When making positive changes in our lives we all face a difficult balance.  At times we need to cut excuses and be honest with ourselves.  We also need to balance that with being kind to ourselves.  I think part of achieving that balance is with self honesty.  Honesty to see through what excuses you are clinging to as well as the honesty to know that you do not need to be perfect.  Every once in a while it is good to take a step back and ask yourself some questions.  Here are 3 that I hope you find helpful.  These are questions I have asked myself to hold myself accountable.

What are you going to give up? You can’t just endlessly add things to your day and expect it to work.  You only have 24 hours in a day.  If you spend one of them working out, you took an hour away from something else.  Most health/fitness goals have to do with doing something MORE but those things won’t ultimately be successful without equal focus on doing something else less.

Personal example: I have been reading WAY more lately.  I’ve valued reading for years and always seemed to read less than I would like.  About a month ago I got rid of my TV and BOOM! knocking out books like crazy.  It was only after giving up something that I had time for what was really important to me.

You don’t need to give up anything that important.  I know getting rid of your TV is an extreme example.  No matter how busy and jam packed you think your day is there are things that take your time that are not important to you.

What is the habit behind the habit? Drinking more water is a great habit but you don’t make it a part of your routine by trying to drink more water.  You drink more water by always filling up your water bottle before you go to bed, keeping it near where you sleep, drinking 8oz the second you wake up, and making sure you take it WITH you everywhere you go all day.  Having your water bottle with you is the REAL habit.  Want to work out more? If you are an AM workout person the REAL habits you need to focus on likely have more to do with your evening and morning routine than anything actually having to do with working out.  Trying to eat healthier?  The REAL habit is grocery shopping and meal prepping.

Are you treating yourself right? I want to credit a talk by Jordan Peterson for the bulk of this point.  When we were kids we all learned “treat other people the way you want to be treated”.  Often in adulthood we treat the others, our adult things (job, business, kids, friends etc) BETTER than we treat ourselves.  We say yes to anything asked of us, we spread ourselves too thin, we put ourselves last.  The new golden rule if this is a problem for you: “Treat yourself as well as you treat others that you care about”.