142. Unlocking Our Full Potential: The Journey from Knowing to Doing

Discover the eight habits that can add nearly 25 years to your life in this week's Health Bite.

Dr. Adrienne discusses the barriers to taking action and provides actionable steps to overcome them. 

Learn how to clarify your motivations, address the fear of failure, and commit wholeheartedly to achieving your goals. 

Create an ecosystem for success by understanding the interconnectedness of healthy behaviors. Set clear goals, gather support, celebrate wins, embrace imperfection, and visualize your success. 

Take action now and transform your life for the better.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode

• Find out the barriers to translating knowledge into action. 
• Learn strategies to overcome resistance, procrastination, and lack of motivation. 
•  Learn practical steps to take action and achieve your goals. 

Here are the six tips on how to go from inaction to action:

1. Dig deep: Take the time to clarify and name your true motivations and intentions behind the action you want to take. Understand your why and what truly matters to you.
2. Overcome fear of failure: Adopt a growth mindset that accepts imperfections and limitations as opportunities for learning and growth. Challenge the self-defeating belief that you have to get it right all the time.
3. Gather your army: Build accountability by engaging a friend, partner, coach, mentor, or professional who can hold you accountable for taking action. Surround yourself with a support system that encourages and motivates you.
4. Don't forget to celebrate your wins, and this one is essential. Acknowledge and celebrate each step of progress, no matter how small. This positive reinforcement is going to motivate you to keep on going.
5.  Embrace imperfection. Understand that perfection is not the goal, nor is it necessary. Progress is.
6. Your habits are not an end in of themselves. They are a vehicle connected to something more deeply important and meaningful to you. So uncover it and keep that why upfront in the forefront of your mind.
   
   
   

If you're ready to take the next step towards a healthier, more fulfilling life, this episode of Health Bite is a must-listen. 

🎧 Head over to the show notes to grab your actionable bites towards healthy living and start implementing these strategies today. 

Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast for more valuable insights on achieving mental, emotional, and physical well-being. 

Remember, your health is your greatest asset, and Dr. Adrienne's here to support you every step of the way. 

Stay active, stay healthy, and stay mindful! 

Ways that Dr. Adrienne Youdim Can Support You

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Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim

• Website :https://www.dradriennespeaks.com/
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Transcript

A study on habits that can add nearly 25 years to your life.

Several weeks ago, a study was presented at the American Society for Nutrition. 

This shared eight habits that could add nearly 25 years to your life. I bet you could name most, if not all, of them. 

Of course, you could. Eat well, exercise, get good sleep, foster meaningful relationships and connection, avoid smoking, limit alcohol, and don't get hooked on drugs. In this study, they specifically named opioids. How often have you heard something like this and said to yourself, I know, I know, I know.

Of course you know. We all know. But knowing doesn't necessarily translate into doing. And in this week's episode, we're going to change that. 

Welcome back to Health Bite, the podcast for small actionable bites towards healthy living. If you're new to this podcast, head over to the show notes and grab your actual bite towards healthy living. I'm going to send you five daily bites to fast track you into the very practices that will help you achieve mental, emotional, and physical well-being. The same that I discuss with you on this podcast every week and with my patients in my medical practice every single day.

 I'm your host, Dr. Adrienne Youdim, and I'm excited to share with you this week's bite. So why is it that we are often immobilized from inaction to action? 

Acknowledging that we already know these habits, but knowing doesn't always translate into action.

It certainly is not a lack of information. We are in a time of information overload. Of course we already know what we need to do to achieve good health, to feel good. We all know to eat more from the earth and less from the pantry, to spend more time with family, less with technology. We know we should make time for our bodies, to move them, to make time for sleep, for rest, and for play. We know that time in nature is more soothing than time spent in front of the TV. We know, we know, and yet despite all our knowing, we are not doing. Because you know what? Knowing is not enough. 

Reason 1: Identifying lack of clarity as a critical barrier to taking action.

So let's dig into why, to understanding some of the barriers to translating knowledge into action. And then we'll circle back and discuss how to address each one in an actionable way. I believe the most critical barrier to action is lack of clarity. 

Lack of clarity about our why. What are our true motivations? We fixate on the habit or on the outcome that we're trying to achieve without taking the time to clarify and name why we even care, to understand what our true motivations and intentions are. And when we do this, we miss an opportunity to make the action into something more meaningful. 

Remember when you were a child and your parents answered you by saying, because I said so? How did that go over? Was that incredibly motivating to do what you were asked to do? Of course not, because the reason behind the action was meaningless for you. If we simplify, for example, our desire to lose weight to merely the number on the scale, even if we really, really want to lose weight, we fail to uncover our more meaningful and therefore, our more motivating intentions. 

Reason 2: Fear of Failure

Reason number two, fear of failure. The fear of failure can paralyze us, making us hesitant to take action. We worry about making mistakes. We worry about the criticism we may get from others. Most of all, we worry about our human imperfections, about not meeting our own, often unrealistic, standards and expectations. And that makes us play small. 

Reason 3: lack of motivation

Reason number three, resistance, procrastination, and lack of motivation. And to me, these three really go hand in hand. Have you ever snoozed your alarm clock over and over again until you whittled away all the time you had set aside for a workout or for meditation? Or you procrastinate telling yourself you're going to start the next morning or the next Monday or next month or the next new year? Of course you have. We all have. We create excuses and distractions and give in to our lack of motivation or wait for just the right time for when the motivation will come, which doesn't just come, by the way, as we're going to discuss. And this resistance, this derails us from taking action. And third, we like comfort. This is not a matter of being lazy, by the way. It's a matter of staying safe. And this is an evolutionary phenomena. We are geared for survival, for safety. And our desire for comfort gets muddled up in that. But it's useful to discern that being comfortable is not equivalent to being safe. Being within our comfort zones feels familiar and therefore safe and comfortable. But again, it does not translate into safety in the long run. It translates into stagnation, which is incompatible with growth and really with survival, if you want to think about it. 

So as the saying goes, we will never grow if we remain within our comfort zone, achieving personal growth and progress or any growth for that matter always requires embracing new challenges and pushing ourselves outside of the zone. 

So how can we make the shift? How can we catapult ourselves from knowing into doing, from inaction into action? 

1.Dig deep. 

Ask yourself, what am I really doing here? What is my true motivation? What is the greater meaning behind my desire to change? For me personally, my habits, the food that I eat, making time to move my body every day, my commitment to getting adequate sleep, which is something that, to be honest, I neglected for the majority of my life, my commitment to a spiritual practice. It's all about clarity of mind. 

It's all about my personal goal of maintaining the best mental and emotional state that I can so that I can extract joy from my day to day, or at least to feel contented. 

So what is yours? Maybe take a moment and think about your values. Think about what really matters to you and why. 

2.Address your fear of failure by adopting a growth mindset. 

Look, we encourage our children all the time to learn from their mistakes, to challenge to manage their expectations that they can't get it right all the time or get it right on the first shot. And yet, we forget to give ourselves the same leeway. The only way to address our fear of failure is by adopting a growth mindset, one that accepts that we are, by nature, imperfect, that humans have limitations. But these limitations should not be used or viewed as failures, but rather an opportunity for learning and for growth.

 Here's an example. Have you ever doubted starting a new exercise program because you feared being too out of shape to try? If you have, you certainly are not alone. But can you see how self-defeating that is? What a self-fulfilling negative prophecy that is? Your fear of failure or your fear of facing your current limitations prevents you from taking the steps to achieve the very thing you wish to achieve. This is the ultimate sabotage. 

On the other hand, embracing a growth mindset means being okay with the reality of your limitations. You're not athletic. And viewing them as an opportunity to grow. This is the mindset that will allow us to move past fear from inaction and into action. Next is to commit, to commit wholeheartedly and with certainty. And when you do this, you arm yourself against the resistance that you will invariably meet. Expect that you will meet resistance. Expect that you will procrastinate, that you will lack motivation, that that voice inside your head will sabotage you if you let it, talking you out of doing that very thing you want most for yourself. Know that this is going to happen. Expect it. Know also that you will not inherently feel motivated every day or any day for that matter at the beginning because motivation doesn't just come. It's not like fairy dust that gets sprinkled on your head. This feeling that you feel is born from unwavering commitment to your decision. When you do the thing over and over and over again until one day it dawns on you, wow, this feels good. And it is that, it is that feeling that motivates you to continue. Be prepared by resistance. Expect it. Be prepared for it. Be prepared by committing wholeheartedly. That unwavering commitment is a decision that you make again and again and again. So now that you understand the mindset, I want you to remember that these behaviors are not isolated. One positive behavior begets another. So create an ecosystem for success. Here's an example. You decide that you're going to eat healthier. In order to do so, you need to commit to adequate sleep because if not, if you're sleep deprived, you're less likely to eat healthy. Your body literally craves carbs, fat, and sugar when you haven't gotten enough sleep. And then if you sleep late, you're not going to have the energy or the desire for that matter to move your body. Between the poor sleep and the inactivity, your mood is going to tank. And all of this is going to impact your ability to make better choices about the food that you eat. Frankly, you are more likely in that scenario to use food to soothe. So do you see how these behaviors are so interconnected and how we can justify this loop over and over again and how one week can lead to another, one month can lead to another, and before you know it, a year has passed by and we look up to find the time has really passed us by. So it requires taking a hard, honest look at ourselves and deciding enough is enough. But here's the thing. The good news is that the converse to this is also true, meaning that when you get good sleep, you're more likely to exercise. When you exercise, you're more likely to honor that commitment by eating well. And when you do all of these things, you're more likely to experience a more uplifted mood and that only engenders more beneficial behaviors. So again, don't see these things or these behaviors in an isolated way. Imagine how they all collaborate together to create this ecosystem of well-being. So now let's discuss some practical points when it comes to taking action. Number one, set clear, specific goals. Have you ever learned the an acronym SMART when it comes to goal setting? So S is be specific about what you're going to do, measurable, make the goal A, achievable, relevant, there's your why, and time-bound, meaning define when, how much time, how long, and the where and how for that matter. Being smart about it, being really specific allows you to close all the gaps and the loopholes that would otherwise allow you to fall through the cracks. This clarity will serve as a roadmap to guide you. Along the same lines, create a plan. Break down the goal into smaller actionable steps. Create a detailed plan that outlines how you're going to achieve each step and each milestone. 

3. Gather your army. 

Build accountability by engaging a friend or a partner, hire a coach, reach out to a mentor or a professional who can hold you accountable for taking action. Gather your army for success. 

4. Don't forget to celebrate your wins, and this one is essential. 

Acknowledge and celebrate each step of progress, no matter how small. This positive reinforcement is going to motivate you to keep on going. 

5. Embrace imperfection. 

Understand that perfection is not the goal, nor is it necessary. Progress is. Accept and expect that you will encounter setbacks, and this is normal, but how you engage with these setbacks is going to determine how you are going to proceed and progress. And finally, visualize your success. Imagine yourself doing what it is you wish to achieve. Imagine yourself accomplishing your goals. Visualization is such a powerful strategy and modality in helping you feel motivated and confident in achieving your goals. And in fact, the neuroscience shows that when you envision or visualize something, you are literally laying down the roadmap in your mind. You are creating the pathway, the grooves in your brain that make perpetuating that habit more likely. So visualize, embrace, and savor that vision of yourself. 

6. Your habits are not an end in of themselves. 

They are a vehicle connected to something more deeply important and meaningful to you. So uncover it and keep that why upfront in the forefront of your mind. 

Well that's all for this week's fight. As I've said, head over to the show notes and grab your actionable bites towards healthy living. 

And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe this podcast. Until next time, stay active, stay healthy, and stay mindful. I'll see you then.