Last weekend the Epoch team went off-site to the Peak District for our quarterly team meeting. This is a valuable meeting that allows us to measure our progress, set some goals and plan the next quarter for ourselves, our practice, and our patients. Without this meeting it would be easy to get caught up and lose focus, we would miss the opportunity to celebrate our wins and struggle to progress and move forward to help more people.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I want to ask you, when was the last time you evaluated and planned your health goals?
At Epoch, our aim is to help you increase your quality of life and setting health goals can be a really important part of that. But before we can set goals we must understand where we are and where we want to go. So, this week here are my 3 areas of focus for you in setting your health goals.
I would love for you to give it a go and let us know what you came up with.
Before we break down the areas to assess and set, we must consider what constitutes ‘health’. For some it is simply less pain, others it is more mobility and for some it is being happier. Personally I don’t think we can take any one concept in isolation and therefore for each of the following areas I want you to consider working on Physical, Nutritional and Emotional health.
If we can address all three of these key areas then we will move towards, if not achieve a well-rounded health.
Setting Health Goals.
1. The Evaluation
Where are you now? Without knowing this, you do not have a foundation to build from. Think about where you are Physically. Are you as active and independent as you want to be, are you in shape and strong?
Think about where you are with your Nutrition. Are you fuelling and hydrating your body or are you eating rubbish?
Think about where you are Emotionally. Are you grateful for what you have or are you focusing on the negative?
Have a good think about each area and score yourself out of 10. 10/10 being perfect.
2. The Goal
Where do you want to be? What is the ideal ‘healthy’ you?
Consider each of the three areas mentioned above. What would it look like if you were exactly where you want to be?
An example could be that you want to be physically healthy enough to walk to the shops and back without stopping. That you want to be nutritionally healthy enough to eat clean 5/7 days per week and that you want to be emotionally healthy by waking up with positive thoughts.
3. The Plan
How will you get there, what do you need to change, what do you need to stop and what do you need to do consistently to reach you goal? Then set yourself a time limit to achieve it.
So with the above example:
You may give yourself 2 weeks to be able to walk to the shops without stopping. Therefore, every day you need to go for a walk, trying to go a little further each time.
Nutritionally you may need to stop buying in bad food, prepare your meals for the week.
Emotionally practice gratitude before anything else, every morning.
Make clear decisions about what you need to do and begin.
Once you have done this, you can go back to point 1 and set the next set of goals.
But the main thing that keeps this all together is your integrity, your promise to follow through on what you chose. Then after the time period that you have allotted yourself to complete the task, sit back and evaluate where you are today.
Good luck, with love.
Tom
