Why do you want to make changes to your health and fitness?

OK, really, why?

What do you value?

Dig down for a second.

• What’s most important to you in life? Why?
• What kind of person do you want to be? Why?

Are you living those values?

Every day?

Deep health is a matter of meeting your expectations in all dimensions of health: physical, mental, emotional, relational, environmental, and existential.

View the diagram below for a description of each of these.

Being out of sync with your values in any of those dimensions will impact feeling healthy and living your best life.

The connection between the brain (psychology) and body (physiology) is important. The brain is the body.

Knowing what’s important to us and why gives humans direction and purpose. How well you’re aligned to a psychological set of values will show up biologically in body health. The reverse is also true, that biological health deeply affects psychological health.

Strong values are powerful.

Living according to strong values can make life and good health flow, seemingly effortlessly.

Do your actions match your values?

The “5 Whys” exercise aims to cut to the core motivations: the deepest reasons for why you want what you want.

For example,

“I want to lose weight.”

1. Why do I want to lose weight?
   Because I want to fit into a smaller size of pants.
2. But why do I want to fit into a smaller size of pants?
   Because when I’m wearing smaller pants, I think I’ll look better.
3. But why do I want to look better?
   Because when I look good, I feel good about myself.
4. But why do I want to feel good about myself?
   Because when I feel good about myself, I’m more assertive and confident.
5. But why do I want to be more assertive and confident?
   Because when I’m more assertive and confident, I’m in control and better able to get what I want out of life.

That’s a lot of insight for a few little questions.

For this client, losing fat really meant being in charge of life.

That’s a crucial insight.

They’re not just looking for a smaller pair of pants (or a lower weight on the scale).

They also want to feel a certain way at the end of the process. More confident. More assertive. More in control.

That’s what’s fundamentally important to them, and that’s what the most enduring motivation will be, through the most difficult obstacles and resistance.

Pant sizes and weight loss can still be an important piece. They’re a way to measure a journey towards confidence and a sense of control.

Why did you visit this page and read this article?

Deeply. Give it some thought. Be honest.

• What really matters to you? What makes you tick?
• At the end of this year, what kind of person do you want to be?
• What do you want to feel?

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Create your Owner’s Manual: Grab a journal and use this time to write and reflect.

See what your “5 Whys” might be, by answering the following questions.

(Remember that each answer builds on the one before it.)

Why do you want to make changes to your health and fitness?

Why is that reason for making changes important to you?

And why is that important?

And what difference will that make?

And why will that previous thing matter?

Once you have your answer, you have defined your purpose for making changes in your life. This is what is fundamentally important to you.

You will most certainly meet challenges along the way. That’s a part of the journey. When it gets difficult you can always reflect and look back on your purpose.