How to change your habits and prepare for a healthy and fulfilling year

Personal trainer Samantha Bluemel offers tips on how to prioritize your health and fitness and set goals to make it last.

The term “goal setting” can have connotations that are flimsy, frustrating, or meaningless.
I will suggest it for you based on my past experience. January's history books are filled with multiple failed attempts. Or, if you're still remembering your school days, the idea of ​​goal setting may seem a little, well, even juvenile. But with the right approach, setting goals for yourself can be a powerful tool for change.

Let's start with something simple. This time last year, I was coming out of an unimaginably difficult time in my life. The previous October, her mother had passed away from breast cancer, and I had spent the previous two and a half years battling her mother's illness and then being her mother's primary caregiver. In December 2022, I was diagnosed with a BRCA gene mutation and underwent a prophylactic double mastectomy. My life felt like it was in tatters, and I have no doubt that my stress level and lifestyle reflected that mindset in every ounce.

This isn't for pity, but because these are the steps I've taken to get back to health since I started getting back on my feet. A year later, I feel like my active, younger self again (though with some metaphorical battle scars that will take time to heal). I know what it's like to feel stuck and unmotivated, even though you know something needs to change. And when you start looking at the process of change as a long-term project, rather than an overnight fix, you'll see how powerful it can be. You have it too.

habits and systems

Put your goals aside for now and focus on the habits that make up your daily lifestyle. One of the reasons why change is so difficult is because we repeat our habits day after day like clockwork. These habits form well-worn and well-traveled neural pathways, and we feel comforted when they are familiar. Making these changes may feel uncomfortable at first. But a little discomfort can be a very positive indicator that you're starting to create new habits that better support your health.

Our habits are formed by the systems and processes that drive our behavior. By focusing on these small aspects of daily life, we can gradually change our behavior, creating new habits over time. If you commit to systemic, sustainable change for a very long time, your end goal will be achieved virtually automatically. You will notice that your very identity begins to change and align with what you are trying to achieve. Therefore, our goal is to implement better systems that lead to healthier habits and create a vision for ourselves in 2024.

Start by working backwards and visualizing that reality.

Step 1: Define your identity

Instead of setting broad goals, start by thinking about who you want to be by the end of this year. This can relate to any part of your health and well-being. By changing our language from goals to identities, change intentions take on a whole new meaning. It's the difference between “My goal is to run a marathon” and “I like to run regularly and identify as someone who is willing to train for a marathon.”

It can be something as simple as, “I identify as a person who prioritizes my health and fitness.” Thinking about it the other way around, wouldn't someone who prioritizes health and fitness eat mostly processed foods and not go to the gym? No, that person makes time to cook home-cooked meals and schedule weekly workouts. Striving to live this new identity will give you a north star to guide your daily decisions.

Step 2: Evaluate your habits

Last week, we took some time to think about the habits that currently make up your lifestyle. So you may already have a good idea of ​​the blind spots and parts of your daily life that don't support a healthy body and mind that you want to focus on this year. Now write down some new habits that will help you create the identity defined above.

For example, I prioritize my health and fitness, so I have a habit of working out 4-5 times a week.

You also want to get into the habit of preparing meals that support your energy and recovery needs and keep you feeling full during a busy day.

These are just two simple examples of the countless habits that can make up your unique lifestyle.

Step 3: Evaluate the system

Here is an opportunity to redefine what your lifestyle is and how it can help you by making small, stackable adjustments to your daily actions. This is a truly effective way to achieve change at a micro level without having to do too much at once. After that, your lifestyle will gradually change and you will move in a new direction.

For example, I'm working on getting into the habit of exercising 4-5 times a week. If this is you and you don't currently exercise at all, you can start with the following new process.

It's already 4 little systems that are easy to implement and lead to the intended result of going to the gym on Wednesday. The following week, add his second workout for the week. In the third week, add walks on the weekends. Repeat this until you have the desired schedule.

If it's something like, “I'm committed to home-cooked meals 80 percent of the week,” your system might look like this:

Depending on your starting point, the ratio of homemade to purchased meals can start at 40/60 percent and increase gradually, or whatever is relevant to you.

This logic can also be applied to small things. For example, I have a habit of drinking 2 liters of water a day. My new system is to keep a bottle of water on my desk and knock back a healthy drink every time I complete a task (like finishing an email).

Start by choosing one habit to focus on and work on your new system for a few weeks until it feels like a natural part of your day. Then move on to the next item.

helpful tips

Please go slowly. This is a marathon that ultimately turns into “the rest of my life.” The changes you plan to implement must be realistic and permanent (taking into account the upheaval in your life, of course). Therefore, there is no need to make major changes overnight.

Samantha Bluemel is a personal trainer and founder of the new Ponsonby Fitness Studio Mode.

Read more in this series:

Part 1 – How to set health and fitness goals that actually work

Part 2 – How an honest look at your health can help you maximize your health

Samantha wears AJE Athletica