Take Control of Your Health & Well-Being

A powerful way to increase your focus is to create a picture of success that you can use at any time to reinforce your goals and game plan. First, create a detailed picture of what it will be like to reach the weight-loss and exercise goals you have created for yourself. Include all of your senses in the picture (how you think and feel, what you see in your surroundings, what you hear people telling you, etc.). Write a paragraph or draw a picture of what it would be like to reach your weight-loss and exercise goals. Second, create a picture of success in achieving your game-plan strategies. Picture yourself exhibiting perfect motivation toward your goal. See yourself exercising when you aren’t in the mood and choosing healthy foods in your most vulnerable situations. Keep these paragraphs or pictures somewhere where you will see them on a daily basis. Review them in your mind until they become real. The more you rehearse your success, the easier it will be to focus.

Use a Step-by-Step Process

When you find yourself losing focus on your goals or game plan, use the following step-by-step process to increase your focus:

Step 1: Tune In
Use mindful focus to tune in to what you’re feeling when you notice that you’re distracted from your goal. Observe what you experience. Isolating what is happening for you at that moment will guide your decisions.

Step 2: Weigh the Priorities and Urgency
The second step involves weighing what to do next in light of your priorities and the urgency of action. Step 1 will likely reveal distracting elements. You may decide to acknowledge what is going on for you and return to focusing on your game-plan strategies. There may be times in which you’ll need to delay or stop your plans for healthy eating or exercising because something higher on your priority list takes precedence. You may find a need to do one of three things: a) reprioritize your current activities, b) gently remind yourself to return to focusing on the task at hand, or c) choose to perform some of the solutions that enhance your sense of focus. Sometimes mindful focus will reveal hidden agendas or emotions that would likely be resolved if you spent a little time taking care of them. Simply acknowledging your feelings, say of sadness or fear, may be enough for the feeling to dissipate and allow you to focus on your game-plan strategies. Alternatively, you may find you need to spend more time thinking about emotions, hidden agendas, and other ways of veering off track. To decide whether to stop focusing on your game-plan strategies or continue on, weigh your actions against your priorities and the urgency of each.

For example, pretend that a friend has called you with some unsettling news about her health. You feel upset and disrupted. You are barely able to put your worry aside and finish your work. Although you had planned to stop by the gym after work, you notice that you no longer feel like following your usual routine. You feel like going to bed. Instead, you tune in and notice feelings of anxiety and restlessness. You allow yourself to feel the full impact of your friend’s bad news. Now you can decide whether to stick to your plan or change it. As you think through the options, you decide that exercising will help you release the anxiety so you will be better able to support your friend. If you had distracted yourself from your present experience, you might have done something that neither met your goal nor helped your friend.

Step 3: Match the Strategy
Type of Focus
Different types of focus sometimes require different strategies. To increase your attentional focus, practice the skill of mindful focus. Remember to adopt a present-oriented, open attitude toward your awareness in the moment. If you find pressing emotions or agenda items weighing on you, address them only if they are priorities and then return to your focus on your goal and game plan. Try not to reprimand yourself for losing focus, but gently encourage yourself to return to your priority.

To improve your motivational focus, rehearse your success scenarios until they become second nature. When you catch yourself lacking focus, interrupt your lack of motivation by envisioning your success scenarios. Review your goals and game plan at regular intervals to be sure they meet your real needs. Write and post a list of positive reasons you are pursuing good health. Ask for words of encouragement from friends and family members if that is helpful for you.

Improving your focus on your actions means paying attention to what you do. Remember that every action counts. When an action seems too complicated, break it into small parts and begin with one small part Action begets action, so doing anything in the direction of your goals will likely help you feel ready for more action. Try to do one thing at a time with full consciousness. Anticipate and plan for times when following through with your game plan strategies will be difficult. Finally, remember to reward yourself for acting in your best interest.

Tags: Alternative, Anxiety, Care, Chi, Ear, exercise, food, foods, Good Health, Gym, health, healthy eating, healthy food, healthy foods, Vision, weight, Work

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Tags: Alternative, Anxiety, Care, Chi, Ear, exercise, food, foods, Good Health, Gym, health, healthy eating, healthy food, healthy foods, Vision, weight, Work

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