How to Set Health Goals That Stick
And why they must be our #1 priority.
I've worked in marketing for a while, and I always remember a comment from author Seth Godin. He described the basic emotions used in effective marketing—fear, love, and hope.
Which one do you think is the strongest motivator?
If you said fear, you'd agree with most successful marketers. Fear works. Do you remember the Michelin tire commercial showing a darling baby in a tire? Right away, you knew they were appealing to human's desire to keep their kids safe by playing on our fear of accidents.
The easiest way to build a brand is to sell fear. The best way, though, may be to deliver on hope while aiming for love.—Seth Godin
We all use fear, hope, and love to motivate ourselves.
Even if we don't think of it this way, we all use these techniques constantly, though often subconsciously. So let's use these emotional triggers for good.
You remember to change the brakes on your car because you fear an accident. We work because we need a paycheck to provide a roof over our heads. We fear being homeless, and we love our family.
If you go to a social event, pre-COVID perhaps, you're hoping to meet a friend or have fun.
Why not intentionally use these emotions to create good habits?
A few years ago, following a severe car accident, I faced the most significant health challenge of my life. However, it ended up being a positive thing since it led to the realization I had hip dysplasia, and a new hip solved my long-standing back pain.
But then I realized I'd become complacent and accidentally weak. Whoops! I had serious work to do.
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” — John F. Kennedy
I like that quote because it reminds us that being proactive is better than being sorry. If I hadn't had a wake-up call, my health would have continued to deteriorate.
I took stock of my well-being and didn't like what I saw.
After the accident, I used a walker and then progressed to a cane. My legs were weak, and I had to push myself out of a chair with my hands. Walking more than 20 feet was tough, and I had become used to walking all hunched over.
My very fit son, who is also a functional range conditioning trainer, offered to help me. His first question was, What do you want to be able to do? Walk a city block or hike? How strong and flexible do you need to be to do what you want?
The principle of his work is that people are motivated by what they want to do. If they're going to hike with a forty-pound pack for ten miles, that will require different muscles and endurance than someone who plays a few rounds of golf on the weekend.
While thinking about my goals, I realized I automatically divided them into two parts.
Dire consequences and positive results
There were things I feared happening or negative consequences such as:
- Becoming weaker and not being able to be independent.
- Having always to use a cane.
- Losing my balance, falling, breaking a bone, getting pneumonia, and dying.
- No longer being able to hike in the wild places I adore.
- Getting sickly and spending years in a nursing home.
Luckily, there were things I hoped for, some of my hopeful motivations included:
- Being fit enough to carry my pack and hike ten miles in the mountains with my son.
- Getting up off the floor without using my hands!
- Having energy and strength to garden, kayak, and play pickleball with my siblings.
- Optimize my nutrition to avoid aging-related muscle and bone loss. I want to walk upright into my nineties.
- Play tag with my grandkids and actually catch them!
And out of love, I don't want my kind and generous children to need to take care of me for one day more than absolutely necessary before I breathe my last breath, I hope peacefully.
Your fears and your hopes will be different than mine. It’s essential, to be honest with yourself. What do you most fear in life and what do you most want to be present?
Write them down. Save your list. Look at it often.
We can baby-step our way to health.
Fortunately, I've grown stronger, and I can set fitness goals. I'm encouraged by the changes I've seen in my health. At first, I walked 40 yards and rested. Then 50 yards, but I didn't give up.
No matter where you are today, I'm convinced nearly everyone can get healthier. We're fortunate to have easy access to knowledge in books and online. If you have health issues or it's been a long time since you moved your body much, you can have peace of mind with a medical checkup.
Some of us haven't boosted our heart rate or worked up a good sweat in years, and trust me; we can imagine the worst. Knowing that your ticker is ok and it's unlikely you'll have a heart attack at 120 beats per minute will make you feel confident. And keep moving.
If you don't know how to improve your diet, you can consult with a nutritionist. Start with this introductory article on what's wrong with the Standard American Diet (SAD).
Begin moving more than you are today. Next, I highly recommend talking to a fitness trainer. Start by talking to your fit friends or inquiring at your local YMCA or gym. Always check references.
I'm a big fan of exercise bands. For ten dollars, you'll have the equipment for an effective home workout that you can even begin in a chair.
Without our bodies, we cease to exist.
It's a no-brainer. But for some reason, it's easy to put off taking care of it until it starts breaking down. I know we all have responsibilities, but none of them make it impossible to care for our health. Seriously.
You're going to eat anyway, and it's not harder to eat the right food.
You can walk in place while you watch T.V., park as far from the store door as possible, get a lightweight dumbbell and start strengthening your arms.
Don't tell me you can't afford to buy healthy food. Maybe you don't know what to buy or how to cook it, but I have 50 years of cooking well on a bare-bones budget. And what if you could save money on prescriptions and medical co-pays?
Being healthy saves you money. I promise. I believe it's never too late to challenge ourselves. Let's combine the three most powerful emotions—fear, love, and hope, and use them to motivate ourselves for a healthy 2022.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Let me know, and I promise to do my best to find an answer or point you in the right direction. I'm not an expert, but I never get tired of talking about wellness.
Unless you have definite, precise, clearly set goals, you are not going to realize the maximum potential that lies within you. — Zig Ziglar
Cindy Heath grew up on a homestead in Alaska, raised kids and veggies in Arizona & New Mexico. Sign up for her short weekly emails to hear what's new where she now lives in Dripping Springs, Texas.
