Planning and why it is so important

Good morning everyone. I hope you are having a stellar day. I’ve completed my workout and while at the gym, I realized how important it is to plan. I know you probably get tired of hearing me say that we need a roadmap to plan our health and well-being and to set goals, but it cannot be said enough!!!! “If we fail to plan, we plan to fail,” (Benjamin Franklin). Wise words from the past. Every time I failed to plan for an event, the situation became more stressful and I simply increased the risk of failure.

I also realized that most organizations appear or try to appear as if they have planned, but what about a fitness center running out of sanitizing wipes? In this current period of time, this can be a huge failure to plan. We all know that this year has brought out weakness, strength, and many other issues we must face and address. Why not tackle planning for our health and well-being? Why not take control of our lifestyle and really start focusing on something we CAN control?

So, some examples to strengthen this perspective include, successful executives plan, mothers plan for their households and families, we plan our day, we plan our vacations; so why would we neglect to plan our health? For many reasons. Most of us are used to someone else setting our schedule when we are too young to responsibly take control of our daily needs. Our bodies also help us schedule things such as eating, bathing, etc. How wonderful would it be for our bodies to send a signal we need to move and exercise? Oh, wait; our bodies send that signal when we feel tired, or our bodies feel tight, or we see extra body where we don’t want to.

So, how can we effectively plan our health and well-being? Well, start by analyzing our daily habits and patterns. Do they include unhealthy sleep habits, unhealthy dietary choices, too much stress? Does our daily pattern include too much smoking, drinking, or sitting for hours? How do we change these habits? Easy, write down just 3 things you want to change in the next 30 days and make them small and realistically achievable. Then, simply make a list, post reminders everywhere, and really work on accomplishing these 3 small changes. Then grow, and add more challenging habit changes once you have a pattern of success.

Remember, we only get one pass at this life; let’s make it the best possible life we can. Let’s start by planning our grocery list with healthy foods, stay away from the center aisles in the grocery store whenever possible, plan meals out by the week. Seek ways to streamline your current daily routine to add more free time to work out. Start drinking more water, start each morning with a cup of warm water with fresh lemon juice and honey before you have anything else. Focus on you and feeling better. Stay healthy, stay focused, and stay hydrated.