HEALTH Making positive life changes – Part 3

Setting meaningful goals


Personal trainer
Paul O'Brien

Making positive life changes
Part 3

Embrace change! An old mentor of mine used to say this so frequently, to the point that the words became meaningless to me. Over the past few weeks, these two simple words have been playing on my mind once again. Embracing change means changing your attitude towards it, welcoming it and learning from its lessons. Though some changes may be initially viewed as negative, all change promotes growth. Growth through success, through joy and, many times, growth through pain.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been looking at the areas of your life in which you wish to embrace change. You have also worked to uncover your core values – those things that give your life real meaning. Knowing these can help us set powerful and motivating goals.
The New Year brings with it an impetus to change. After all, everyone is doing it, so you can’t feel left out! Lose weight, make more money, connect more with family and friends, begin a new hobby … the list goes on. Too many times, however, the momentum offered by a ‘new beginning’ in January becomes a rolling stone beset by momentum-sapping moss.
It need not be so! Perhaps part of the problem is that we have no idea why the goals we set for ourselves are important to us. Take, for example, losing weight – a popular choice at this time of year. Yes, you are aware that losing weight will make you look and feel better. But when the going gets tough, as it always does, is the thought of looking and feeling better going to help you through the sticky patches? Perhaps not – what does experience tell you?
Armed with you core values though, you now stand on firmer ground. Using our example again, you now set your goal and confirm that it is aligned with your core values. You ask, “How will achieving this goal benefit my life?” Enter core values. Let’s say four of these are family, health, joy and success. How will losing weight affect these?
Family and health: Losing weight will clearly improve your health, giving you more energy to spend time with your kids and/or family. Plus, you’ll most likely be around for a little longer to enjoy them! Losing weight will affect your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health in too many ways to cover in this article.
Joy: The increase in your self-esteem has you doing more in your life and being more content, joyful and at peace with yourself. Your unbounding energy has seen you get out more, try new hobbies and have more fun. Joy, joy, joy!
Success: You are sharper mentally, have improved concentration and the creativity you longed for is exploding from you. You’re painting, acting, dancing, creating – all thanks to your weight loss and its knock-on effects.
Now, having these potential results in your mind is far more likely to get you off that couch, onto that road or into that class, wouldn’t you agree? By aligning your goal with your core values, you have created powerful motivators that will inspire you move forward. But you’re not finished with your goals just yet. There is one more key ingredient you’ll need. It is what separates those who achieve in life from those who do not. Next week, we take ACTION.

Paul O’Brien is a personal trainer and life coach based in Westport.