Photographed by Guy Aroch for Vogue Arabia
Does this sound familiar – you put in the daily work, you do everything you should be doing to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself (eating more greens/ drinking water/ hitting the gym/ insert your own here…) Before you know it, you’re skipping on your work-outs and have switched the water back to coffee and are coming up with a plan to start all over again?
I’m here to tell you that it’s less about not being able to do it, it’s more about having the patience to see it through. That’s right, patience plays a big role towards achieving lifestyle transformation and your goals. The truth is transformation isn’t about seeing improved daily results, it’s about taking two steps forward and one step back.
Patience also isn’t about sitting quietly and waiting for things to happen, when you consciously use it to help you create lifestyle transformation it sparks confidence, positivity, self-awareness and personal growth.
Here are 3 ways you can develop patience towards achieving progress and stick with your goals:
1. Focus on your big picture
Start by getting clear on why you’re making the changes and working towards your goal. A lot of people find it helpful to create a vision board, write Smart goals or put a 10-year plan together. This takes away the focus from the daily results and keeps you motivated to focus on the big picture instead.
2. Stick to weekly self-reflection
Focus on the progress you have made from the past 7 days rather than on a daily basis. By listing all the things that have gone well during the week you’ll see that even when some days ‘do not go to plan’, you will have still made progress towards your goal. You can also use this as an opportunity to identify what you can do better the following week and make the changes needed to make even more progress.
3. Adopt a beginners mindset (no matter how experienced you think you are, remember whatever you’ve been doing isn’t working for you)
Embody the qualities like you were a student starting a new course – focus on learning, be curious, study, read books, attend a workshop, hire a coach. Do what you would do if you were a beginner.
Heidi Jones coaches high-flying career women to take action to balance their health and career goals. Follow @heidi_jones_coaching or visit her website heidijonescoaching.com and download your free guide on how to achieve a healthy work/ life balance.
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