Are health goals forever out of reach, or can we learn to bypass the brain's craving for instant gratification? Join us as we unravel the psychology behind why we often abandon the very commitments meant to enhance our well-being. Dr. Sharam Heshmat has some excellent tips for this, shedding light on the perils of present and projection bias, while I offer up my own struggles and triumphs along this complex journey.
This episode isn't just about identifying the pitfalls; it's a treasure trove of actionable strategies to keep you anchored to your health aspirations.
Whether it's the positivity you curate on your social media or the local gym buddy who won't let you skip leg day, we're dishing out the real-life hacks to make your health goals stick. Tune in and get ready to turn your health goals from fleeting wishes into non-negotiable standards.
Find episode links, notes and artwork at:
https://blog.dirobi.com
This show is for informational purposes only.
None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Are health goals forever out of reach, or can we learn to bypass the brain's craving for instant gratification? Join us as we unravel the psychology behind why we often abandon the very commitments meant to enhance our well-being. Dr. Sharam Heshmat has some excellent tips for this, shedding light on the perils of present and projection bias, while I offer up my own struggles and triumphs along this complex journey.
This episode isn't just about identifying the pitfalls; it's a treasure trove of actionable strategies to keep you anchored to your health aspirations.
Whether it's the positivity you curate on your social media or the local gym buddy who won't let you skip leg day, we're dishing out the real-life hacks to make your health goals stick. Tune in and get ready to turn your health goals from fleeting wishes into non-negotiable standards.
Find episode links, notes and artwork at:
https://blog.dirobi.com
This show is for informational purposes only.
None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Welcome to the Dirobeat Health Show. Today we're going to talk about how to stick to your health goals and commitments. This is a big topic. It's a very important topic because many, many people struggle to stick to their own health goals and commitments and, as a certified health coach, I do some coaching. I do free coaching for Dirobeat customers. I really enjoy that and I feel good about it and I have quite a bit of confidence in it because I've been in the health space since 2009. However, I've not been giving very good answers to how to stick to your health goals and commitments.
Speaker 1:People do ask me about that. As a matter of fact, a few years ago I went out to play nine holes of golf with my buddy, ryan, who hadn't seen it a bit. We decided to catch up and say, hey, let's go play nine holes of golf. And we're out there and something health related came up and suddenly he says out of the blue how do you do it? I said how do I do what he goes? How do you stay consistent? You're exercising all the time. You're always preparing for a race or some PR in the gym or lifting weights. You always got something going on. How do you stick with it. And you know what? I had no answer. I was drawn a blank and I just thought, well, you know, after that we had a little bit of a conversation and I probably gave him some you know lousy answer because I didn't really know what to say.
Speaker 1:I think we're all wired differently and obviously, as human beings we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And I just thought, well, maybe it's genetic, because I just enjoy this Like I don't enjoy my life as much if I'm not healthy, if I go away for a while and there's not a good way to work out where I'm at, or I have to eat at restaurants for like a week. I feel good when I get home and can eat healthy food and hit the gym again. That's what I want. It's like my natural desire. So when someone talks to me who that's not their natural desire, I don't know what to say because it feels so baked in. So I was thrilled to come across an article on psychology today by Dr Sharam Heshmat, phd, and I'm going to refer to it a lot because it really set the bells ringing. I was like, okay, this guy has figured out the answer to this question that I have not answered very well, and so today's podcast is taken largely from that. I will put the show notes and a link to the article if you'd like to read the whole thing on blogdirobicom.
Speaker 1:So first of all, we got to understand the challenges that are holding us back, and here's the challenges that he has identified as a professional, as a psychologist, a PhD. Number one the immediacy of now. The immediacy of now refers to the human tendency to prioritize immediate pleasures over long term benefits. It's a bias that manifests in several ways, such as choosing to indulge in unhealthy foods because they offer instant gratification. They're right here, even though we know it hurts our health. They're right here. Long term health is down the road, out of sight. Next is present bias. Present bias is closely related to the immediacy of now, but present bias describes our inclination to give more weight to immediate rewards and less to future consequences, and so we forget that long term health, or losing that 40 pounds or whatever our goal is, would be so much satisfying, so much more satisfying than the Twinkie that's tempting us. Next is projection bias. Projection bias is a tendency to project our current feelings or preferences on to the future, often inaccurately.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, I'm terrible at this. I do it all the time. I'm like a planner and I'm a reviewer. You know, I'm the type of person that, between Christmas and New Year's, I spend hours reviewing my calendar and my year and my finances. And how did I do? What did I do Well, what I do wrong? And every single time when I compare my yearly goals to what I actually did, I realize that when I set the yearly goals, I shot for the moon, which I guess is fine. However, I really thought I'd achieve all those goals, but we project into the future that will perform it the way we feel now. And the fact is, when we're in goal setting mode, we are, by definition, at our best. We're creative, we're feeling great and we're like, oh, I want to do this, I want to do this, I'm going to hit this goal, I'm going to, you know, change this, but the fact is, we don't feel like that all the time, and so we need to make sure and set goals that will work for us, even when we're not feeling on top of the world.
Speaker 1:Next is limited attention and memory, and this is a very simple one. Our capacity to focus and remember plays a crucial role in sticking to health commitments. For example, how many times have you done, say, a sugar challenge? Maybe you're only going to eat sugar one time a week, but you go somewhere, you walk into some place. They've got mini chocolate bars sitting on a counter and you grab one and eat it, before you even realize that you got you just blew it. You just had your sugary treat and it's a mini Snickers bar, and now, instead of that fantastic dessert you wanted at a nice restaurant on Friday night, you blew it, just because you forgot, right. So we got to have a way that we remember and keep in front of us what our goals are.
Speaker 1:The next psychological aspect of this is the negative effect. Negative emotions such as stress, anxiety or depression can significantly impact our ability to maintain health commitments. The negative effect can lead to a preference for activities or choices that offer immediate emotional relief or comfort, often at the expense of our health goals. So emotional distress prompts us to seek comfort from food, or to do the easy thing instead of the exercise, or engage in harmful behaviors that trick us into thinking they will be better than keeping to our health commitments. So once we understand those challenges, that's what we're dealing with. Those are the things that are working against us.
Speaker 1:So what do we do? Well, I'm going to throw out several ideas. Not all of these, I expect, will resonate with you, but you only need one or two or three. So let's start with a vision board. This is from Dr Hashmat. He says a vision board can serve as a constant visual reminder of your health goals and the lifestyle you aspire to achieve. And, of course, it doesn't have to be a board. It can be things that's put on your fridge, it can be something on your bathroom mirror. I know people that will take a body of someone that they think that they could achieve. This may be similar to their body style and they paste a picture of their head on that body, stick it on the bathroom mirror. But some form of visual motivation, whatever that means for you, whether a vision board or sticking it on a bathroom mirror or the fridge will harness the power of visualization. And this is a technique used by pro athletes and successful people and has been for a very long time, and it does help people enhance performance and focus. You can collect images, you can collect words, you can write out your goal, whatever works for you.
Speaker 1:Next, this is my own, and this is something that works for me, and I got this from Zen. It's called a goalless practice. You see, in Zen, many people meditate with a goal I want to be enlightened, I'm gonna change myself, I'm gonna become something different. And yet experienced teachers find that if they can get their meditation students to Adopt a goalless practice, that they would meditate regardless of what happens, they are more likely to achieve some growth. They're more likely to have those, those times of enlightenment or those experiences of peace and joy, and so that might work for you too. Nothing to strive for, no pressure. You're just gonna exercise and eat good food.
Speaker 1:Because Next is embrace the journey. Understanding that health is not an all-or-nothing process is crucial. Recognizing and accepting that occasional setbacks do not equal failure allows for more forgiving and sustainable approach. I gotta tell you, so many people have black and white thinking I'm gonna lose 20 pounds. Four days later I eat the ice cream I blew it. I'm jumping off this bandwagon. You have to be able to Give yourself patience and grace through the journey.
Speaker 1:Next, similar to the vision board, is affirmations, written affirmations that you repeat to yourself. Let me tell you, I Created affirmations a while back, and the way I did is I went to Pinterest and I googled things like health affirmations, success after affirmations, great affirmations, whatever. I just entered a variety of things. There's all kinds of Pinterest Graphics that are created with, with just thousands and thousands of affirmations. I collected a whole bunch of them and then I went through and decided the ones that really resonated with me. I wrote them down and I put them on a electronic dock on my iPad that our review Every morning and that really works for me.
Speaker 1:Next, curate your social media. This means Getting rid of negative people and adding people that support and encourage you to achieve your goals. There are so many negative people in the world right now. They want to tear other people down. They just can't wait to take someone out of context or say oh, did you see? So-and-so said that, you know, cancel culture. Social media, for many people, is a very negative place when they have to be very careful what they say, and that's just so too bad that we can't just be ourselves Make the occasional mistake, but that's where we're at. What I recommend you do is curate your social media to get rid of everyone like that and Instead find positive influencers that are going to help you hit your goals now. I hope we can be one of those. If you go to our Instagram page or our Facebook page Instagram comm slash DiRobi health. Facebook comm slash DiRobi health. We made a very conscious decision the end of last year To make 50% of our post humorous, just for fun, just to counter. To me, humor is exactly counteracting all that BS. We work very hard to come up with really fun and funny and inspiring and yes, brand supporting posts as well. We post our sales there and, self-of course, however, half of our posts are just funny, light-hearted, designed to just help people enjoy things to do with health, instead of the opposite, which is too common on social media.
Speaker 1:Next, surround yourself with local support. The people around you can greatly influence your habits and attitudes towards health. Surrounding yourself with supportive and like-minded individuals can provide encouragement, motivation and accountability, whether friends, family or online. Now, if you're looking for an accountability partner, which I highly recommend, that's a great thing to do. Find someone who has achieved what you want. Don't go. Find someone who is where you are that you think might go with you and climb to the top of the mountain. No, no, no. Look to the top of the mountain To someone that you know. I'm sure there's someone you already know that will do this. If not, if you've got the money, hire a trainer at your local gym. But if you can find someone who's done what you've done and say, hey look, you inspire me and I want to lose 30 pounds, whatever your goal is, I just want to be more like you, could I be your workout partner? And if not every single time, could I go to the gym once a week with you? What could we do? Is there some way we could work together? I guarantee you that person would be thrilled, first of all, to have their ego stroked so heavily to know that they're that big of an inspiration to you and, secondly, they'd love to help you. People are good, people are kind. They want to help, other than those nasty people online that I referred to earlier. But even those people, for some bizarre reason, when you catch them in real life, they're not like that. It's just unsocial that they become jerks. Anyways and here I am starting to talk like that. So let me just get away from that topic. Find someone who's doing what you want and have them be your workout partner.
Speaker 1:Next, set realistic goals and break them down. Losing 40 pounds is a fine goal, but guess what? Losing 5 pounds 8 times is better. If you strap 5 pounds on your back and walk around all day and take it off, you'll see why Losing 5 pounds matters. Do not think that losing 5 pounds is a wimpy goal. But once you've lost 5 pounds, guess what? You can lose another 5. And sooner or later you'll lose 40. And, of course, this is a great place for a shameless plug for pounds and inches drops. Follow our Diary, will be undieted by some pounds and inches drops and for less than 40 bucks you might lose those whole 40 pounds.
Speaker 1:Next, keep a diary or journal Documenting your journey, including your goals, progress and any setbacks can offer valuable insights into habits and patterns. A diary or journal is good for accountability. It also serves as a reflective space for reassessing and adjusting and helping you remain aligned with your goals and then be persistent and patient. We all have challenges. Right now I'm dealing with tennis elbow and it's making it really hard for me to play Pickleball, which I really enjoy, or to lift weights or to play golf, and so I am currently in a place of frustration where I'm really having to modify my plan, and you know what that stuff happens all the time. Right, we do go on vacation, we do get tennis elbow, we do twist our ankle or get COVID, or whatever the case might be. So we have to be patient. This is where going back to the goalless practice sometimes comes in, because when we are not so heavily invested in outcomes but we're very heavily invested in our behaviors, it's easier to just adjust those behaviors down for a little bit when that's what we're required to do.
Speaker 1:I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I'm excited about it because I feel like these are some really worthwhile and good strategies. If you know someone who's struggling to keep their health goals and commitments, please share this with them. And to those of you who listen, I really appreciate it. This is a labor of love for me. It doesn't make me any money, I do it because I like it and it's good for me.
Speaker 1:Talking about this all the time is one of my methods of keeping my health commitments. I think I keep a higher health level because I do this podcast than I would, and I hope that the same is true for you. Listening to it, you're filling your head and your psyche, your soul, with good and positive thoughts about improving, and that's always a good thing, especially in this negative world, like I was saying earlier, where there's so many influences that want to pull us down. All of us need influences all the time and be very proactive about them so that we can reach our goals. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time, this is Dave Sherwin, wishing you health and success.