01Take care of your body
The foundation of change. Your behaviour is produced in your body.
Your body is the platform for everything you do. It lives in a delicate balance where each part affects the others, including the brain, which manages your perception, emotions and actions. Physical activity, good rest and adequate food are the starting point. Tracking sleep, activity, weight or food gives you an early warning when something drifts out of range.
Try this
This week, note when you fall asleep and how you feel when you wake up. Just observe.
Redefine narratives
Identify what you want to improve, frame it positively, and start telling yourself a new story.
Your narrative is the basis of your predictions, and therefore of your actions. Changing it is not linear but cyclical: each round you see more clearly what you want. That is why it pays to start even before the picture is clear, and to record your progress.
Three steps
- Identify weaknesses: acknowledge what you want to improve, even if it is uncomfortable to look at.
- Frame it positively: instead of "I won't eat sweets", "I am healthy and well".
- Create the narrative: the new story you tell yourself and want to start living.
Try this
Today, on any scrap of paper, write a list of what you want to improve. Long or short doesn't matter. Keep it for yourself.
Help and let yourself be helped
Your circle of love is an extension of you. Lean on it, and support others.
It is easier to see what is good for someone else than for yourself, and sharing your experience strengthens it. Letting yourself be helped is harder, but very effective: share your intention to change with the people around you. If that feels uncomfortable with people close to you, look for professional support or a group. Reading and listening to talks is enriching, but there you are not the protagonist: dare to be vulnerable.
Try this
Today, tell one trusted person a single thing you want to change.
Create habits
Habits are the engine of how you really move: they sustain change when willpower runs out.
Habits are automatic routines set off by triggers. To change one, first identify what triggers it, then link that trigger to a new action that replaces the old one.
Common triggers
- The place or environment
- The time
- Who you are with
- Your emotional state just before
- What you were doing just before
Try this
Choose a habit you want to change and, for three days, note what triggers it.
The four dimensions support each other: a healthy body bears the demands of change, a clear narrative gives it direction, your allies help make it real, and habits keep it going when motivation fades.
