Journey to Life Changing Habits…

Have you thought about what it takes to develop successful habits? Research says that in 21 days you can break a habit or successfully develop a new one.

Years ago, as a way to improve my personal habits, I read Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  After reading his book, I immediately saw an increase in my productive habits. Those habits included 1) Be Proactive 2) Begin with the End in Mind 3) Put First Things First 4) Think Win-Win 5) Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood, 6) Synergize, and 7) Sharpen the Saw. Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve consistently observed my own habits get steadily worse.

Habits related to my personal health is one problem area. As an executive in the public relations field I’m constantly living the life of a road warrior. I work all hours of the day and night, and sometimes 7 days a week. I feel like I live life on the edge.  I work at a computer and talk on the phone. Frankly, going to the gym has never been on my radar. Personally speaking I wasn’t taking care of myself at all.

Life Changing Event

I received a wake-up call on August 23, 2015 when I was involved in a head-on car accident. I not only received severe spinal injuries, including several bulging disks and a torn disk, I continue to have significant hearing loss in my left ear. In the more than 9 months since the accident, I was still having constant pain.

As a side note, I have to say that if you are a business owner, you truly need to re-check your insurance policies to ensure you have appropriate coverage. Personally, I suggest you re-check your policies and see if they include a policy called Med Pay. Make sure you’re adequately insured because one accident claim can easily pay for a lifetime of policies.

After seeing many doctors and undergoing what seemed to be hundreds of tests and steroid shots, I have been concerned about the potential need for back surgery due to my injuries. There was, however, one message that kept coming through in many of my doctors visits.  The doctors kept making the same suggestion, “Chris, you need to lose weight.”  One doctor even told me that if I lost as much as 15 pounds, I may never need surgery, especially if I don’t strain or reinjure myself. The doctors were unclear but stated losing the weight may actually be a temporary fix, or it could possibly fix the issues I’m having permanently. That got my attention! With the pain I’m having in my lower back, I knew I needed to try something different.

The Decision

On June 5^th, 2016, I made the conscious decision to go on the first diet of my life. I made the cold turkey decision to eliminate all soda, beer and bread. Yes, I had committed to going on the South Beach Diet which would be a drastic change for me.

With a diet plan of mostly vegetables, fish, chicken and water, I began the journey. I committed to Phase 1. Now the South Beach Diet teaches that Phase 1 is normally 2 weeks but my doctor suggested I do Phase 1 for 4 weeks. I thought ‘what the hell, I can do this!’ After the first 30 days on this plan I can honestly say I believe that I have changed my lifestyle.

I know exercise is important. I, however, have never chosen to exercise before June 5th. I thought I was in the acceptable weight range and had a healthy diet. I have never gone to the gym because I didn’t think I had too. And the pressure, I didn’t want that! I couldn’t have been further into a delusional state of denial about my personal physical shape.

The most important part of my exercise journey started when I bought a Fitbit HR. I made this purchase just a couple days after I started my diet. I knew I didn’t exercise enough. I just didn’t realize how inactive I was until I started electronically tracking myself.  I was just one day into my diet when I concluded that if I was going to do this, I was going to do it whole-heartedly with a full mental and physical approach.

Getting up at 5:45 am or 6:00 am each morning has now become routine in my efforts to walk every morning. While automating my tracking process through the Fitbit HR, I have been able to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps a day (full disclosure: with the exception of 2 days within the last month due to storms).  In many cases, I started out with a target of walking 5,000 steps prior to doing any emails or work in the morning.  I have been steadfast on not even eating breakfast prior to walking.

The irony of my exercise regimen is that after just a couple weeks, my 5,000 steps turned into 7,000 steps, 8,000 steps and sometimes 10,000 steps before 7:00 am.  WOW! Yes, this even surprised me… the guy that really has never been to a gym.  It has gotten easier and easier each day I commit to making my transformational change. Now, I don’t even set my alarm and I’m out of bed by 5:45 to start my walks.

The Results…

Today marks my 35th day anniversary of the start to my new habit of eating healthy and trying to stay in shape by exercising.  I am proud to announce that over this last month of commitment I have successfully accomplished the following:

• I’ve LOST 15 POUNDS!
• I eat extremely healthy on a daily basis! 
• I exercise daily!
• I track my journey!
• NO soda NOR beer in 35 days!
• I have a Better Quality of Life!

I am personally a testament that it only took me 30 days to start a solid habit of changing my lifestyle.  I have created a personal expectation to continue my habit of staying health and continuing my fitness goals. 

As much as I challenge myself daily, I would like to also issue a personal challenge to those Public Relations professionals who continue to sit behind a computer, those that are not eating healthy and those getting no exercise… Your life is on the line!  You need to take action today.

With 30 days of continuous progress you will easily see that the habit you create will be enduring with amazing consequences. I will continue my journey and hope to challenge myself even more! My goal is to have the habits I have created over the last 4 weeks continue to push me for a lifetime of positive change. Creating successful habits could save your life.