Plug into the benefits of achieving Extraordinary Health
If you were to unscrew a light bulb from its power source, how bright would the light bulb shine? Now if you don’t plug into a motivating list of reasons on why you want to get healthier and empower yourself to practice the Habits of Health to achieve your goals, how bright will you be? You wouldn’t be very bright would you? When the reason “why” become stronger, the “how” of doing it becomes a whole lot easier!
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist, reached the summit of Mount Everest, the largest mountain in the world standing at 29,029 ft, on May 29, 1953 at the age of 33, with Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. The two became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
In an interview following their ascent; Sir Edmund Hillary was asked why he decided to climb the mountain. Sir Edmund responded “I didn’t climb the mountain to conquer the mountain. I did it to conquer myself.”
If you were to take all the reasons why you wanted to get healthier and you took them to the top of the mountain and you focused on them vs. the benefits of rafting the River of Ordinary Health, you’d most likely not only climb the mountain regardless of its difficulty but you would “conquer yourself” in the process.
Since their ascent there have been over 5000 successful summit attempts made by other climbers from around the world including Erik Weihenmayer in 2001 who is blind, Mark Inglis in 2006 who is a double amputee, and Jordan Romero in 2010 who was only 13 years old at the time. Every individual regardless of their circumstances chooses to climb because they have a powerful reason or list of reasons motivating them to do so.
We often choose not to climb are based on the simple fact that we choose to focus on the wrong benefits and reasons. Take a moment and think of the top 10-20 reasons you have to get healthier. Here's a few categories below to get you started…
Benefits of getting healthier and climbing Extraordinary Health Mountain:
Family (How would relationships change with your spouse, kids, parents or grandkids?)
Faith (How would your faith be strengthened or improved?)
Friends (Who would you spend more time with? What would you do with them?)
Fitness (Would you feel stronger, more energetic and/or accomplish a specific goal?)
Feelings (How would it feel to be healthy? Would you have more self confidence?)
Fun (What would you be able to do, be or have? Where would you go?)
Firm (How would your career/business improve? How would opportunities change?)
Finances (How would your finances improved? Would you have/make more money?)
Other reasons to get healthy….
Equally there are also reasons not to get healthy. The path of LEAST resistance is comfortable for a season as it doesn’t require much effort. We can simply relax and go with the flow but where this “flow” takes us is not a happy place. What you choose to focus on each and every day will be the ultimate driver in where you are in the future and how your life turns out.
Reasons people use not to climb:
- Comfort or complacency with current “ordinary” life
- Change in lifestyle and habits is perceived as difficult to accomplish
- Conflict with family and friends when making healthier choices
- Confusing as to which path (diet, exercise, etc.) to better health is best to take
- Choices to live healthier require more knowledge and skill
- Convenience of going with the flow
- Coping with life’s challenges is easier if I don’t have to be healthy
- Costs associated with getting healthier are perceived to be higher
Your focus precedes your success. When a person gets focused on why they’re doing something they will not be as concerned with the obstacles that come before them. Those who focus on the WHY and not the HOW will have the greatest success. You’ll want to review this list every morning when you get up, every night when you go to bed and any time you feel challenged. It will be easy to do and also easy not to do but if you do it consistently for 28-Days it will become a habit and it will become part of your normal routine to keep you encouraged (and climbing).
Plug into the community of support to be encouraged by others and to encourage others!
eHealth Challenge Tip: Avoidance
Getting out of the way of temptation is not a sign of weakness or poor self control, but rather an intelligent response to avoid problems, especially when you’re in the early stages of learning to eat healthy. If there’s a buffet, a trusted friend or family member can go get your food for you. If there’s a dessert table in one room, you can stay out. When cake is served, you can politely excuse yourself.
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