Got an idea of what you want to achieve with your health, fitness or wellbeing but need some help creating an action plan around it? Here are our recommendations to get you on track.

Our key set of goals

If you are looking for a base set of goals to feel more energetic, happier and healthier, here's your daily essentials:

• Eat mostly whole foods
• Eat plenty of fruits and veges
• Drink plenty of water
• Spend time with your friends and family
• Move purposely in some way each day
• Spend at least 30 minutes in outdoor natural light and fresh air
• Do something for your own happiness and enjoyment each day
• Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep
• Find something to be grateful for each day

THE PROCESS

Set your goals

We talk about goal setting a lot, and for good reason. Figuring out your goals and fleshing them out is the key to staying on track. Otherwise you don't know what your 'track' is... if that makes sense?

A hit and miss approach makes it difficult to get results, and even more difficult to sustain them in the long term. Get into goal setting and get clear about what you want to achieve. Your reason WHY is a big part of this.

What skills do you need to achieve them?

Now that you've got your goals sorted, what skills do you need to make them happen? For example, if your goal is to lose weight, you may need to exercise more, or learn how to eat healthier. If you're hoping to reduce stress you may need to practice mindfulness or develop the tools to deal with specific causes of stress in your life.

What daily habits will help you develop those skills?

Consistency is the key to getting results with ANY goal you have, it doesn't matter what goal you're aiming for. And consistency comes with daily practice. With that in mind, your next step is to translate the skills you need into daily habits you can put into action and check off.

For example, 'eat healthier' is very vague. How could you take a step towards this each day? You might:

• Eat slowly and be mindful of each bite of food
• Eat until you feel 80% full so you don't overeat
• Eat food at the dining table, away from screens so you're not distracted
• Eat more vegetables every day
• Have a serve of lean protein at every meal

Another example, 'exercise each day', might include:

• Moving your body in some way for any amount of time
• Practicing push ups each day and trying to beat your personal best
• Take your dog out for a walk each day
• Do five minutes of yoga each morning

As you can see, there are a lot of habits that add up to the skills we want to develop, and they don't need to be difficult! In fact, the more simple the better. This process makes our goals easier to put into place.

We recommend just focusing on ONE habit for at least a 1-2 week period and checking it off as a 'YES/ACHIEVED' or 'NO/NEEDS WORK' each day. Once you've mastered that habit, move on to another one.

This is a lot slower than many programmes advise, but this is the key to sustainability and it gives you a higher chance of success!

Progress not perfection

We're in this for the long haul! Life is all about ups and downs, and habit transformation of any kind is against human nature (ever heard the expression that humans are creatures of routine?) so it's normal for us to resist it. You don't have to be perfect all the time with what you're trying to do, just move on and keep trying.

Review and adjust - do more of what's working, do less of what doesn't. Once you figure out the habits you need that relate to your goals, preferences and lifestyle, if you keep them up for long enough, those habits turn into the norm.

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