As we maneuver through times of change, focusing on ourselves will allow us the ability to continue growing and creating positive changes regardless of the external circumstances affecting our life.
When it is a time for us to create change for ourselves there are various factors in our lives that may be affected along the way. Whether growing our business, developing a new idea, starting a family, improving aspects of ourselves, or working on improving our relationships; our wellness and the quality of our life should be something that we are consistently keeping in the forefront of our mind.
As we work on developing ourselves and our experience of life, we can unlock versions of ourselves that are healthier, more creative or more productive. Having a healthy lifestyle, for example, not only gives us daily energy to get through the day, but also allows us tools to manage our stress level and create the balanced mind state needed to achieve success and happiness to develop the quality of lives.
Following are some aspects that we may keep in mind when we embark on the path of creating new and lasting changes in our lives:
Watch Your Diet
When we feed our body wholesome nutritious meals, we fuel our body with the macronutrients, micronutrients and hydration that our body needs to function optimally. There are three types of macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. These are the larger particles in our foods which provides the materials our body needs to restore, repair and perform various functions. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals your body needs to support physiologic function and your overall health. Water is a crucial component of a healthy body, as proper hydration maintains homeostasis, or stability in every tissue, organ and cell in the body, serves to get rid of waste, properly lubricates our joints and maintains proper bodily temperature.
Moderation is Key
Moderation is an important factor to consider as well. As many individuals turn to food or substances to attempt to alleviate or cope with their levels of stress, we should use moderation when consuming unhealthy foods, regarding the amount of food we eat and especially with the use of substances we give our bodies. We should be mindful of the substances we consume, as overuse or prolonged use of many of them may affect the balance in the chemistry of our body and therefore affect the way our body functions.
Move your Body
Our body was designed to move! Incorporating activities in which we get our heart rate up and challenge our muscles, assist us in improving the health of the fibers and organs of your body. Challenging our strength and maintaining a proper amount of muscle mass allows us the ability to maintain a healthy metabolism and physical structure as we maintain our strength as we age. Since muscle is denser than fat it has more weight and accounts for less of our body mass while at the same time consuming more of our body’s energy. More muscle mass means that the body will have a higher caloric need as the additional muscle fibers require our bodies to burn more calories while we are at rest. Physical activity has also been linked to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and depression, improve overall mental health and support general cognitive function.
Get Organized
Having a schedule, writing things down and creating a timeline for tasks is the easiest way to manage our time and keep ourselves accountable for our time and our actions. Be as detailed as possible when planning your daily schedule. Include your workouts, your meal menus, phone calls, meetings, email and text replies, even your rest and leisure time should be scheduled. When you create a clear plan of action you increase your chances of staying on task and reaching success.
Stay Focused
When we develop a clear understanding of what we desire we can break down the big picture and develop tasks that can begin to move us towards our desires. If we desire to shift the operating model of our business for example, we can start with the end in mind. As we visualize exactly how the business would operate and elevate the customers experience, we can work backwards and begin to take steps to start moving us in that direction today. Having clear steps to follow will provide us the focus required to achieve our goals.
Track Your Progress
When we track the progress of our efforts, we are able to track our efficiency and results, we can be proactive when things are not working properly, and we can continue moving on a forward path towards our ultimate goal. To properly track our progress, first we must determine our starting point and potential milestones along the way, create benchmarks that measure small successes, develop timelines for each section of the project and have a clearly defined finish line; most importantly, we shouldn’t forget to celebrate the progress we are making along the way!
Find Balance
We often think of life balance as a state of peace within the various areas that affect our lives. Depending on our unique definition, the health of our life may be determined by our physical health, spiritual connection, career, ability to spend time helping others, ability to connect with family and friends, finances, emotional state, mental attitudes, habits or many others. To improve our lifestyle, we should take time to reflect on what factors affect the state of our own life and get a picture of where we are and determine where we want to go.
Know Yourself
Last but definitely not least, get to know yourself. All of the above factors are most easily implemented when you know yourself and what you desire out of life. The more time to take to reflect on your desires in life, the easier it will be to align your life to move towards the direction of manifesting your dreams.