one of these incidents knock you down, you’ll get nowhere.”
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I once went through a difficult phase like Cynthia describes. I was over £120,000 in debt, with a hefty mortgage to pay off. But I didn’t let this knock me down and somehow managed to transform not only my business but my professional life as well. That said, writing down my goals was certainly a game changer.
What are your current goals and what steps are you taking to bring them to fruition? Are you following fad diets instead of creating a system that works for you?
If you’d welcome some support with overhauling your current routine and setting goals that stick, why not click here to book a complimentary discovery call with me?