The 30 day Get Healthy Change Challenge has begun, and I thought now that you’ve had a few days to explore the tracker I’d give you some tips of how I am using it to track my own progress and change throughout this month. This is a primer on how to track your change and use your tracker, but if you haven’t got the tracker yet then click here to download your free copy as start making and tracking the changes you are making in your life today.
Begin where you are
The critical thing to know if you haven’t already started making changes to your life is that change only happens when you start from where you are. Success in making changes in your life is about deciding to start now and make whatever changes feel right to you. We have an entire post that gives you plenty of reasons why starting right now is the best thing you can do for succeeding in making changes in your life and working toward the life of your dreams. If you want to read more about this then click here, otherwise, let’s move on.
Determining what you want to achieve
When you decide to start making changes two things are important to record. The first is what you want to achieve, being clear on where you’re heading is critical because it helps you keep in mind the end goal in all the steps that precede the attainment of success.
If you don’t know where you’re heading, then it will be mighty difficult to make those difficult decisions between something you want right now and that vague idea of what you want in the future. Take some time now to record in your Get Healthy Guide exactly what you want to achieve. Be detailed about your aspirations, build a picture of how you will look and feel after having made the changes you want to make.
Really make your goal feel real, and vivid because you will be revisiting this page daily to remind yourself of where you are heading.
The Why
Knowing why you’re doing something is just as important as knowing where you’re going. These two pieces of information are critical for sustaining momentum on your journey to change your life. If you want to get healthier you have to know why and this is the second thing that you should take the time to record and regularly review along with your goals.
Again, be descriptive, don’t just record something like “I want to be healthier because my doctor says so.” Or “To make my wife happy…” though these are reasons they aren’t detailed enough nor are they personal enough to keep you focused and driven toward your end goal.
If you want a little extra clarification and more ideas on how to define why you’re making these changes and what you’re aiming for then read our blog post The Get Healthy Change Challenge it is sure to give you a few ideas.
Record your progress daily
Recording what you’re doing each day is another important part of the change process. It helps you make links between your thoughts, decisions, and actions, and the results you’re seeing within yourself.
Change can be slow, and sometimes very hard to see so if you take the time to become aware of what choices you are making then you can see where you can work on improving. You can also see where you are doing really well and making better choices than you once were, which is just what change is.
Using Your 30 day Tracker
There are a few basic guidelines for using the tracker we’ve created for your Change Challenge.
- Record your progress at least once per day – otherwise, you will end up forgetting the details of the obstacles you faced and overcame, and the struggles you had.
- Keep track of everything but focus on what matters to you – there is a place to record several different elements of things you can do to Get Healthy with what are relatively small changes in your life. When these changes are combined then the result is a healthy and balanced life but you may only want to focus on one particular area of your lifestyle. If this is you, I would still recommend recording all the other things because often all these elements are interlinked and seeing the patterns only becomes obvious when you are collecting that data.
- Reflect on successes and challenges once a week
Reasons to use a tracker
There are many reasons to use your tracker to maintain focus, momentum and continuous improvement. So, once a week sit down and use your tracker to reflect your progress, celebrate your wins, and devise strategies for success over obstacles that are yet to be conquered.
- Reflect on where you are doing well: In a week of a conscious effort to make changes, you will probably have surprised yourself and had some amazing and perhaps unexpected victories. Remember to reflect on the great accomplishments you have already made just in one week! This is brilliant! Though the week wasn’t perfect, and you may have had some challenges you might surprise yourself to find you have had more success than failure. This is amazing!
- Reflect on challenges and find ways to overcome obstacles: Use the tracker to review your progress once a week, and really analyze what challenges you have faced and are yet to overcome. Then think about ways you can tackle these challenges and overcome the obstacles you had difficulty in the previous week.
Succeeding at making changes
Making changes and succeeding at sustaining your drive and will to continue to consciously think about your health and choose differently to how you have done before is difficult. But if you learn to track your changes daily and reflect on your achievements weekly then you will be able to maintain the momentum of change more easily. You will be able to see in cold hard data there recorded in your tracker that you are winning! Every day and every choice you make will be able to be analyzed and you will start to be able to see patterns in your behavior, your thinking and the external pressure applied to you from those around you. You will see how much pressure you have to continually withstand and find ways to overcome the obstacles you encounter.
In short, if you want to succeed at making changes in your life then you should track your changes. DustyDreamerHQ is 100% in your corner and we want you to succeed and Get Healthy and Happy and build the life of your dreams. So, download your free change tracker and start recording your way to success!