We know what we need to do, so why don’t we just do it? Here’s a few common obstacles.

The beginning of a new year signals a time for many people to assess where they’re at and to set some intentions for the year ahead. When it comes to health, many people declare that this is the year they are finally going to make their own health a priority and make some changes. And things usually start off so well. But despite the best of intentions and great knowledge, it doesn’t always last and many people return to some of their less supportive habits. Have you ever wondered why?

Something I love to explore is why we do what we do, even though we know what we know. There is so much gold in understanding what is really driving our choices because from this place, it becomes much easier for us to make sustainable changes that support our health. So let’s look at a few common reasons why you might struggle to put your knowledge into practise and what you can do to help.

You haven’t reflected on your ‘why’ It’s natural for change to feel difficult or uncomfortable at first, so connecting the change you want to make with your ‘why’ is so important. Take some time to reflect on this and perhaps use a journal to capture your thoughts. Think about what you are really wanting to achieve and what this change will mean for you. How does this change link with your values? Where will you be in a year’s time if you make this change? Where will you be if you don’t? It can be helpful to revisit this during those extra challenging days.

You’re all in (or all out) When we’re super-motivated to start the year off well, it can be tempting to try to overhaul everything in our life at once. But if we’re not able to sustain it all we can often feel like we’ve failed and have to ‘start again’. Commit to one or two small changes first, and then go from there. Small, incremental changes can add up over time to make an enormous difference to our health.

Your measures of success aren’t supportive When we’re making changes, we tend to want some way of tracking our progress. The problem is that if we focus only on one specific measure, it can be easy to think that what we’re doing isn’t working if we don’t see this one measure immediately change in the way we were hoping. A good example here is total body weight. Yet there could be other changes happening that indicate that what we’re doing is incredibly beneficial, such as improved energy, a clear complexion, a more even mood, clearer thinking, better digestion … the list goes on! Focus on how you are feeling and celebrate all the wins along the way.

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