Lisa's Blog

[caption id="attachment_158" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="100 % Health With 10 % Effort"][/caption]Imagine! You wake up in the morning without your alarm clock, as the sun comes up, feeling perfectly rested. You jump out of bed straight away and actually look forward to your routinely morning exercise, which you perform with a bounce in your step. You are excited about the day ahead, you’re organized, effective, you get results, you excel. When you get home in the evening you don’t need a glass of wine or a stiffer drink to unwind, you are easily able to relax. You settle in for a nice evening, in good cheer with good food, which you have the energy and inclination to prepare. You are at peace with the world and in control of your life, nothing feels like a burden or too much effort. After an enjoyable evening you get into bed, your mind is at ease and you fall straight to sleep. Wow! Imagine the possibilities of feeling this GREAT! Only a select few of you have ever felt this good, really enjoy your life and get a buzz each day with the level of excellence and desire you hold. Many of you don’t believe it’s even possible to live life like this, to feel energised and be productive and in good cheer all day! What if I told you I had the magic recipe? Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, eat whole grain foods, avoid saturated fats and eat more plant oils, eat less red meat and more chicken and fish, drink enough water, drink less alcohol and avoid stimulants, breath properly, maintain a positive attitude, be true to your self and exercise. Voila, healthy happy you! (Now like any good recipe, it looks pretty simple, don’t be fooled by the simplicity, remember the magic is in the technique, not the ingredients!) The magic: The biggest reason for failing in health is usually procrastination, and the primary reason for procrastination is usually overwhelm. We don’t know where to start. So here’s a thought and a guaranteed method for success. It’s called the 10 % Principle. The 10 % Principle is a philosophy or way of life. Simply it involves doing 10 % more of the things you know are good for you and move you towards your health and life goals and 10% less of the things that you know don’t serve you. Every day. If you just do 10% more today than you did yesterday, that’s an improvement. Keep that up and you have changed your life, in a habit forming sustainable way. “What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery Who would have believed scoring 1/10 could save your life? Let’s look at some examples of where you could get started: If you are relying on coffee to get you through the day, everyday. Then start by reducing coffee in your diet by 10%. Initially this could simply be, having one day without coffee every 10 days. Straight away that’s a 10% improvement, yet it is not incredibly difficult to implement. (You could apply this to alcohol too!) If you don’t get enough exercise, start by including just 10% more physical activity into your day. Get up to change the channel, walk up the escalator instead of standing still. Choose a parking spot a little further away from the entrance. If you battle with personal discipline, choose just one thing at the start of the day to achieve, and don’t go to bed until you have achieved it. If chocolate is your weakness, start by not finishing the bar, make it your principle to only ever eat 90% of the chocolate bar, give a bite to a friend! The 10 % Principle also works really well in reverse, you can plan to only eat junk or convenience foods 10 % of the time, but the rest of the time you take your own lunch to work or university. Keep “takeout” as an emergency or convenience option or a personal treat, but not a way of life. If you keep taking small steps everyday, you can not help but move towards your goals, and it’s contagious, success breeds success, so as you start to achieve these small milestones on a day to day or weekly basis, you will feel more empowered to keep going. ”Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.” Samuel Smiles Get started today, what will you do 10 % more or less of today to improve your life and empower yourself? Here’s to health worth celebrating in 2009!