This article is also available as a podcast episode (DG179 - You want to optimize your health? Then you need this mindset tip) to listen to!
There is something that I think is immensely important if you want to optimize your health. And if you're reading this, then I'm assuming that this is actually your goal. You want to feel good in your body, have optimal digestion, enough energy, a good mood, good sleep and so on.
To achieve this, you need to eat well, exercise, practice mental hygiene and so on. I'm sure you know what measures are important!
Perhaps you don't know exactly what you can eat, how you should exercise or what you could improve in your thoughts. But you can get help with this, as I suggested in the penultimate podcast episode with Andrina Tisi(DG177 - Overcoming overwhelm with the help of coaching).
But even before these concrete implementation steps, here is the following mindset tip:
Feel your health goal now and make it emotionally relevant to you
Know your goal, and above all, feel into your goal now. If you want to get from A to B, then describe this point B as concretely as possible for yourself. Imagine how you will move, what you will do, how you will feel, how you will look, what you will say when you have already reached point B.
I know it's so easy to say, and sometimes I also find it difficult to know what I actually want. Where do I see myself in 5 years. Or even in 10?
I'm feeling my way more and more.
I have two coaches at the moment, I think I already mentioned that here. My personal trainer Marco Lander(https://landerpt.ch/) and my life coach Lisa Carpenter(https://lisacarpenter.ca). And Marco in particular always makes sure that I define this goal, my vision for myself and my life in concrete terms. Because the clearer this goal exists in my mind, the more likely or even inevitable it becomes. You can't help but achieve it.
Manifest your goals
This is how manifesting works. Feel as if you already have what you want and you will get it.
But that doesn't mean you don't have to do anything! Simply sitting on the sofa and imagining that you are healthy or that you will get xyz is not enough. Once you know exactly what you want, it's important to take the appropriate steps. You will simply be much more motivated to actually do it.
To give you my own example: I've always wanted to exercise regularly. And although I know how important sport is and what it for my health, I still didn't do it. I kept starting and then stopping again.
Because my inner attitude, my mindset, wasn't programmed correctly. Doing sport just because it's healthy or because it will save me pain in the future is not a really good motivator. It doesn't get me out of bed in the morning or push me to my physical limits.
My own health goal
My goal, which I'm still working towards, is as I said: I want to be strong and able to cope with challenging hikes, for example in the Swiss mountains, or even in Nordic countries such as Iceland or Svalbard. I love being out in nature and I want to be fit for that. I also have ambitious professional goals and I know that the fitter and more balanced I am, the better I can concentrate, the more creative I am and the faster I get my work done so that I can also enjoy my free time. Because more success doesn't automatically mean working more, but rather working on the right things and being efficient.
And my coach Lisa Carpenter often says very correctly that "rest is a success strategy". So sport also helps me to have more free time and time to rest.
And with this goal in mind, it is now much easier for me to complete my daily training program. And it goes without saying that I do it on vacation too, because I know exactly what I'm doing it for. If you want to, you can do sport anywhere and under any circumstances. Lisa, for example, told me that during Corona, when she couldn't go to the gym, she trained in her living room for months. She was training for a natural bodybuilding competition at the time. She had a goal in mind and followed through.
My popular "why" exercise helps you find your emotional goal
You can do the same with your health goal. For example, if you know that for your gut health you shouldn't eat gluten or dairy, reduce sugar and cut out alcohol, then this will only work if you have a really motivating goal that appeals emotionally and is really relevant to your life. A useful exercise that I've mentioned several times here on the podcast is to keep asking yourself "why". Why do you want to improve your gut health and digestion? For example, because you finally want to eat everything again without any worries. Then ask why again. Why do you want to be able to eat everything without worrying? Because you enjoy cooking for friends and don't want to restrict yourself. Why do you want to cook for friends more often? Because it's your form of creative expression. Why do you want to express yourself creatively? Because you secretly want to start your own catering business! Now that's a motivating reason. You want to take care of your gut health because you want to start your own business and you need energy, strength and good health to do so.
And this long-term goal is more important than being able to enjoy a packet of potato chips in the short term. That's the crux of the matter! Short-term well-being versus long-term achievement of really big goals.
Your reptilian brain wants to do three things
To understand this properly, I would like to tell you a little more about the so-called motivational triad. .
The main task of your brain is to keep you alive. Both humans and animals have brains that focus on 3 simple motivations to increase their chances of survival:
Namely, it's called the motivational triad. The oldest part of your brain, your reptilian brain, is programmed to do these 3 things:
- Avoid pain
- to seek pleasure
- to be efficient/save energy
These 3 simple things form your brain's motivational triad. So you will always be instinctively motivated to do something that doesn't hurt you, feels good and is easy.
But that won't help you achieve your goals!
The motivation triad used to ensure the survival of cavemen. But we live in a completely different time today! You can overcome these primitive instincts of the brain and decide that pain can also be good and useful. A hard workout hurts. But afterwards your body builds muscle. Creating a nutrition plan and planning your meals, shopping accordingly and organizing your life is exhausting and takes brain power, but a well-functioning digestion and a pleasant body feeling are a great reward for the effort.
Specify health goals and fill them with life
Marco has now suggested that I become even more specific about my goal. For example, in one of our conversations I said that my goal is to be a person who moves. But of course that's not specific at all. It would be more concrete, for example, to walk 10,000 steps every day. And even more concrete would be to walk up the Fryherrenberg behind Einsiedeln Abbey three times a week. And then to imagine it in concrete terms. To see the path leading up there in my mind's eye. Imagining how I would enjoy the view of Lake Sihl from up there. How I walk up the stairs faster and faster and how that will feel in my body. And so on.
I hope this episode helps you to find your goal behind the goal, to visualize it and to keep at it when it comes to your health. If health is simply part of your personality because it is one of your top priorities in life, then the usual excuses such as my child got sick, I need to find a new job, my partner is not supporting me, we moved, a relative died, etc. etc. will no longer hold you back from your health.
Your success becomes inevitable.
