Change Your Health By Changing Your Environment

“We see consistency in everyday life because of the power of the situation.” Lee Ross

For anyone who has been coached by me, they know how much emphasis I place on the ability to be consistent. It is well known that if you repeat something over and over again you will end up with a result caused by repeating that action over and over again. It is called ‘deliberate practise’.

So it is safe to say, that if you are not happy with the results you are achieving, then change the actions you are performing.

It is also well known that our actions are not always down to us.

Our environment has a big part to play when it comes to the actions we perform, with the majority of our actions being sub-conscious. In other words, we are not even aware sometimes of the actions we take.

As an example, try walking consciously to the left of people as they walk towards you. You will find the majority of people will sub-consciously try and keep to the left of you, to the point you will more than likely walk in to each other.

This is because society as a whole has sub-consciously chosen to walk to the right of people (even though here in the UK we drive on the left, why is it we sub-consciously walk on the right?), and because everyone else follows this pattern we naturally and sub-consciously fall in to line.

This also happens with our health habits. Positive and negative habits.

If we find ourselves in an environment that isn’t positive when it comes to healthy habits, we will sub-consciously fall in to following those poor habits.

No matter how much willpower and motivation your have, if your environment is wrong then your behaviours will ultimately match that environment and your willpower and motivation will diminish.

Even if people who are currently consistent in performing healthy habits find themselves in an unhealthy environment, they will in the end succumb to increasing poor health habits and decreasing their good habits.

To achieve a life-time of good health, you consistently need to be working on improving the environment you find yourself in.

Just like your health, your environment is either improving or declining. It never stays the same.

Situations in life change. People come and go in your life. Unforeseen circumstances happen. Life just doesn’t stay the same and nor does your environment.

So how can you change your environment for the better and how can you keep it being what’s best for your health?

It all comes down to a simple question. Why?

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Without a reason for doing something, what you do becomes a short-term habit. If you have a strong reason for doing the how, you are more likely to consistently keep doing it.

When you have a true strong belief for doing something your mind will be more open to how best to do it. Your knowledge about how you can do it better increases, which in turn increases your faith that what you are doing is the best way of doing it. This will increase your consistency in doing the right thing, which in turn delivers the result you want. When the result you want is being achieved, then you will have more faith that what you are doing is the right thing.

So how do you discover your ‘Why’?

Your ‘Why’ is determined by your emotions. We are transformed by our emotions, not by logic or reason. Our emotions are determined by our beliefs and thoughts.

Our beliefs and thoughts are formed by our experiences — good and bad. If you want growth (self-improvement), do something that will challenge you emotionally. Watch ordinary people attempting things that put them out of their comfort zone and you will see them grow in confidence and self-belief.

If you want to grow as a person and improve your overall physical and mental health, then challenge yourself with something that gets you out of your comfort zone and makes you feel awkward. Do something that you don’t know what the outcome will be until you try it.

For most people, not knowing the outcome of something scares them. This keeps them in their comfort zone so they don’t experience discomfort and embarrassment. In this situation they are being held back by their emotions.

Of course all of this comes down to the environment you create for yourself. Yes, what you create for yourself.

You are ultimately responsible for the environment you find yourself in. You are also the only one responsible for changing the environment you are in.

Do you socialise with people who have the same ‘Why’ as you?

Do you have a home that is conducive to healthy living? For example, the right foods and cooking tools? Is it an environment that allows periods of calm and relaxation?

Do you organise your day so you are in control of what you do? Or do you let everyone else determine it for you?

Is it an environment that encourages learning and challenges current beliefs? Or is it one that is happy with the status quo and staying the same?

Conclusion

If you want to change you must first accept that certain actions need to be performed over and over again. This will at first require you to change what you are currently doing. How difficult this will be is down to the current environment you find yourself in.

Any change of your environment will cause discomfort and create emotions that might make you feel awkward and embarrassed, but if your ‘Why’ for changing is strong enough then those emotions will change to one of empowerment and determination in what you are doing is the right thing to do.

Change your environment and change who you will become.

To find out more on how to achieve a lifetime of good health, please visit www.myhealthcoach.online