If we don’t make changes, things will stay the same. Don’t expect a change if you aren’t willing to make one.

Someone who is overweight won’t lose weight if they continue to lead an unhealthy lifestyle, just as a smoker won’t reap the benefits of cessation without giving up in the first place. Something has to change.

Many of us wonder why we aren’t making progress, or at least not as much progress as we would hope for. But doing what we have always done will only give us the results we have always had.

So, why is it so hard to make these changes?

I think the most obvious reason is that many people don’t REALLY want to change. Of course, many people would like to be fit and be in shape but they don’t really want to spend time in the gym when they could be watching TV. They would rather eat takeaways than healthy meals – change isn’t always convenient but that’s no excuse either.

Fear of failure also stops many people from making a change. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Making a change and failing is better than making no change at all. Embrace your mistakes, identify why you failed, don’t give up and try again.

How many times have you heard or even made the excuse ‘I can’t’. Usually it’s used instead of ‘I won’t’. I can’t lose weight, I can’t run that far, I can’t diet, I can’t go to the gym three days a week. Now replace those cant’s with won’t – makes sense, right?

What if you dared to change ‘I can’t’ into ‘I can’, after all the only thing stopping you from doing so, is probably you. I can lose weight, I can run that far, I can diet, I can go to the gym three days a week. Positive thinking often leads to positive behaviour. Initially, making a change might be hard and even stressful, but soon it turns into habit – oh and then progress towards your goal. But you wouldn’t want that… would you?

Sometimes change is inevitable, sometimes change is for the better. No one is saying that you have to make a drastic change over-night, start exercising twice a day and eat nothing but chicken, veg and rice. However, it is important to start somewhere so, what’s stopping you? Change I can’t to I can and soon you may well look back and say I did.

Adie Blanchard – Researcher