Are you living your healthiest and happiest life?

Now I ask this question because in my experience, most of us are not. In fact, we are a long way from it and yet there are some very simple steps that we can take to get there.

One book I urge you to read and explore is Matthew Michaelwicz’s Life in Half a Second. It is literally a step-by-step guide to help you achieve success, get you thinking and inspires you to take steps to get the most out of your life.

There are 168 hours in a week and if you tell me that you cannot commit to healthy habits through exercise, mindfulness and overall keeping physically and mentally active towards living a healthier lifestyle for say just five hours a week, then you are telling me that you cannot devote three per cent of your time to living your healthiest and happiest life.

We all have time constraints, we have work, family, relationships, pets, friendships, to name a few. I get that. But the first step is prioritising you and finding 45 minutes a day.

With the aid of instructional videos, Matthew’s book is a great way to help keep you accountable and to take some necessary steps to help you find your way, but you must first understand that goal setting is vital. Sit down and rate from one to 10 how happy you are with the following areas of your life:

• Happiness
• Finance
• Stress coping skills
• General health
• Nutrition
• Relationship
• Career
• Fitness
• Relaxation
• Sleep
• Mental health

Once you look at your scores you have immediately identified some areas in your life that you can work “step-by-step” to make improvements in. Now let’s be honest, from your vantage point it may seem almost impossible to score a 10 in each area, but what have you got to lose be seeking to increase each area by just one point? Set some ways to look at chipping away at making gradual positive changes and put them into your five hours (or three per cent) of your week.

Now lying well below the surface is the need for behaviour change and we all need to be realistic and understand that this takes time. A habit they say takes 21 days to start or stop, but to truly evoke behaviour change we need to look at setting up processes and habits and to remain accountable for six months at a minimum.

Start small and build … 45 minutes a day may take you a few weeks or even months to get to but that is completely fine. Be kind to yourself but please do take the necessary steps to make your answer to the opening question of “are you living your healthiest and happiest life?” a yes!

As a personal trainer to people mainly aged from 40 to 80 years, I see way too much regret and that stems from how they have let life (work, family, injury, kids, partners, etc.,) get in the way and now they want to reclaim what they have lost. Now I commend each and every one of them for taking stock and wanting to change and it is my job to set simple, yet achievable goals and targets and throw the responsibility back to them. But I must keep them accountable, and I must say I do this very well because it is coming from the right place. My clients know that I am there to get the very best out of them and it is the best job in the world to see it happen.

Let me add that weight loss is not the be-all and end-all. You see weight and fat loss are very often the byproduct of setting up healthy and positive habits and the items listed are what we first start with our clients to set up exactly what I have outlined for you to do in this article. Why? Because it works!

So, if you need help, reach out to myself or one of my team but do buy and read the book mentioned above, accept the “life in half a second” challenge and send me an email in six months’ time when you have made the positive changes that you need! •

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