014. How To Write Your Own Wellness Vision
Hello, World!
Have you been thinking about your New Year's Resolutions, and feeling lost, like you don’t know where to start?
Is this you?
You have set a million resolutions but none stick?
You set resolutions that are out of reach, and by day three or four you’ve scrapped them?
You promised yourself you wouldn’t do XYZ, and by week 2-3 in the past you are back to doing the same old things?
Let me let you in on my little secret… you see not only am I a Nurse Practitioner, but I’m also a Certified Health and Wellness Coach through Wellcoaches™, have a Nutrition Certification through Precision Nutrition™, Lifestyle Medicine training through The American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and oh yeah, I completed my doctoral degree in nursing this past May!
So, I’m going to share with you my 4-step process of how I look at New Year’s Resolutions.
Spoiler: You don’t have to goal set only in the New Year… You can do this any time of the year!
First, determine your why. Your why is so important in actually implementing behavior change or implementing new habits because it’s your anchor, it’s what you come back to when you feel like giving up. If your why is grounded in someone else’s desire for you, or comes across as a “should,” it’s not going to hold you in the long term (<<that’s external motivation, and science tells us it doesn’t last)! What does last? Internal motivation! Why? Because it’s based upon YOUR values and desires. You can figure out your why by asking yourself: “What matters most to me? What would happen if I made these changes, and what would my life look like? What would the version of me that I want to become do in this situation?”
Second, curate your wellness vision from your WHY statements! Ask yourself this question: “If I didn’t have any constraints on myself from preventing me to be my best future self, who would I be?” Take some time to write down what you want to be. Aim to keep these intentions positive, and write them in the present moment as if they’ve already happened using “I am” or “I have” statements. This is the fun part-- make a vision board, or a mind map so you have something to look at and check in on every day!
Third, once you’ve determined your WHY + WELLNESS VISION, now it’s time to write 3 month goals (what you want to be doing in 3 months that would connect you to both your why and wellness vision), and then break them down even further into weekly goals to get you to the three month goals to get you to your wellness vision and your why!
Last tip: when writing your weekly and three month goals make sure you are making them specific, positive, intentional, and quantifiable. Example: I will go on a walk for 30 minutes three times this week after I am done eating dinner.
If you find this to really resonate, it’s because it WORKS! It’s evidence based science, and I love the creativity + science blend of planning/visioning for yourself.
