Becoming and staying physically fit and healthy is critical to succeeding in business and life. If you don't feel good, or if you're always tired, or sore, or have no energy, you'll never function at your optimal level. Being healthy is about the quality of life that you will gain. It is about having the ability to take part in the activities that you enjoy. Do you want to sit on sidelines of life because you are too sick and tired to join in? Or do you want to do the hard work and become healthy? You are your number one asset, you are worth it.
Now is the time to take control. Not next Monday, not after the holidays - now. Right at this very moment you can begin to make choices that will allow you to lead a healthier life. To begin, you need to discover your why.
Let's discuss what I mean by your why. Your why is your purpose. It is the reason that motivates and inspires you. Earning a living is not your why for going to work every day. If your reason for earning money is to provide for your family or have enough money to travel, that is your why. Your job and the money you make is how you do it. Life is filled with constant distraction and a never-ending list of what we have to do. Bills that need paid, work that needs done, events that need to be attended. The endless tasks and obligations pile up and we forget our purpose - our why.
The first step is to discover what your why is. The best way to do this is to make a list of everything you do on a daily basis. Once you have that list, mark the items that you love to do. As you go through each task that you have marked, write down why you love it and why it is important to you. By thinking about why you love doing what you do, you are finding your purpose. Also, take note of how much time you are spending doing the things that you actually love and how much time you are spending on the things you don’t.
Now, there will be things that you hate to do but that need to be done. However, you can begin to prioritize what you are spending your time on and focus your time on the activities that support your why. Once you begin to do this, you will be amazed with the results. You will feel motivated, you will be excited, and you will have a purpose.
Our why is as personal and unique as we are. My why is different from yours and yours is different from the next person. This is important to remember because we often find ourselves comparing what we do to what others are doing. By comparing ourselves to others we are not focusing on what our purpose is, or on what we love to do. We are focusing on their why and what they love to do.
Without a purpose you are going through life blind. You will wake up one day and realize that weeks, months, and even years have gone by and you are nowhere closer to reaching your goals. You may have had this feeling before. Many people set out to reach a goal then time goes by and they wonder how they never achieved it. When you know what your purpose is and you prioritize your life around it, you are creating the life that you want. You have the power to live your life with a purpose of your choosing. Embrace that power and you won't just go through life, you will live your life.
Changing your lifestyle is not easy. Years of eating habits and prioritizing your life in ways that do not match up with your goals will take time and dedication to adjust. Knowing your why and your purpose for being healthy will make all of the difference in the world. It is the difference between reaching your goals and not reaching your goals.
Roadblocks along the way are inevitable. Your why will be your beacon and what keeps you from going off track. When you are feeling tempted or discouraged, which I will be honest and tell you that you will experience and it is completely human, you will have the strength to stay on course. If you are tempted to eat something unhealthy or to skip that daily walk, your why will be at the forefront of your mind. You will know that whatever it is that is tempting you will keep you from your goals. Once you realize that, it will no longer seem tempting. You will view it as nothing more than something that is against your why.
Your why for wanting to live a healthy lifestyle may be different from someone else's. Your why may be to look better, it could be to feel better and have more energy, it could be to be there for your family. It may be all of the above. Whatever your why is, be aware of it. Focus on it. Do the hard work to live your why every single day.
Once you shift your focus to what your why is, with every situation or decision that comes your way, you will find yourself asking, "Is this important to me?" You will begin to prioritize your life in accordance to your why and begin to make decisions that support your goals. Each day, you will become closer to achieving the life that you want to live.
