September 2021 Nutrition Blog
Fresh Start, S.M.A.R.T!
By - Ellen Levine, MS, RDN, EP
Did you know that many people plan a “fresh start” in September? Like having a New Year’s resolution, the end of summer and the start of fall prompts us to set goals and start over. Being conditioned to a new school year is hard to get away from regardless of how long it has been since we have been in school. Use this to your advantage and have a fresh start now, you’ll thank yourself come January that you have already made some major progress and passed different milestones.
What needs to change for you? Do you have concerns about your mental health? Your physical health? Your work life? Your relationships? Your family life? Think about it. Do you need to attack one major issue? Maybe not. Are there a few areas of your life that will benefit from working on smaller goals? If you are going to work on more than one, choose three or four (at most) and move in a positive direction with each of these in the next four months.
Once you have an area in mind to work on write a goal statement using the S.M.A.R.T format (a quick internet search will provide simple instruction on this). In addition to writing your S.M.A.R.T. goal statement, write positive affirmations that are aligned with these goals and repeat both the goal statement and affirmation to yourself at least twice a day.
Next step is the hardest and only those that are serious about change will do it. Become accountable! Find a support group, a mentor, a coach, or a professional that you are accountable to, and your choice of success will exponentially increase.
Change and success do not happen by accident, and they do not happen to “lucky” people. They happen to anyone willing to take simple and consistent steps in the right direction. The time is now, let’s end the year strong.