The Language of Your Actions

You may already know this, but...

It’s not what you know in life that makes the difference. It’s what you do with what you know. Your boss won’t pay you for being smart. He or she will pay you for bringing in the sale, or creating satisfied customers, or whatever result you were engaged to produce.

Your everyday actions are a key part of the communication network that regulates your health.

Consider this:

• Your body doesn’t care that you know how important it is to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It does care that it gets the nutrients it needs on a regular basis. Same goes for your exercise program and getting enough rest.
  
  
• Your immune system doesn’t care that the self-help book you just read says you’re as worthwhile as your neighbor, cousin, or the president of the PTA. All it cares is that you devote as much time and energy to your own agenda in life as you do to theirs. Your immune system wants to know that you’ll stand up for yourself to protect your values and priorities (as you expect it to).
  
  
• Your neck doesn’t care that you just bought a headset for your phone to alleviate strain on its overworked muscles. It only cares that you hold your head and shoulders in a relaxed position throughout the day.

Your actions are a model that communicate your core beliefs — to your friends and family, your body’s protective systems, and most of all, to your own mind. When you act in a way that matches your values (what you believe is important), your health will benefit.

I’d guess you know that already. Yet it doesn’t matter how much you know until you act on it.

Tip: Our self-coaching manual Saboteur's Guide to a Productive Life: 7 Simple Steps to Freedom supports you as you move from knowing to doing.

Proactive = Healthy

As a person proactive enough to be reading this article, perhaps you’re ready to increase the integrity between what you know and what you do. A reliable support system often means the difference between success and failure in making lifestyle changes.

Enlist a reliable friend, read a how-to book, or listen to informative recordings. If you're really committed, join a coaching program.

CONTINUE — read The Language of Your State