How I Made a Major Lifestyle Change

The power of “building blocks”

Making major lifestyle changes are not easy. There is a reason why so many of us fail, and failure without understanding breeds discouragement and resentment. Soon, we hate the thing we want, and we envy it in others. I’ve been there, and am honestly still there with a few other lifestyle changes I’m currently trying to make. We are all human. Life is a journey, and the part we keep forgetting is that we must always keep working at it. We are never “done.” (Yes, I mostly wrote that as a reminder for myself.)

Successfully making a lifestyle change is possible, whether it is good or bad. It all depends on the types of “building blocks” we chose to incorporate and turn into habits and routines. Making bad changes is easier: we adopt bad habits and bad routines that make us feel comfortable. What is hard about making good lifestyle changes is that the differences feel uncomfortable to the habits and routines we already know.

A problem I noticed with my perspective around lifestyle changes (some of you might relate) is that I wanted to go straight from where I was (a not great place) to living the most perfect, healthy, amazing wellness lifestyle I could imagine. I wanted it all right now: the amazing self care routine, the journaling, the meditation, the allocated daily personal development time, the healthy eating, the balanced meals, the perfect nights sleep, healthy hair, glowing skin, strong nails, toned abs, lean muscles, time to read, time to cook, time to learn…I mean the list just goes on and on and on.

What I had to learn was that I needed to shift my perspective around what “living well” means, and my expectations. I didn’t have to, and didn’t need to do it all. What I needed was to get clear on the type of lifestyle change I wanted to make. And, I had to focus on one thing to change—one “building block”—to get me there.

Getting clear on the type of lifestyle change

2 years ago, I successfully made a major lifestyle change. There was a lot going on with me at the time. I was working incredibly long hours at an extremely stressful and draining corporate job. It was just totally consuming my life. I didn’t take care of myself at all, or do much of anything besides work. My whole life revolved around it and I felt wholly miserable.

So, I could have pretty much changed literally anything about my life and it would have been for the better. Not much was really going well. I had to get clear on what exactly I wanted to change. Otherwise, I was going to get overwhelmed, probably fail, and then get discouraged about the whole thing. To avoid this, I thought about what lifestyle change I wanted to make and how I wanted to feel.

If you’re also struggling with making your own lifestyle change, think about exactly what kind of shift you want to make. This should revolve around a state of being or a feeling. You can be healthier, happier, relaxed, loved, motivated—there are so many amazing options! And, each one comes with a particular set of “building blocks” that enable the shift to happen, and to stick. Pick a feeling that fits the change you’re looking to make.

I decided that out of all the world of things I needed to improve upon, I wanted to feel healthy. So, I started focusing on what “building blocks” I needed for shifting my lifestyle, habits, and routines in that direction.

Understanding what isn’t working and what a change would mean

To find the healthy lifestyle “building blocks” that would work best for me, I first had to understand what about my current lifestyle was making me feel unhealthy. It was time to dig into the bad and the ugly.

The way I was living made me feel extremely low energy. I was barely moving my body throughout the day, except for the 15 minute walk to and from the metro station in my work commute. Having been a college swimmer, I missed my athletic body and how investing in myself in that way made me feel. I missed my muscles, I was unhappy with my weight, and I felt weak. The shift from a lifetime of training to doing nothing at all was having a major impact not only my physical, but also my mental health.

To understand what isn’t working for you, and what a change would mean, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

• How do I feel living with my current lifestyle?
• Why do I want this lifestyle change? Why this change and not another one?
• What habits and routines do I have in place that are blocking me from living this lifestyle right now?
• How will my life be different once I make this change? How would I feel?
• What new routines and habits would I have instead?

In thinking through my situation, I wanted the change because I felt so disconnected from that person I used to be. The person who worked hard on herself every day. She had a goal, and a purpose. Athlete me was more confident, energetic, determined, and resilient. Many of the qualities I was longing for in my current life were connected to my previous active lifestyle.

A healthy lifestyle change around moving my body would mean that I could tap back into the mindset I maintained when I was active. It was a way for me to reconnect with what I used to know and love.

Focusing on one thing—one “building block”—that has to shift

So I wanted to bring exercise back into my life, but that can take on so many forms. Just exercise wasn’t going to do the trick. I needed to make the shift in a way that aligned with what I was looking for. What kind of exercise was the right one? I tried many different kinds of group classes, and they were entertaining but socially exhausting and distracting. I even tried swimming, but I learned I really need a coach and a team to train with to stay motivated. In the end, I went back to something I knew from swim training days: weight lifting.

I focused on my exercise “building block” and made it easy for myself by going back to my old routine: the early AM wake up. That first 5:30AM alarm was jarring, but muscle memory is a thing. It wasn’t long before I got that energy back. And, it didn’t disturb the rest of my life and because I was adding something new around my already established routines. I just tacked the AM workout to the start of my regular morning schedule.

What made this one change stick is that I didn’t try to immediately live this super amazing and healthy lifestyle. I wasn’t worried about eating the perfect foods, having the best self care routine, or having the most productive day. I just was laser focused on getting back into the gym. Just that one thing. The rest would come with time and consistency.

Think about one thing you want to change, and build it into your current day-to-day. Make it easy! Just focus on that one thing.

Shifting two other things to do that one thing better

I quickly realized that in order for me to have a good early AM workout, I needed two key things: a good night’s sleep and good food to keep me energized. A few other things had to shift to enable me to do my one thing even better. While I was still focused on my one thing (exercising), I brought in sleep and healthy eating as two additional “building blocks” to better support me in that one thing.

Getting up earlier that meant I needed to go to bed earlier. That meant that I had to stop my day earlier. Eating better foods was important so I didn’t feel sluggish during a workout. I didn’t immediately change my diet to a super “clean” (whatever that means) eating style. I just gradually started swapping out foods I was already consuming for healthier versions.

Slowly, my habits and routines shifted. I ate at more regular times so I felt energized. And, I started meal prepping on Sundays so that I didn’t have to worry about what food I needed to eat during the week.

What are 2 other things that have to shift, to better enable you to do that one thing? Add these two building blocks into your lifestyle. Start shifting your habits and routines to set you up to do that one thing you’re focused on.

You can do this, too!

Now, put these three things together and you have the foundational layer to your lifestyle change. These 3 things are your “building blocks”. You can make any lifestyle shift you want by using this method. Focus on what shift you want to make, what is the one thing that has to change, and the 2 supporting things you need to better support that one thing.

Shift and change on!

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