4 Steps to Make Strong Habits to Improve Your Quality of Life

Summary

The article outlines a personal journey towards adopting healthy habits for a better quality of life, emphasizing the importance of daily actions and mindset shifts.

Abstract

The author shares a personal narrative about the struggle with weight and the realization of the need for a healthy lifestyle, inspired by the desire to enjoy life fully and not just to look fit during summer. The article emphasizes the significance of making incremental changes and forming strong habits through consistency, motivation, focusing on the present, and prioritizing time. Drawing from personal experiences and insights from a podcast by César Dabián, the author suggests that setting specific objectives and tracking progress can lead to the development of habits that have long-term positive consequences. The article concludes with four actionable steps to help readers adopt a healthier lifestyle and improve their quality of life.

Opinions

The author believes that personal responsibility is crucial in forming habits, rejecting the idea of blaming external factors.
There is a strong emphasis on the influence of family, particularly the author's mother, in fostering the importance of good habits.
The author's perspective on health shifted from wanting to be fit for aesthetic reasons to desiring overall well-being and energy to enjoy life fully.
The article suggests that a change in mindset is necessary to focus on daily habits rather than long-term goals, as the future is uncertain.
César Dabián's podcast is cited as influential, particularly the idea that motivation is a result of action, not its precursor.
The author advocates for the importance of not being overwhelmed by the prospect of lifelong habits, but rather focusing on daily achievements.
Prioritizing healthy habits is considered as important as work commitments, suggesting that both are integral to a balanced life.

Don’t be fit to shine in summer, be healthy to shine every day of your life!

On my journey to making good habits and a healthy lifestyle, I have faced myself to my self. It is funny because we tend to blame someone or something else when making habits as an excuse. But there are some times when it’s “the man in the mirror”, — as Michael Jackso said — , who we should look at.

I tend to win weight very fast because I love desserts and bread. —Bread is my kind of drug, really. — And also because exercising is not my favourite activity in life.

When I was 12 years old I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, I don’t know much about it but I know that’s the previous step to be diabetic. Since then my mom is always worried about my health.

I remember my mom always telling me: — “You should have good habits, otherwise when you leave home, what are you gonna do?” — She would tell me this whenever I was lazy to make my bed, or swipe my bedroom. Also when I wasn’t exercising for a long time, or when I wasn’t eating healthy. Mexican moms are special, they are always concerned about their kids, no matter what age they are.

I was a teenager and I didn't understand much about having a quality lifestyle. Probably my only motivation was to be fit. Years came by and not much happened: win weight, lose weight, win weight lose weight. And so son.

Seeing my grandpa losing his quality of life due to Parkinson's disease made me reflect on the quality of life I was building for myself and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

Once I was meditating on the shower — because who dosn’t— I realized that I don’t want to lose weight to shine in summer with my colourful bikini, but to shine on every day of my life. And also, thinking about the future: if I have kids I really want to have the energy to play around. I mean, I want to be healthy to enjoy every day of my life and not only the summer.

Probably this is a change of mindset that a lot of people need to do. For example, my aunt who is a new grandma. She wanted to lose some weight in order to be strong and full of energy to carry her first grandchild and play with her. But honestly, I don’t want to wait till I am about to be a grandma to take conscious of my health. Losing weight is not my goal anymore. Instead, I want to make a healthy lifestyle every day.

A few days ago I was listening to a podcast by César Dabián, who is a Mexican entrepreneur and business coach. The title of this episode is: “Si deseas alcanzar tus objetivos NO tengas Metas”: If you want to succeed your objectives don’t have goals. What a tricky tittle for an entrepreneur podcast. Right?

In this episode, César mentioned several things that I felt he was talking directly to me. He mentioned that you don’t know where you are going to be in the next five years, so why to worry about it. Life just happens à propos of fortuity events.

However, staying focused on specific objectives will help you to make strong habits. There is no way you manage the future, you can only do something TODAY, always think about today. In this way, adding up little achievements you can create habits that will bring you consequences in the future. If they are good or bad depends on you.

According to all these experiences of mine, I can help you to save some time and help you to have a change of mindset following these 4steps for making strong habits to improve your quality of life.

Be constant and track your success: Sometimes it might be hard to keep stick to a routine but the thing here is not to be perfect but to have a little progress day after day. Also, remember that failure is part of life, not the end of the world and if you fail today, it is just today. Tomorrow you are going to do it better.

Motivation loop: César Dabián also mentioned: “Motivation is not the cause, it is the result”. Motivation and inspiration will come to you when you are already in the process. Try to jogging and you will tell me if you feel more motivated and inspired after having exercised? For example, yesterday I was supposed to only do some aerobics exercise, but I also ended up running a bit. I got inspiration and motivation on the go. This happens with any activity.

Do it just today: It will be hard if you think that you will be doing exercise or for the rest of your life. The secret is to be focused only on today. Don’t overwhelm yourself thinking about the future that is no here. If you can only do something TODAY, why to stress about tomorrow? Just take it easy.

Prioritize your time: The activities that you want to become a habit are as important as going to work. Give them a specific time in your agenda, don’t let them be done in your last hours of the day before going to sleep because you forgot about them.

Now that I am aware of the quality of life I want for myself it is easier to acquire those habits I want in my life. I hope these quick steps help are useful to you too. If you have some others that might work well for me, please tell me so.

Cheers!