Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something. I have met many people who wanted to start losing weight or living healthy. One of the excuses they always use is that “they will start one day”. There are two hard choices in making health a lifestyle. Firstly, making a choice to start is the hardest. There is always resistance in the beginning. Secondly, once you overcome ‘starting inertia’ the second hardest choice is remaining consistent in living healthy.
Why Does Procrastination Happen?
There are a couple of reasons why people postpone taking action. Taking care of our health is important but it is not urgent. People are reactive when it comes to eating healthy, exercising, and drinking water. The main reason why we procrastinate with healthy living is that we do not experience the consequences immediately. Many of the choices we make today will produce results in three months’ time.
People do not put their hands on a hot stove because the consequences are felt immediately. The results of our healthy living or weight gain happens subtly, one day at a time. Normally the changes which happen daily are so small and insignificant to the naked eye. When we see the results it is too late. It is either with have gained a lot of weight or the doctor is asking us to start taking care of our health.
How To Overcome Procrastination?
Start With Why.
People procrastinate or delay working on their health because they do not have a strong purpose. Identifying a strong ‘why’ will help you to make a firm decision to start. Finding a strong reason that aligns with your internal value system will cure you of indecision. In our modern world, we have so many priorities, our lives are pulled in many directions. If you do not identify what is important in your life, you will never start working on it. Until you have identified your health as important, it will remain an afterthought. We make time for what is important in our lives!
Get A Game Plan.
Once you have identified your health as a priority put it in your diary or schedule. You plan needs to answer these questions:
- What is going to be your plan to get healthy?
- What does being healthy look like to you?
- Are you going to follow a specific diet?
- How are you going to incorporate being healthy into your lifestyle?
- What exercises routines are you going to do?
It is very hard to procrastinate when you know exactly what you are going to do tomorrow. As an example, my high-level plan is to eat healthily 80% of the time. I plan to exercise at least 5 times a week. Therefore, when I go grocery shopping my decisions are made, I just need to follow through. When I wake up in the morning, without second-guessing I know I will be exercising. It may be a cliché, but it is true, “if you fail to plan then you are planning to fail” (or procrastinate in today’s context).
Build Habits And Routines.
The fastest way to change your life is by transforming your plan and goals into daily actions and habits. When you build habits and daily routines you will start taking a step towards your goals daily. Plans and goals may seem out of reach at times. You may have a goal to lose 20 kilograms or to hit 12% body fat. Merely thinking about these goals is daunting. The size of those goals makes people procrastinate. However, identifying habits such as eating healthy, working out, drinking water, and avoiding processed sugar and foods makes it easier to start.
Focussing on one habit at a time is one of the greatest ways to overcome procrastination. Do not try to work on all your bad habits at once. Personally, I started with one keystone habit of avoiding processed sugar and foods for 90 days. This habit helped me to start eating healthy, as I could not eat processed foods. I started drinking more water as I could not drink sodas or fizzy drinks. I started sleeping better as I had to be up for my morning runs. I developed so many habits by starting with only one.
If you are at a crossroads or have been procrastinating to start your healthy journey, choose one habit, and start. The habit may be as small as drinking 2 liters of water daily. Work on this habit for at least a month and then start adding other health habits.
If you want to overcome procrastination, firstly you have to identify your why or strong purpose. Secondly, work on the plan and thirdly put the plan into daily action by building one habit. These three simple steps will help build a new healthy body.