Oct
20
5 Things To Do This Monday
Filed Under Healthy Habits
It’s Monday. For most of us, the weekend is over and the work week is beginning. Monday is usually the slowest of days as everyone adjusts back to being in the office. Not the day to think of exercise and fitness, right? Absolutely wrong. Monday is the beginning of your week. How about using it as a way to start your week right? Here are five possibilities.
Walk - Take a walk today of at least 30 minutes. It can be during lunch or after work. Maybe you can bring your loved on with you or take the dog out for a morning walk. Whatever you choose, make a commitment to just one walk.
Avoid snacks - Avoid snacks today just to see how easy it is to do. All you need to do is commit yourself to just one day with no in between meal snacks.
Add a fruit or vegetable to your diet - What are you going to eat today? Can you add a piece of fruit or vegetable to it? Whatever it is, add an apple at the end, a tomato at the beginning or some spinach in the middle. It doesn’t have to be a whole salad, just try to add one piece of fruit or vegetable to your diet today.
Stretch break - Taking a break from work shouldn’t be hard, right? Especially on a Monday! Make a promise to yourself that today you will not sit at your desk for more than 2 hours at a time. Get up, stretch and let your brain have a break while you workout the kinks in your muscles.
Take the stairs - You’ve been taking the elevator every day for the past two years. How about a little change today? Today, you will take the stairs. Don’t have stairs at work or at home? Maybe you can change this one to “Today, I will park a little further away and walk” or “Today, I will walk to my coworkers instead of calling them.” Whatever it is, commit to moving instead of being moved.
Are These Meaningful?
In and of themselves, these little changes for one day are relatively meaningless. They’re 5 calories here and 5 calories there for an insignificant net gain. However, the point isn’t to make drastic changes in your life. The point is to make a small change, prove to yourself that you can do it and then repeat it again and again until it becomes an ingrained habit.
So pick one of those five things I have up there (or come up with your own small change) and commit to doing it today. If you successfully accomplish your commitment, then commit to doing it until the rest of the week and then next week and the week after that too. Write your commitment down somewhere where you’ll have to read it every morning. Make sure you also write down why you’re commiting to this and not just what you’re committing to. Now keep doing this until it becomes a habit. Keep it up until you no longer need to read that note.
Being fit isn’t just about making a decision one day and completely changing your life. It’s about a series of small changes that slowly turn your from a sedantary life style to one of activity. It’s about a number of small things that change a diet from unhealthy to healthy. Each of these small things takes time. Time to try out and time to make into a lifelong habit.
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It’s Monday, the beginning of your work week, but it can also be Monday, the beginning of a brand new healthy habit.
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2 Responses to “5 Things To Do This Monday”
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The little things add up! Good reminder to start the week.
Excellent list. It’s the small changes like this which help keep ones motivation up.