Small Habits Make Big Changes

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While goals are great, small habits are even better. Working in tiny incremental steps will get you big goal success that is sustainable! We are told to have big goals in life. Reach for the stars! But the reality is that trying to meet those big goals is overwhelming, and when a task feels too big to tackle we give up. So how do we achieve those big goals? It is possible with the right strategy! My education years getting my regular and special education teaching credentials and my masters degree in education, plus my 14 years as a teacher, taught me that small achievable steps had far greater results. I then went on to become health coach certified, and my training further strengthened that belief in small steps. We need to create small habits and integrate them into our every day life so that our goals feel natural and not a mountain we must climb. The Tiny Habits Method Part of my training to become a certified health coach included a section on the Tiny Habits Method by a man named BJ Fogg. This was one of those boxed out side pieces that we often skip as we study. But something about it caught my eye and I was fully immersed into this information. It took what I learned through my teaching experience and gave it a name. It all seems like common sense but I realized that many people don't know this. The idea behind the tiny habits method is to make the behavior changes you want so small that they are easy to do. Not overwhelming. This is exactly what I did with my students when I was teaching. I now take this method and use it in my health coaching business. I help my audience and clients achieve their wellness goals without overwhelm. When something feels achievable you are more likely to stick with it. How to Start Small Habits But where do we start? Actually starting seems to be one of the hardest parts. My free habits guide is a great place to begin if you're looking for a little push. I also work with clients one on one and in groups if you're needing a little something extra. The first thing I like to focus on is your why. The big reason for making a change. It's really important because it keeps you focused and reminds you why you are doing something. When things get hard, it's easy to give up if you don't have a why behind it. Your why can be anything that is meaningful to you. Just make sure it is about you and not what you "think" it should be. Some whys by current and past clients are: Help reduce my blood pressure and cholesterolReverse my diabetesAvoid diabetesAvoid the obesity some of my family has gotten toFeel strongerBe able to run around with my childrenLive long so I can see my kids get married and have childrenImprove overall wellness But it can really be anything! There is no wrong answer, unless it is based on what someone else has told you to focus on. Your why must come from within or it won't be meaningful. Steps for Creating a Small Habit Once you have your why, it's time to choose a goal and then dissect it into those small habits. This is a very personal process so I can't give specifics but I can give an example of my own journey. When we changed our diet to help better my husbands health, my own wellness also got better. This helped me realize that I wanted to keep working on my overall wellness. Since wellness encompasses the body and mind, I wrote down goals in both areas: Bring meditation into my daily habitsBe able to do a handstandCut gluten out of my diet In the food arena, I felt pretty solid, however I discovered that gluten is a huge issue for me so that is something I needed to work on taking out. It is really important to work on one small habit at a time, which means you need to pick one goal to start with. For me, making meditation as part of my daily routine was a good starting point because when I have a healthy mind the other goals come easier.