This week I was chatting to Valerie Woodmore, a client, friend and fellow Think Big member about health and as we got chatting I was reminded that I got into my work 10 years ago because I was curious about what else I could do to support my clients.

At the time I was a Slimming World consultant and I was being asked questions outside the parameters of the support I had been trained in.

Members were struggling to know how to get the buy in and support of those at home. Ironically it took me training as a coach and then another 4 years working with clients to help them gain clarity of what they wanted and the confidence to ask for it –  to completely unravel what was holding both my clients and myself back from truly engaging with long term life changes.

Incentives

What I discovered is that not only do people fail to ask the right people for advise they also often lack motivation and incentive to achieve with this I have become  increasingly interested in how we reward ourselves for our achievements.

In this month’s power group we explored how we would celebrate our success and it was interesting to hear that some were going to give themselves some time off and others a glass of red wine.

Personally I have been working to changing my behaviour around using food as a reward.

I am even changing how I talk about it and I have been known to say things like I am rewarding myself with crunchy and colourful food.

So it was interesting to read this article from Valerie How to be healthy? 

I particulary like that is never too late to improve your health.

There are some great tips to get you started and I would love it if you left Valerie a comment if you find the article inspirational.

Listen to your body it knows best

On another note whilst seeking advice from experts is important – it is equally important that you check in with your intuition and listen to yourself. I believe that when you really take time to listen it doesn’t take much to notice what works for your body and mind.

I do understand that weight loss etc take time and yet I also know that the minute you do something different you can instantly feel better.

For example a client this week said she was feeling lethargic and wished she could physically shake it off. I invited her to stand up and shake it off and guess what just by standing up and physically shaking it off she felt better.

I do strongly encourage you to read this article and then consider one thing you could do this week that would make you feel healthier. That is assuming you want to feel healthier of course.

Personally I have diarised this article for once a month and will look to see how many I can improve over the next 6 months. It has inspired me to give myself a score out of 10 for each of them based on 10 being that I am achieving my optimum in this area.

1 = 10/10 which is interesting because it was only a 6 before I had to write it down for you in this blog but now I am realising this is important I want do more of the healthy things I love and ditch the critic in my head and outside that challenges me on my choices.

2 = 6/10 I need to talk to Valerie again to understand exactly what is considered processed food and then decide one that I am willing to stop buying for a month. Not sure I want to give up my baked beans yet.

3 = 5/10 I am pretty good for my meals but I need to do some serious work with my snacks so  I am committing to replacing unhealthy snacks for fruit and veg

4 = 9/10 already pretty good at this I just need to buy a healthy choice for me when the boys have pizza on Friday’s as I don’t even enjoy pizza I just join in to feel part of the party.

5 = 7/10 I usually shop with a list and I can be pretty committed and what I have noticed is that when I shop at Aldi’s or Lidl’s I buy less ‘treats’ and I save money so I am going to commit to shopping there for the next month

6 =  8/10 I am pretty committed to my 2 fitness classes per week and a walk at the weekend with Mark but to get to a 10 I would need to walk for 30 minutes every day. This is not as important to me this month and I will focus on maintaining the 3 sessions

7 = 8/10 pretty happy with my sleep patterns and know they improve when I eat crunchy and colourful food

8 = 4/10 I am not very good at rewarding myself for anything and this is a work in progress. Over the years I have changed my focus from unhealthy food as a reward to seeing healthy food is my reward.  But I do need something else – a reward system that is affordable and sustainable. As I write it comes to me that my health is the greatest reward I can give myself and longetivity of life.

Can you please help me by leaving a comment below and share how do you celebrate your wins in life?

What reward stategies do you have?

Do you have any strategies that don’t involve food or drink?

I would love some ideas.

Thanks in advance

Sheryl

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About the Author – Sheryl Andrews – The Strength and Solution Detective

Sheryl Andrews, Founder of Step by Step Listening, is well known for her fast speaking and her passion to make things happen. But what many of you may not know is that in private behind closed doors she was also no stranger to lapses in self belief and an overwhelming sense of not being good enough.

That was until she conquered her sensitivity to criticism and her fear of not being liked.

Today, Sheryl runs safe to speak retreats where you can develop resources and skills to gain clarity and confidence of what you want and how you want to be and all the time you will be improving and changing the way you respond to feedback.

Fancy a virtual coffee and chat, then please feel free to book a complimentary clarity and confidence session. or SAS Detective TV

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