Clinical Conversations

Here are 5 easy ways to help build credibility with yourself and to insure you follow through with all good intentions.

• Make an appointment with yourself – Schedule time on your calendar each day, even if it is just 20 minutes, to do your home exercise program. Honor this time the same way you would honor any other medical appointment.
• Reward yourself when you follow through – Improving your health is its own reward, but you may need other tangible incentives to keep you motivated on your course. Make a barter system with yourself – “For every 10 minutes I spend on this treadmill, I will get 10 minutes of guilt-free Netflix veg time.”
• Get friends and family on board – One of my patients found the best way to correct his posture was to recruit his children, “It’s open season, kids – anytime you can catch me slouching, call me on it and I will give you a dollar.”
• Keep it visible – Put those running shoes in a high visibility area of your home so that you have a visual reminder to gear up and get outside for a jog. Are you using a thera-band for your exercise routine? Don’t hide it – hang it in plain sight so that you are prompted to put it to good use!
• Teach what you’ve learned – If you have mastered a new exercise or healthy recipe, share it! Pay it forward and reap the benefit of better understanding through teaching. You know you have truly mastered a technique when you can teach it effectively to someone else.

So let me know – what do you do to encourage yourself to follow through with your commitments to yourself?  Have you tried any of these suggestions before?  Do you have new ideas you’d like to share with us? Let’s support each other in making the end of 2018 and 2019 a year of abundant good health!

Margo Burette DPT