The three key factors to successfully change your lifestyle are planning, discipline and a support system. You can control the plan and discipline by yourself. Adding the encouragement from an outside support network makes reaching your goals easier.
Who wouldn't want encouragement? Making changes without any help, or even worse, with people who don't believe you can succeed is really difficult. Be cautious of people who only support you if you buy their products, too.
Support people are your cheer-leading team. They offer encouragement, information and feedback. They can be your sounding board for tough decisions. And, since significant change takes time and can have set-backs, they can pick you up when you are down. These are the people who really care if you succeed!
Where do you find these magical people? Look for the people in your life who help you feel:
• Greater self-worth
• Increased zest for living
• Able to act and the ability to act
Enlist their help. Tell them what you are working towards and how they can support you.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Discipline drives successful lifestyle changes.
Discipline is recognizing the need for action followed with immediate and consistent actions. Discipline compels you to put your ability, skills and talent to work.
Although many of us know what we should be doing, there are times that we fail to act promptly. Procrastination delays the necessary action and halts progress.
Six tips that promote discipline:
1. Start with SMART goals. Plan. You'll gain confidence knowing exactly what you should be doing and why.
2. Publically announce your goals. Knowing that others are watching your progress increases your motiation to act responsibly.
3. Get rid of temptation. Replace the routines that led to bad habits with new routines. For example, if you always snack while watching TV, try reading a book. Remove vices such as cigarettes, high-calorie condiments or low-nutrition snacks.
4. Do not debate with yourself about acting promptly.
5. Change your thinking. When you find yourself thinking negatively, replace that thought with a positive thought or mantra.
6. Reward yourself at specific intervals. Small steps get small rewards. Milestones get big rewards.
Discipline takes practice, patience and a willingness to change. Be firm, but kind to yourself during your learning process.
Although many of us know what we should be doing, there are times that we fail to act promptly. Procrastination delays the necessary action and halts progress.
Six tips that promote discipline:
1. Start with SMART goals. Plan. You'll gain confidence knowing exactly what you should be doing and why.
2. Publically announce your goals. Knowing that others are watching your progress increases your motiation to act responsibly.
3. Get rid of temptation. Replace the routines that led to bad habits with new routines. For example, if you always snack while watching TV, try reading a book. Remove vices such as cigarettes, high-calorie condiments or low-nutrition snacks.
4. Do not debate with yourself about acting promptly.
5. Change your thinking. When you find yourself thinking negatively, replace that thought with a positive thought or mantra.
6. Reward yourself at specific intervals. Small steps get small rewards. Milestones get big rewards.
Discipline takes practice, patience and a willingness to change. Be firm, but kind to yourself during your learning process.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Plan your lifestyle changes to succeed.
Setting goals and following them is one of the surest ways to succeed. The most effective goals are SMART:
Specific. A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:
Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Identify a location.
When: Establish a time frame.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Measurable. Establish concrete criteria for measuring your progress. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
Attainable. Find out if you are capable of reaching the goal. Make sure you have the ability, skill, health and discipline to achieve your goal.
Realistic. Decide if you really will use your ability, skill and discipline to achieve your goal. Do the required behaviors fit or conflict with the other priorities in your life?
Attainable and realistic can often be confusing. So let me give you an example. You decide your goal will be to go to a gym three mornings a week from 7-8:30. If you have the physical ability and the gym membership, this goal is attainable. However if one of your top priorities is having breakfast with your family, the time conflict may make this goal unrealistic.
Timed. A goal that is tied to a time frame creates a sense of urgency and promotes personal accountability.
Some well constructed SMART goals sound like:
• Add two weight-bearing exercises to my fitness routine this week.
• Replace my Monday-Friday fast food lunch with a large salad dressed in balsamic vinegar for the next four weeks.
• Barbeque or broil - but not fry - all meat until the end of the month.
Specific. A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:
Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Identify a location.
When: Establish a time frame.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Measurable. Establish concrete criteria for measuring your progress. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
Attainable. Find out if you are capable of reaching the goal. Make sure you have the ability, skill, health and discipline to achieve your goal.
Realistic. Decide if you really will use your ability, skill and discipline to achieve your goal. Do the required behaviors fit or conflict with the other priorities in your life?
Attainable and realistic can often be confusing. So let me give you an example. You decide your goal will be to go to a gym three mornings a week from 7-8:30. If you have the physical ability and the gym membership, this goal is attainable. However if one of your top priorities is having breakfast with your family, the time conflict may make this goal unrealistic.
Timed. A goal that is tied to a time frame creates a sense of urgency and promotes personal accountability.
Some well constructed SMART goals sound like:
• Add two weight-bearing exercises to my fitness routine this week.
• Replace my Monday-Friday fast food lunch with a large salad dressed in balsamic vinegar for the next four weeks.
• Barbeque or broil - but not fry - all meat until the end of the month.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
3 Family Craft Projects
Winter often brings families together for more shared time. Here are three activities to spend that time creatively.
1. Design personalized cards for greeting, birthdays and thank-you cards. (See the blog on Scraper Art and Colorful Coffee Filter Paper [link] to create some great paper for this project.)
2. Take a walk and bring home found treasures to make into a centerpiece/collage
3. Create aromatic Air Fresheners*
*Aromatic Air Fresheners
Materials:
Equal parts apple sauce and cinnamon
Cookie cutters
Ribbon or string
Step 1: Mix equal amounts of applesauce and cinnamon (for instance 1 cup of each) until you have a dough.
Step 2: Roll out on waxed paper and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Poke a hole in the middle, near the top to hang a ribbon or string when the air freshener is dry.
Step 3: Dry. Air drying will take several days and you'll need to carefully turn shapes to dry both sides. As an alternative, place air fresheners on a cookie sheet in a warm (200 degrees) oven. Drying time will depend upon the amount of moisture in the dough.
2 Techniques to Jazz up Your Kid’s Art
Bring out the paint and bring on the kids! Here are two favorite projects with a new twist: Scraper Art and Colored Coffee filters. The finished art makes great paper for other craft projects and is worthy of any refrigerator!
Scraper Art
Scraper Art updates finger painting into modern art.
Materials:
Finger paints – bright colors and pastels work the best
Palette - any flat surface to hold the paint such as a plate or pie pan
Paint spreader - brayers, fingers or brushes
Paper - heavier paper works best for frame-able art or gift cards
Scrapers – credit cards, combs, cardboard shapes, popsicle sticks, the eraser end of a pencils, etc.
Newspaper
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper.
Step2: Put some finger paint on your palette.
Step 3: Spread the paint in stripes on the paper.
Step 4: Run the scraper over the wet paint to create a design.
Step 5: Let your painting dry flat on the newspaper.
Colorful Coffee Filter Paper
This paper is very sturdy and good for delicate projects like snowflakes as it doesn’t fall apart.
Materials
Coffee filters
Brightly colored water color markers or water color paint
Newspaper
Scissors
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper.
Step 2: Decorate the filters with markers or paint. Any shapes, any design, any amount.
Step 3: Wet the snow flakes with water. You can spray, flick drops, or ring a wet wash cloth on the filter to create a new design.
Step 4: Let dry. Great news, coffee filters dry very quickly and will soon be ready to use in another project.
1. Design personalized cards for greeting, birthdays and thank-you cards. (See the blog on Scraper Art and Colorful Coffee Filter Paper [link] to create some great paper for this project.)
2. Take a walk and bring home found treasures to make into a centerpiece/collage
3. Create aromatic Air Fresheners*
*Aromatic Air Fresheners
Materials:
Equal parts apple sauce and cinnamon
Cookie cutters
Ribbon or string
Step 1: Mix equal amounts of applesauce and cinnamon (for instance 1 cup of each) until you have a dough.
Step 2: Roll out on waxed paper and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Poke a hole in the middle, near the top to hang a ribbon or string when the air freshener is dry.
Step 3: Dry. Air drying will take several days and you'll need to carefully turn shapes to dry both sides. As an alternative, place air fresheners on a cookie sheet in a warm (200 degrees) oven. Drying time will depend upon the amount of moisture in the dough.
2 Techniques to Jazz up Your Kid’s Art
Bring out the paint and bring on the kids! Here are two favorite projects with a new twist: Scraper Art and Colored Coffee filters. The finished art makes great paper for other craft projects and is worthy of any refrigerator!
Scraper Art
Scraper Art updates finger painting into modern art.
Materials:
Finger paints – bright colors and pastels work the best
Palette - any flat surface to hold the paint such as a plate or pie pan
Paint spreader - brayers, fingers or brushes
Paper - heavier paper works best for frame-able art or gift cards
Scrapers – credit cards, combs, cardboard shapes, popsicle sticks, the eraser end of a pencils, etc.
Newspaper
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper.
Step2: Put some finger paint on your palette.
Step 3: Spread the paint in stripes on the paper.
Step 4: Run the scraper over the wet paint to create a design.
Step 5: Let your painting dry flat on the newspaper.
Colorful Coffee Filter Paper
This paper is very sturdy and good for delicate projects like snowflakes as it doesn’t fall apart.
Materials
Coffee filters
Brightly colored water color markers or water color paint
Newspaper
Scissors
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper.
Step 2: Decorate the filters with markers or paint. Any shapes, any design, any amount.
Step 3: Wet the snow flakes with water. You can spray, flick drops, or ring a wet wash cloth on the filter to create a new design.
Step 4: Let dry. Great news, coffee filters dry very quickly and will soon be ready to use in another project.
Family Memory Game
This variation on the traditional memory game fosters the retelling of family stories as well as helping build memory skills.
Materials:
Place several pieces of family memorabilia in box – fewer for younger children, more for older kids and adults.
How To Play:
Show the items in the box. Remove one or more items out of the box (without the players seeing you). Have the players guess what items are missing.
For older children and adults put items on large tray or cookie sheet. Cover. Remove cover for 20-30 seconds and then recover. On your mark, the participants write down as many items that they can remember from the tray before you yell, "STOP". The most correct answers wins.
Materials:
Place several pieces of family memorabilia in box – fewer for younger children, more for older kids and adults.
How To Play:
Show the items in the box. Remove one or more items out of the box (without the players seeing you). Have the players guess what items are missing.
For older children and adults put items on large tray or cookie sheet. Cover. Remove cover for 20-30 seconds and then recover. On your mark, the participants write down as many items that they can remember from the tray before you yell, "STOP". The most correct answers wins.
4 Ideas to Seasonalize Game Night
Bring everyone together and put a new twist on old games to liven up these cold days.
1. Replace board game pieces with colored, wrapped candies
2. Play charades with seasonal song, story and movie titles.
3. Play games such as Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Boggle, BuyWord, etc. using only seasonal words
4. Create a Memory Game with family memorabilia
1. Replace board game pieces with colored, wrapped candies
2. Play charades with seasonal song, story and movie titles.
3. Play games such as Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Boggle, BuyWord, etc. using only seasonal words
4. Create a Memory Game with family memorabilia
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Dr Jen’s Repertoire of Cold and Flu Remedies
Hydrogen Peroxide. Pour 16 ounces of hydrogen peroxide into a humidifier and fill to capacity with water. Run the humidifier in the sick person’s room all night. This is a great disinfectant and helps prevent the virus from spreading to other members of the household.
Vitamin D*: increase to 50,000 units (if you weigh over 100 pounds) for 3 days in a row if you are already infected with the flu.
Vitamin C : increase to bowel tolerance. In other words, when you start to get diarrhea, decrease the amount and stay at that dose.
Herbal remedies: andrographis, Echinacea, licorice (good for coughs), ligusticum, artemisia, bupleurum root, and garlic.
Hot tea with honey and lemon
Warming sock therapy
Chicken soup (preferably homemade) with lots of garlic
* I hope you’ve already read my blog entry on Vitamin D. Vitamin D is superb for maintaining your immunity. Ideally, I recommend keeping your Vitamin D blood levels at 60-80ng/ml. A simple test is available from our office that will help you determine your current level.
Contact my office for more information on any of these topics.
Vitamin D*: increase to 50,000 units (if you weigh over 100 pounds) for 3 days in a row if you are already infected with the flu.
Vitamin C : increase to bowel tolerance. In other words, when you start to get diarrhea, decrease the amount and stay at that dose.
Herbal remedies: andrographis, Echinacea, licorice (good for coughs), ligusticum, artemisia, bupleurum root, and garlic.
Hot tea with honey and lemon
Warming sock therapy
Chicken soup (preferably homemade) with lots of garlic
* I hope you’ve already read my blog entry on Vitamin D. Vitamin D is superb for maintaining your immunity. Ideally, I recommend keeping your Vitamin D blood levels at 60-80ng/ml. A simple test is available from our office that will help you determine your current level.
Contact my office for more information on any of these topics.
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