Why don’t we make important changes in our lives? Common reasons and ways to overcome them - part 2

Written by Nyomi Graef
 
Is something stopping you from making the life changes that you desire? Perhaps not enough time? Or lack of confidence, self-belief or self-esteem? Some limiting beliefs? Read part 2 of this series (below) about ways to breakthrough barriers to soar to success.
 
Denial
If we don’t think we have a problem, we aren’t going to change. Facing reality can be confronting and difficult. But to improve our lives, we must face the truth/face our problems, and make some changes. Harness our resources, get support if we need it, and go towards our goal with our plan in place.
 
Not enough time
Lack of time is one of the biggest excuses not to do things. Make time for making vital lifestyle changes. How? Make them a high priority, and schedule them into our lives. If we can do unimportant things, like watch mindless TV shows and waste time on social media, we can make time for important things.
 
Lack of confidence/self-belief/self-esteem
Do you lack these qualities? If so, boost them to fly to new heights! They are all important for success, including making positive lifestyle changes.

Read good self-help books, articles and blog posts. Listen to motivational speakers Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, Dr Wayne Dyer, Bob Proctor or Denzel Washington... whoever connects with you and inspires you. Put appropriate ideas into practise.
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Set small achievable goals (on their own and/or as part of bigger goals) and feel proud when you achieve them. Small successes all add up. There is nothing quite like the feeling of achievement to make us feel great!
 
Failed past attempts
Past failures can cause low confidence, self-esteem, self-belief and motivation. Forget the past and move on. The past does not have to dictate your future. Create a different plan. Use better strategies. Update your resources. Do whatever it takes (within reason). Just keep going. Persist!
 
Beliefs that prevent change
Beliefs can keep us where we are, make us spiral down, or motivate us to be better. Swap limiting beliefs with empowering ones. Check out some ideas below.
 
Limiting belief: I’m fat because my family is fat, so I’ll never be a healthy body weight (no matter what I eat and how much I exercise).
 
Empowering beliefs: Families often share the same eating and exercise habits. These habits promote either weight gain, weight loss, or weight maintenance.
 
Low levels of exercise combined with an unhealthy diet high in sugar/white flour/junk food/soft drinks, and so on, is very likely going to cause weight gain.
 
Consistently good eating and exercise habits often leads to a healthy body weight. Good dietary ideas to start with are to eat:

• Lots of different types of veggies
• Enough fresh fruit of various varieties
• A good amount of healthy fat, such as the fat in avocados, olives, olive oil, oily fish, nuts, and seeds
• Moderate amounts of good sources of protein, such as fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, beans, tofu, nuts, seeds, and high quality lean grass-fed red meat
• Low amounts of added sugar, white flour, soft drink (and other unhealthy drinks), junk food, highly processed foods, deep fried foods, and trans fat

 
Limiting belief: I’m not fat, I’m big boned.
 
Empowering beliefs: Yes, people have different sized bones (and body frames). These range from small to large. But love handles are not big bones, and neither is excess belly fat and excess fat on and around other parts of the body. With the right goals, plan, strategies, resources, and so on, many people can lose excess weight and maintain a healthy body weight.
 
Limiting belief: I’m not sporty, so I can’t do any exercise.
 
Empowering beliefs: People don’t have to be sporty to exercise. There are plenty of exercises to choose from, some more sport-oriented than others. Choose healthy movement that we feel comfortable with. Walking, swimming, yoga and cycling are examples of exercises that don’t require us to be good at sport.
 
Limiting belief: I’ve tried every diet and nothing works. I have given up. I will always be overweight.
 
Empowering beliefs: There are so many diets around that it’s VERY unlikely that anyone has tried all of them.
 
Many people all over the world have lost weight in healthy and reasonable ways, and kept the weight off.
 
Long-term weight loss requires sustainable lifestyle changes, not a quick fix/unrealistic/impractical... diet.
 
Have the right mindset for weight loss. Set worthwhile goals and plans. Use the right strategies. Put in the time and effort. Persist and be patient.
 
Summary
In summary, to make positive lifestyle changes we must (among other things):

• get out of denial and face our problems
• make time for change
• have good confidence, self-belief and self-esteem
• persist after past failures and
• have empowering beliefs that encourage positive change

 
Read part 3 in this series of blog posts, with more barriers to change and ideas to overcome them, coming soon.