When it comes to health and wellness, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking only about the present.
It’s true that we need to make good decisions in the here and now in regards to our health.
However, it’s also really true that the future of our health and wellness outcomes demands that we plan ahead and think some things through in the longer term.
Here are just a few examples of things that can be very helpful to think about as long-term plans, as opposed to just focusing on the current day.
1. Diet
Your diet is going to play a crucial and significant role in your long-term health and wellness outcomes.
Now, with that being said, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking too ‘short-term’ about their food and eating habits.
For example, you may wake up and think to yourself:
“I’m going to eat healthy today.”
However, while very well-intentioned, such shorter-sighted plans will tend to give out much sooner than plans that are made in the long term.
For example—it’s much more useful to think yourself:
“I need to change my long-term dietary habits and make healthy food preparation a regular part of my days on a consistent long-term basis.”
This is a much more effective way of thinking about diet habits, and will tend to do a lot more good than just focusing on them on a day-to-day basis.
2. Exercise
Exercise is a major pillar of health and wellness.
However, it also pays to factor that into your long-term plans as well.
Instead of thinking:
“I should exercise today.”
It does us a lot more good to say:
“I want to be healthier for the long term. So I’m going to specifically plan out my days, weeks, and months for the coming season in such a manner that will facilitate making exercise a regular, consistent, and stable part of my life.”
Once again, we can see that this approach to long-term planning is likely to yield much better results.
3. Sleep
Sleep is another vital pillar of health and wellness.
And yet, far too many people make the mistake of only thinking about it in the short term (or even worse, never ‘intentionally’ thinking about it much at all).
For example, instead of thinking to yourself:
“I should try to get to bed early tonight and get better sleep.”
It’s much better (and more sustainable) to think to yourself:
“How can I incorporate habits into my daily life on a long-term basis that’ll consistently increase my sleep quality without caving in to habits or distractions that could threaten to undermine this process?”
It isn’t always easy to think of these things in the long term.
And this is precisely why most people don’t do it.
However, making future plans like this can really help to contribute to better health and wellness outcomes.
It can also help to turn these positive plans into actual habits.
At the very least, it’s definitely worth thinking about.
