Transform Your Health: The Habits You Need to Quit Now

Welcome back to The Resilient Life, where we explore simple, real-world strategies for building health, resilience, and wellbeing. I'm Chris Deavin, owner of myHealthCoach.

Today, I want to delve into something that often surprises people on their health journey. It’s not just about the new habits you're starting, but also about what you need to stop doing. 

The Misconception of Starting New Habits

When most people think about improving their health, they focus on adopting new habits like exercising more, eating better, and getting more rest. While these are critical components, they're not the entire story.

Real success often stems from halting the behaviours that quietly hold you back. Let's explore what you need to stop doing to truly move forward on your health journey.

The Trap of Overthinking

One of the biggest pitfalls I see is overthinking. We spend so much time trying to figure out the perfect plan, the right workout, the best diet, the most efficient schedule. But overthinking drains your energy, destroys your momentum, and often leaves you doing nothing at all.

What drives progress is action, even imperfect action. To build real, lasting health resilience, you have to start. You don’t need a flawless strategy or all the answers; you just need to move. 

Start Small and Stay Consistent

Start simple. Begin with something small like a short walk, 25 body-weight squats, or a few minutes of stretching. Repeat until it becomes routine.

What you do is less important than the consistency of doing something. Waiting for the perfect time to start is just another form of procrastination masked as planning.

A plan can give you direction, but action propels you forward. Without taking that first step, you remain stagnant, hoping for change instead of creating it.

Stop the Blame Game

Another crucial thing to stop is blaming yourself and others. Life will always present challenges, busy schedules, tempting social invitations, and unexpected stress. This isn’t unique to you.

The key difference lies in how you respond. Successful individuals don't face fewer obstacles; they focus on what they can control and stop making excuses.

As Michael J. Gibb said, champions view setbacks as feedback, not failure. Setbacks aren’t indicators to halt, but information you can use to adjust and proceed.

Client Story: Karen's Journey

To illustrate this point, I want to share a story from one of my clients, Karen, who experienced this shift firsthand. Set on her goal to stay fit and strong as she aged, Karen found herself in the overthinking loop.

She spent so much time researching workouts and diets, searching for the perfect formula, that she rarely took any action. Stuck and exhausted, she finally reached out for coaching. 

In our first session, I helped Karen realise that her breakthrough wouldn’t come from finding the perfect plan; it would come from starting, albeit imperfectly.

We stripped everything back to the basics, and I asked her to focus on one simple habit: 25 body-weight squats each morning before her shower. As simple as it sounds, this helped Karen understand she didn’t need to fix everything at once.

Those squats became her daily anchor, from which other healthy choices naturally started falling into place. 

Karen learned to manage her old habits, like blaming her tight schedule or life’s inevitable disruptions.

Embracing the unexpected, she didn't consider missing a workout as a failure but rather as feedback to adjust and move on. Karen expressed that this mindset shift stopped her from beating herself up and redirected her focus to what she could do each day.

Her fitness regime is now an integral part of her life, leaving her feeling stronger and more resilient than she has in years.

The Path Forward

Here’s what I want you to take away today: stop overthinking, stop waiting, stop blaming, and stop making excuses. Start with one small action today to enhance your health and continue until it becomes second nature. Remember, the line between success and stagnation often lies in what you stop doing. 

Thank you for being a part of this journey. If this resonates with you, please share it with someone who might benefit from it.

If you’re ready for extra support, accountability, or clarity, feel free to reach out.

Until next time, keep it simple, be consistent, and stay resilient.