We all love the conveniences, but life should never be trivial. It's important to know the value of process. I've seen thousands of patients and the ones that reach their highest goals are those who pace themselves and are persistent; they have allowed the learning/healing process to happen.



The naked truth is that healing doesn't come just in a diet, or in a supplement or in an exercise. It comes by making a commitment to yourself by setting goals, obtaining the knowledge necessary to reach them and allowing yourself the time and space to attain them.

The best starter skills you can have on your path to health are:

1. Know how to set realistic goals (short, medium and long-term);

2. Know how to create a strategy for staying on task (persistence) toward reaching your goal (this includes acquiring the knowledge you need to reach them);

3. Know how to make adjustments in your strategy to keep yourself on course (it is unlikely your first strategy will be the only one you need); and

4. Know how to set a new a goal once you've achieved one/some.

Setting a realistic goal

Second only to persistence, setting a realistic goal is very important for your success. Short and medium-term goals should be practical and the sky's the limit on long-term goals! Goals should be written down and kept in a place where you can review them daily.

Goal setting has emotional as well as physical factors. Setting a goal is like making a promise to yourself. If you make a promise and don't keep it, this undermines your relationship to yourself, your confidence and your self-esteem. It gets worse: when you undermine your relationship with yourself, it will be harder to maintain high quality relationships with others.

This concept may seem a bit expansive, but how do you feel when someone else doesn't keep their promise to you? Surely, it doesn't feel good, and it can only feel worse when you do it to yourself. Worst of all, you might have gotten used to letting yourself down, or maybe you've come to expect it. Setting even just one realistic health goal and achieving it can help boost your confidence and esteem. The more you build, the more others will take note and treat you with the respect you crave and deserve.

Create a strategy

Just because you've set a goal doesn't mean you are certain to reach it. Meeting goals takes some planning. You'll need to have a roadmap for success. Start with the most basic roadmap. Get yourself on the path towards your goal and create an initial timeline. If you are working on your own, you might make a list of the things you think are inhibiting your health and prioritize them?the bigger offenders at the top of the list. Can you think of ways to change the first 3 on the list? Will you need someone to help you with them (doctor, nutritionist, counselor, etc)? Can you guess how long it will take to minimize or eliminate each item on your list? These are all components to write down and keep track of as part of your goal strategy.

Making adjustments

This is where the essence of ?process? happens. Where so many fail, this is where you will prevail! This is where you evaluate your goals and your progress towards them and decide how to fine-tune your strategy to help you reach them more efficiently. The captain of a sea vessel doesn't plot his course one time; instead, he plots it multiple times to be sure he is staying on course, continually monitoring weather trends, currents, etc. that might throw his ship off course. So must you navigate your goals. Mastering this step means turning good results into great results.

Setting new goals

Okay, so you've achieved some success and congratulations are in order! How does it feel? Did you think you were going to be able to do it? Are you ready to set another? Remember, be practical!

In health,

Dr. Brett Saks