What's the motivation behind your goals?

With the start of a new year, so many people decide to take action and set some health goals for the year ahead. If this is you, congratulations! Setting a goal and writing it down is one of the hardest steps in achieving your aim.

However, don't fall into the common trap of setting goals to move "away" from something! Instead you want to build your goals moving "towards" something. 

What is the difference? Setting a goal based around "away-from" motivation means you are motivated to move away from something you don't want. For example, your doctor tells you that if you don't lose weight immediately you will die of a heart attack, so you immediately evict all the junk food from your house and start an extreme exercise regiment because you don't want to spend your life in a hospital, or even worse 6 feet under!

This is great until you get closer to a healthy weight, and further from the fear of being overweight and sick. Then your motivation starts to wane and slowly but surely you exercise less, eat more junk and just like a rubber band that goes snap, you eventually stand in front of the mirror and wonder what the heck happened again as you snapped back into your old habits and are back to square one!

On the other hand, "towards" motivation means exactly what it says - you're moving toward your goal. For example, you might set a goal that states "I am going to eat well and exercise because I want to be alive and well to enjoy life with my grandchildren" or "because I want to be fit enough to run a marathon" etc.

You are essentially tying your goal to something that is extremely important to you, because this will keep you on track when the daily whirlwind of life tries to knock you off your routines.

Unlike with the away from motivation, when you are continuously moving towards your goals, you have a much better chance of avoiding the snap back factor and slipping into the old habits of the past.

While this might seem like a simple concept, you will find that it can create some powerful momentum in your life when you make this crucial mental switch!

So re-evaluate your 2017 goals and re-write them making sure that they are moving you towards something and not away. They will be much more effective in creating life long healthy habits so that you can enjoy your life to the fullest! If you haven't set any goals and written them down for 2017, then go out on a limb and try it - you will be shocked at the results!

From all of us at Sarpy Chiropractic, we hope that 2017 is your best year yet! We believe in you, and we would love if you would share some of your health goals for 2017 in the comments below!