Living a healthy lifestyle can get a little tedious at times.  Eating the same healthy foods and doing the same work outs over and over can get boring.

So what can we do to change that?

Create a challenge for yourself.  Write it down and place it somewhere you’ll see it daily.  It can be anything from running a marathon to being able to do a new yoga pose.  It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it is something you want to work towards.  

Set a time that’s far enough away that you can make the necessary improvements.  But don’t pick a timeline that will allow you to procrastinate either.  A good timeline is 3-6 months.  If you can’t achieve that goal within that timeline, break that challenge into two steps.  

Let’s say you want to run a marathon but it will take you longer than 6 months to get in shape for it, set a goal to run a 10K in 3 months, then a half marathon 3 months later, and finally a marathon 3 months later.  

Having an approaching challenge will give you the motivation to go to the gym when you don’t feel like it and pass on those donuts sitting in the break room.  With a goal in mind we have that extra push to do one more rep, run one more lap, and eat optimal.  

So challenge yourself and make your past self jealous!