Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Healthy Habits

Leading up to the new year, I thought "why did my resolution last year fail so miserably?"  I mean, how could saying "I want to be healthier" be wrong?  You know why it failed?  It wasn't a S.M.A.R.T. goal.  I didn't know what success looked like.  And, more importantly, I kept telling myself (and everyone else . . . including the universe) "I'm so sick".  So enough of that!  This year, I found a solution.

My inspiration was born from an old episode of Oprah which aired on her radio network.  Oprah's guest was Dr. Christiane Northrup, the author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom.  She spoke about the healthy habits every woman should have and said that many people fail to reach their goals because they try to do too many things at once.  You know that moment in A Charlie Brown Christmas when Lucy diagnoses Charlie?

It was exactly like that.  I almost yelled "That's It!" which would have made my little pup run and hide under the bed.

So my 2013 New Year's Resolution was born.  I like to call it "One Healthy Habit".  I am going to add one healthy habit per month.  Knowing that it takes about 66 days to form a new habit and that slow and steady progress is the key to success, I have decided to start one new healthy habit a month for the next 12 months.  For January, I will be drinking at least 8 8-ounce glasses of water a day.  Dr. Northrup suggests that making one new healthy habit will lead to other healthy choices.  We shall see.

Here are some tools I'm using to track progress and to figure out new habits:
  1. Livifi App - I met the creator of this app in the security line at LAX and am finally putting his useful check boxes to work.  This is a great app because it gives suggestions and back up research for healthy living tips.
  2. Pinterest Board - I need a way to capture articles that may suggest the next month's habit.  I'm trying to live in the moment and devote myself to my one habit.  In the meantime, I don't want to wake up on February 1st with no inspiration for a new habit!
If you're at all interested in joining me, I'd love to hear about your progress.

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