We’re counting down to the Finish line!!! Five days to go!! Now that you’ve solved the world’s problems, let’s make it personal again.
Here’s a suggestion I use with Weight Loss clients, but you can use it with any major change you are undertaking. Break the problem down into parts and make one minor change per week, or don’t make another one until you feel that the first one is locked in. In other words, today we are engaging the Left brain.
For example, let’s say you’re working on weight loss and you have determined that the following five items are your major issues:
1. lack of exercise
2. craving potato chips
3. eating in front of the TV late at night
4. not drinking enough water
5. eating for emotional reasons, lonely, bored
Now determine a set of small changes for each problem area. For example, lets’ say that right now you only drink 1 glass of water per day and you know it should be at least eight. Are you likely to go from one to eight consistently over night and keep it up?
NO!
So set up a plan to incrementally increase water consumption, not just number of glasses, but more importantly, when to consume. It’s easy to drink a glass when you first wake up. This is a suggestion I give to smokers instead of that first morning cigarette.
For late night snacking, substitute apples and peanut butter, veggie chips, almonds, anything healthy and cruchy. Crunchy snacking is usually a sign of tension. What are you watching on television? Try watching something soothing, or better yet, listen to a hypnosis CD.
Okay, still have alot to say about weight loss and other incrementally changes, so I’m splitting this into two parts.
Start putting your plan on paper.