Keep an open mind, read them all the way through, and ask yourself honestly: “how many of these am I actually doing?”

1. Measure what you want to improve

When coaching private clients, I collect data on everything clients want to improve.

Wanna lose weight? Step on the scale.

Wanna be more precise and lose fat? Get out the calipers and measure body fat.

Wanna fit into your skinny clothes? Try them on once in a while.

Wanna feel better? Then every few weeks, actually ask yourself how you’re feeling, write it down and review it every few months.



The reason is because it works! There’s an old saying you’d be wise to follow: “What gets measured gets done”

2. Take photos

Admit it: you care — at least a little, and maybe a lot — about how you look. And that’s ok!

For the same way you’d measure weight loss if you want to lose weight, you better take photos if you want to look better. Every few weeks, step in front of the camera and snap a few photos.

Understand that it’s normal to not be totally at ease about taking photos of yourself at first.



Just know that it’s:

a) A very important step toward self-awareness (without which you cannot change)
b) The best way to document your hard work
c) Possibly the most motivating thing you will ever do for yourself.

3. Do something every day

Change happens when you slowly tear down old habits and build new ones in their place. That has to be daily, in my experience. In fact, that’s one of the reasons exercise alone doesn’t work — doing something 3 times a week isn’t enough to build a new habit. That’s also why personal training isn’t very effective (unless it combines nutrition and daily habit building).

If you want to get in the best shape of your life, ask yourself, “What’s one thing I could start doing every day?”

4. Make it easy

To do something every day, you have to make that “something” easy enough that you’re 100% confident you could do it every day for 30 days. That often means scaling your ambitious plans way back.

Unfortunately, most people bite off way more than they can chew.

They commit to working out an hour a day, eating four healthy meals, cutting out chocolate, running a marathon, cooking more, waking up earlier — nothing less than a complete overhaul of their lives.

Maybe they’re able to do it all for 3 days, a week, some people even a little longer perhaps. But inevitably, they miss a day, then two . . . then it all falls apart.

They lose confidence, feel guilty, beat themselves up, and go back to doing exactly what they were doing before: nothing. All or nothing.



Instead, make it easy on yourself, way easier than you think at first. Instead of eating 4 healthy meals a day, eat 1 healthy meal a day and give yourself permission to leave everything else the same.

Can’t commit to that for 30 days? Eat an apple a day, take fish oil each day, switch from your morning latte to a green tea or water.

Instead of working out an hour a day, how ’bout a 10-minute walk? Is that too much? What about a 5-minute walk?

Let go of your ego, accept where you are and commit only to something so easy that you could do it without thinking for at least 30 days straight.

Commit to “always something” — no matter how small at first.

5. Practice only one habit at a time

Work on just ONE habit at a time. This can be frustrating at first, because you want everything, right away, right?!

But that’s just impatience and unfortunately sustainable change doesn’t work that way.

Numerous studies show that people are typically quite successful when they limit their change to one behavior at a time, for say 3-4 weeks before introducing a new one.

BUT introduce even 2 new behaviors at once and the failure rate is nearly 100%

That’s a tough lesson to learn. So pick ONE — anything positive will do — and give yourself permission to leave everything else in your life as-is, at least for now. There will be plenty of time for the rest, trust me.

People overestimate how hard change will be and underestimate how long it will take.

Stick to one habit at a time and you’ll get there in time.

6. No “rocking chair” questions

Change is an uncomfortable process. You leave what you know (your habits, your lifestyle, your environment) and by trying something new, you take a tentative step into an unknown and uncertain place.



Clients try to resolve that tension by asking all kinds of inquiring questions:

•    “What about this supplement or that?”
•    “What do you think about this theory / guru / article
       I read / study that was published?”
•    “What about when (unforeseeable future event)
       happens — what do I do then?”
•    “What about (rare, irrelevant and highly unlikely situation)
       — what do I do in that case?”

Although they’re well-intentioned, they don’t reduce anxiety at all.

In fact, they do the exact opposite, distracting you from the only two questions that matter:

1.    What should I do today?
2.    How do I do that?

The first question is asking for the next step, the “right now.”

That’s the only thing you should concern yourself with because it’s the only thing you can control.

The second question is asking for clarification and instruction, so that you can do what you need to do properly. Those are the only two kinds of questions that lead to calm, focused action.

So next time you find yourself asking a question about Wellness, think:

“Am I focused on what to do right now?"

"Or is this just needless worrying?”

7. Get a little help from your friends

“Social support” makes all the difference in the world. Who you have in your social circle — and what they do, and how they think — will have an almost magnetic pull on who you are.

In fact, there is interesting new research showing that obesity spreads almost like an epidemic.

The people in your life will forever be pulling you, even unconsciously, toward being just like them: “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”

Now this doesn’t mean you need to scrap your friends and family and beg the local personal trainer to adopt you.

It just means that as you start to get in shape, you better get some other like-minded people in your life.

Because if you don’t, beware the subtle but powerful pull back to where you were.

8. Be accountable to someone

As much as you need to be picked up when you’re down, as much as you need be helped and supported from time to time, as much as you need some positivity in your life . . .

You also need someone to kick your ass back into gear when you’re slacking and help you snap out of the simple laziness that we all fall into from time to time.

That person is your Wellness Coach, whose job it is to stay on top of you as much as it is to support you.

If you miss a day, okay, fine; miss two and we’re on you.

If there’s a legitimate problem, we’ll help find a solution.

If there’s just an excuse, we’ll call your “bluff” and get you back to being honest with yourself again.



Everyone needs someone to hold them accountable, especially in the beginning of a new process that they’re unfamiliar with.

So who is that person in your life right now?

Who challenges your excuses?

Who helps you get back on track?

Who are you accountable to?

How's that working out for you?!