The road of health is full of obstacles. It can be anything from as little as laziness to something like the loss of a job. The stresses of life make us wayward from health. But all these excuses fail when you are motivated. Everybody has problems may it be unsupportive friends, loneliness, and social stigma or joblessness. But what makes a person unique is his/her motivation no matter what happens in life. In short, consistency and persistence is the key to health lock!

The dictionary meaning of ‘persistence’ is continuing in a course of action despite difficulty or opposition.  No matter how tired or frustrated you are, persistence just demands a change in the vocabulary and you are closer to your goals. Replace your ‘I can’t!’ with ‘I will!’.

•Reflect upon ‘WHY?’

This is easy to say that be consistent but difficult to do. But what will make us continue to do so is the answer to the question why? For example-students who don’t study entire year study hard by the end month of final examination, why? Because they know they don’t have a chance beyond this. Similarly, when we know why we want to be consistent for something, why is the focus on health so important, we will surely work harder to achieve this.

“I don’t have time to eat healthy”. “I can’t workout because of busy schedule”. “I can’t workout alone”. And the list is endless. But all these are just the excuses. You always find time for the things that matter. All you need to do is prioritise your health and start giving some time to yourselves. Only when you are accountable to yourselves, you become consistent and persistent.

•Forget about the concept of ‘ideal and perfect body’

Perfection in a myth. No one is perfect and you have to take a start some day. So why not now? Running before perfectionism sometimes hinders the progress. Be you and achieve that’s the best for you.

•Set goals

Go for some realistic goals. Like don’t think of losing 7-8 kg in a month, its too much to accomplish! Target on one goal and move forward with smaller goals that are needed to accomplish the final target. Make some realistic and achievable goals and targets for each day.

Keep a track with your eating habits and identify the areas which need to be worked upon by maintaining a food diary. Write down everything you had in your day and specify what’s negative and what’s positive. This will also tell you what should be your next day target. Because unless you know what is keeping you away from your goals, no one can help you. So, start by helping yourselves.

The final word

Persistence and staying consistent can be a difficult goal for anyone to accomplish, but it is a key to success in almost everything in life.