When we think about “spring cleaning,” the first few things that come to mind might be sorting through old clothes, re-organizing our homes or finally taking care of home projects you’d put on the back-burner. But at its core, spring cleaning is an opportunity to reset and refocus on your goals. It’s a time to get rid of the things that no longer serve you, so you can make room for the things that do.
This year, we’re challenging you to give spring cleaning a new meaning. With the help of a health coach, now is the perfect time to clean up your habits! The first step towards achieving a better, healthier, happier & more productive version of YOU is to work alongside a health coach building daily habits that ladder up to those bigger goals. In today’s blog, we share a roadmap for how health coaches guide you through this “habit cleanse” and get you on track with your health and wellbeing goals.
Out with the old…
After you’ve made the decision to work with a health coach, which is really step one on your journey towards becoming the absolute best version of you, it’s time to take stock of your habits. Sit down with your health coach and walk them through your daily schedule. Where do you feel most productive? Are there any moments during the day where you feel stuck or where you’re feeling drained of time and energy? For example, are you falling into nightly patterns of doomscrolling before bed? This small, seemingly harmless habit might very well be affecting your sleep quality, which then might have an impact on your mood and productivity. Health coaches can help you identify these seemingly small but impactful daily activities and decipher whether they still deserve a place in your daily life or might need to be overhauled.
In with the new…
One of the best parts about health coaches is that they meet you where you are without judgment. While they might help you identify habits that are not contributing positively to your health and wellbeing in the long-term, they approach this process with kindness and an understanding tailored distinctly to you. In the case of nightly doomscrolling, they help you unpack the reasons why you might be engaging in this activity in the first place. Is it because it helps you unwind and finally detach from the stressors of your day? Is there a better way you can achieve this same sense of calm or that might even promote better sleep quality and relaxation? Maybe a nightly journaling session will help achieve what you’re seeking out in a healthier, more productive way. Once you’ve removed non-beneficial habits from your daily life, you might even find yourself with more time to dedicate towards healthy habits. Can you make time for semi-regular meal prepping in order to stay on track towards your nutritional goals? Maybe you make more time for morning meditation walks.
Why should we care about introducing healthy habits into our lives, anyway? It’s been well-established that individuals who engage in even the simplest healthy habits are able to achieve healthier, happier & more productive lives. For example, Harvard University’s Study of Adult Development showcased that its happiest and healthiest participants had seven habits in common-–ranging from not smoking to exercising daily—all generating better health outcomes well into old age. Studies suggest that habits lead to automatic behaviors, making actions that might have been harder to stick to, like maintaining a healthy weight, more achievable. We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, health coaches help make habits happen. These habits, no matter how small, lay an important foundation for bigger health and wellbeing goals and better long-term outcomes.
Make changes last, thanks to a health coach.
Habit cleansing isn’t a one-time thing (we wish it were that easy!). You need someone working alongside you always to ensure healthful habits stick and less productive habits are kept at bay. Health coaches are behavior change experts and the perfect partner through this process. Not only do they understand how to guide you through cultivating healthier habits and cutting out ones that don’t serve you, but they also make sure you’re creating patterns that last. They check in regularly on your progress and get you back on track when you might have a lapse in consistency—and they meet these moments with understanding and the science-backed tools to get you back on track. They cheer you on always and genuinely want to see you succeed.
Every human deserves access to a health coach—it’s our mission here at YourCoach and why we continue to pioneer longstanding partnerships with employers, digital health companies and other organizations across industries. If you’re a progressive employer that’s ready to learn more about how we can deliver impactful health coaching services to your employees, send us an email at team@yourcoach.health.