We all have the same amount of time in a day. Why is it that some people make time for their personal health and wellness, and others do not? It is not about busyness, or time constraints. Many of the busiest people I know are also the most health conscious. They plan and make time for healthy behaviors.
Ultimately people spend time on what they value. If you value your health you will take time to do the things that promote it. If you don’t truly value your health, you find excuses as to why you don’t have time or don’t feel like doing healthy behaviors.
Even when they are reasonable excuses, you ultimately allow them to become a barrier. The bottom line is when you want something bad enough, you will figure out a way to make it work. When you don’t, it is easy to find many excuses why you can’t.
This happens for numerous reasons. In the conscious mind you know what would be good for you, however in your sub-conscious you react in a primal way that is based on your natural inclination and environment. If your natural bent is not proactive or self-starting, you could fall into a difficult situation.
We find that some people are naturally more inclined to be self-disciplined and to pre-plan. Other people find it challenging to control impulses, apply self-discipline and preplan for long-term health. For these people it can be an uphill struggle to make smart choices, but not impossible.
The natural response to this discrepancy of conscious thought and sub-conscious reaction is to make excuses. This is a basic mental defense mechanism used to help make sense of why we do not act in alignment with what we consciously know would be best for us. The only way to combat this natural response is to become aware of it.
From that point, you must make a choice, either do what you know is right or do what you feel like doing. You must do this each time you become aware of it, each time you catch yourself making an excuse. Excuses serve to explain why you did not do something that would have been expected for you to do. Almost all excuses could be offset by planning ahead.
People who fail to preplan often find themselves in situations where they have to make excuses to explain why they did not do what in their conscious mind, they wanted to do. Things like fit in exercise, drink more water, get enough sleep, or eat a nutritious meal. If your personality is one that controls impulses and enjoys being prepared, you will find it easier to live a disciplined healthy lifestyle.
Conversely, if you have impulse control issues and find it difficult to plan ahead for the future, you will have to work harder to create a healthy lifestyle plan. But knowing this about yourself is part of the equation. You can then begin to increase awareness and create a plan of action to offset the problem.
For this personality type, you must dig deeper within to understand your personal motivators. By tapping into something important within yourself you can begin to link the behavior to a greater purpose. It is only when you place greater importance on the behavior than you do your comfortable patters, that will you begin to make permanent lifestyle changes.
Naturally self-disciplined people get up early and exercise daily regardless of their schedule. They plan ahead and ensure that they will have what they need available to maintain their routine. For those with the opposite personality type, they will list all the barriers that make it is difficult to do what they know is good for them. The only way for this these types to succeed in lifestyle change is to not allow the barriers to become roadblocks.
It may require thinking outside the traditional. By activating the thinking part of the brain, you can override your reaction to a situation. When you recognize this will be difficult and think, “I can’t make this work,” that is the time to choose to push past the initial reaction and plan a way to make it work for you.
Do not be hindered by your natural inclination. Practiced overtime, you can rewire your habits and create a new reaction. It will not happen just because you want it to happen.
You must decide what you want, plan how to get it and then act on your plan. That is how you reconcile between conscious and subconscious inconsistencies. You can do it, if you want it bad enough and are willing to make it work for you. By regularly following this pattern, you can become the person you see in your conscious thoughts.
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