IS YOUR INNER CIRCLE HELPING OR HURTING
I love doing a self audit of all aspects of my life and cutting out aspects that aren’t furthering my cause to reach my goals.
The hardest aspect of your life to self audit is your relationships and especially your inner circle relationships. Nobody likes to admit their best friend, parents, or even their partner is a negative influence on their self development. However, this is often the case.
The cool thing is that the people who care about you will usually listen to how you feel and will change their ways to support you. If they aren’t willing to do so it brings some tough choices to make.
When you’re at your weakest a negative influencer has the most power. So when starting a new fitness or health program you want to limit interaction with these people. Once you developed solid health habits interactions with negative influencers can be increased. In some instances your positivity and energy can rub off.
We all go through periods of retracement. There may be times where you’ll need more “you time”. It’s key to recognize these moments and act quickly before it snowballs and negative influencers gain too much power.
I like to suggest to my clients the following to combat negative influencers.
Lead by example. Get your shit together before you start giving suggestions. Let your actions speak for themselves.
Suggest to meet friends for a walk, yoga, or fitness class rather than meeting at a bar or coffee shop.
Have the tough talk. Communication is key. Especially with the people you really care about. Give them a chance to change their ways and help you reach your goals rather than hindering them. If you don’t communicate and express how you feel and you just cut them off you’ll be hurting yourself in the short and long term.
Don’t take your goals too seriously. If you get too strict and have no “fun” then you can miss out on some great aspects of life. Just have a 24 hour rule. Whether with eating or drinking or not exercising don’t let it snowball for more than 24 hours.
Your relationships may be one of the most important aspects of whether you reach your health goals or not. It’s important to surround yourself with people who truly have your best interest in their heart.