How and Why You NEED to Make 2019 About You…And Actually MAKE IT HAPPEN!

As the new year kicks off, it’s almost impossible not to reflect on what we have (or haven’t) achieved over the past 12 months, and begin thinking about the new goals that we’ll set for ourselves for the year ahead. There’s something seemingly magical about the promise of a new year that makes us think that a fresh start is all we need to really smash those health goals this time.

But, the truth of it is, if we keep tackling those goals in the same ways we’ve always approached them in the past, then it’s likely that we’ll just tapper off in our motivation come mid-January (as most of us are prone to do.) As the saying goes, ‘if nothing changes, nothing changes!’

At the end of the day setting goals is the easy part – summoning the motivation and maintaining it on a consistent basis, or changing well-worn habits, not so much! How many times have you set yourself a goal, only to talk yourself out of it when the time arrives and think “I’ll start tomorrow,’ or “I’m just too busy, I don’t have the time?”

I’ll admit, my brain is an absolute pro when it comes to throwing up all kinds of excuses not to do the things I know I should. Sometimes, despite my best intentions, I have let it get the better of me and ditched a yoga class in favour of flopping into the armchair with a glass or two of wine. Or, sat at my computer desk all day hammering away at my keyboard without a break under the misguided impression that the whole world might fall apart if I take 10 minutes to stand outside in the sunshine and breath in some fresh air or catch some ‘Me Time’.

Here’s Why You SHOULD Totally Make 2019 About You!

What many parents (and mothers in particular) fail to realise is that prioritising everyone else’s needs before our own isn’t in anyone’s best interest. The so-called ‘mother-guilt’ benefits no one. As Dr Rosina McAlpine, parenting expert explains ‘parent-child happiness is interlinked. We know this from the research. Just a small increase in parent happiness can have a long-term impact on your child’s happiness. Practicing self care puts you in a better state physically and mentally, and that positively impacts your child for life.’

Here’s How to Get Motivated and Achieve Those Health Goals That Keep Eluding You

Step One: Download the LifeBuddi app from the App Store

Step Two: Sign up for your FREE 14 day trial

Step Three:Allow the app to guide and motivate you to achieve your personalised goals and retrain your brain to overcome obstacles and challenges.

LifeBuddi App Review Part One: How it is Soooo Different From Other Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Apps

In the interest of full disclosure, let me begin by saying that I have been invited to take advantage of the LifeBuddi app’s free 14 day trial for the purpose of giving an honest review of my experience using it. This review in based on my use of the app for 7 days. I will update you with more thoughts at the end of the 14 days.

I should start by saying that I did wonder what this app could offer me that my current favourite app (that counts my steps, heart rate, stress levels, sleep etc) doesn’t already offer. But always one to keep an open mind and give new things a try I downloaded the LifeBuddi app and was pleasantly surprised to find that it really is unlike any other health app I’ve come across.

Whilst apps that measure and record your activities are fantastic (and can be used in conjunction with this app), they do rely on you being self-motivated to get out and be active. But what about when you just can’t be bothered?

In contrast, LifeBuddi is like having your own little motivational coach that gives you little nudges to keep you on track. Last week, for example, I’d scheduled two exercise classes into my week. Come day one, after a particularly stressful morning trying to get my children up and ready for school in time, my self-talk reared its ugly head and said “Let’s not go today, eh? Let’s just go and grab a coffee instead. We’ve got so much to do today anyway. We can’t possibly spare an extra 45 minutes to get all smelly and sweaty. The laundry won’t do itself…” And on and on, until I’d pretty much resigned myself to the dreaded “I’ll start tomorrow.”

But…that’s where the LifeBuddi magic happened! As part of the initial set-up of my goals I had been prompted to set myself a reminder 30 minutes before the class was due to start. Right on cue, LifeBuddi gave me a deeply personalised nudge and asked me if I was ready to go or if I needed a little extra motivation.

Uh…nope. I’m not going and you can’t make me!

Now…I’ll be completely honest and tell you that I had absolutely no intention of pulling on my runners and getting my butt to that class by this stage, and no app was about to change that. But I answered the prompt from the app out of curiosity and was directed to listen to a snippet of audio.

Whatever! I am so not going……wait…what?

I kid you not. I followed along with the instructions of the audio (which only went for a few minutes) and by the end I’d done a complete 180, felt totally empowered to achieve this goal that I had set for myself and was out the door with my water bottle and smashed out a 45 minute workout and had a few laughs with a great bunch of women. My mood was drastically improved, I felt like I’d accomplished something important and guess what? I still got to have the coffee and do the laundry and all of that other stuff I was trying to convince myself earlier was so much more important than doing something for myself!

After a week using the LifeBuddi app I must admit, there were more than a few occasions when the app was instrumental in helping me to make positive health choices based on the goals I had set for myself, including drinking more water, using meditation and exercise (instead of wine) to manage feelings of stress or anxiety, and even getting to bed at a reasonable time.

With another week to go using the app, I’m excited to see how I can build on these small changes to affect greater change to my overall health habits. I’ll update you on my progress next week. Stay tuned…

In the meantime though, feel free to jump on board and try the LifeBuddi app for free yourself.

Really…why wait? It’s the New Year and time to take care of yourself. It’s something we should be doing EVERY Day.

I’d love to hear how you get on!

How Does it Work?

By blending proven behavioural science used by athletes and highly successful people worldwide with smart technology, LifeBuddi gets to know you, understand you and work with you.

Lifebuddi:

• Helps you get clear on what you really want to achieve and why
• Schedule health to fit your busy lifestyle with 7 day action plans
• Keeps you motivated and on track at those key moments when you struggle through personalised reminders and motivational nudges
• Supports and coaches you 24/7 to overcome obstacles and create positive habits, and
• Tracks your progress and celebrates your success to keep you moving forward

LifeBuddi features:

• Personalised 7 day health action plans that help you to take small steps and get on track with your health
• Stress, fitness, nutrition and custom wellbeing programs
• Motivational nudges to keep you motivated when you need them most
• Custom activity alerts – record your kids/partner/trainer/GP’s voice and use it as an alert for upcoming health actions
• Evidence-based mind coaching to teach you how to overcome obstacles
• Rewards for daily achievements and key milestones
• Share success with family and friends