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How do we make health a priority when there's so much to do and so many distractions to handle? It is the single most taxing issue that we face. As children we were not taught how to set priorities, how to set boundaries, how to say no to things and stick to that decision. Today we'll guide you through the process with the help of a very small 15 minute exercise. All you need is a book, a pen/pencil , or your notes app if you prefer your phone. We'd recommend that you undertake this in a quiet place that’s free of distractions, but you can do it in the cab, in the metro, sitting down in a cafe, in your office, on the way to college, etc, as long as you’re willing to immerse yourself completely into it. Remember this is just 15 minutes. Here we go

‍Step 1 : Take a deep breath. Take in lungs full of that beautiful, positive air of the fresh new decade.

‍Step 2: I know what you’re doing next, no, stop your mind from wandering back to the past failures. It is natural that when you’re trying to do something new, your mind tries to go back to the past to remind you of something you undertook but couldn’t finish. That’s okay. It’s very normal. Let that idea exist. Not for too long though. We have work to do!

‍Step 3 : Slowly accept that you did, what you did, because you wanted to do it. That was a priority at that time. Take some time to process it.Are you in the same place now? Are you the same person between that event and now? You can’t be. Your body sheds trillions of cells every week, you absorb new ideas every second even though you don’t realise it, your stomach lining changes and adapts to food habits every 10 days. When you look at things this way, when you take away the emotion from what is actually there, you’ll have a clearer vision of things that exist now and will be in a better position to think for yourself about the decisions you want to be taking for the future.

‍Step 4 : Now draw a big square on the page / tab. Divide it into 4 equal parts. On the left upper quarter write 1; On the right upper quarter write 2; Lower left quarter assign 3; Lower right quarter assign 4. Now, quarter 1 denotes your priority for the 4 quarters in a day. We'd advise you to do this at the very beginning of the day after you wake up and are beginning the day.

‍Step 5 : Write down the tasks that you actually achieve in the first quarter of the day. For example ;

1. Drink 4 glasses of water before 12pm today.
2. Search for a 5 minute prep power packed breakfast recipe today. Psst I can help you with that here >> NBL recepie
3. Fix a quick snack box for the day. Here’s what you can put in your smarsnackbox>>NBL blog.
4. Walk to the gate to get the auto/cab to work /college.
5. Take the stairs at work instead of the lift today for 2 floors at the very least.

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Now go ahead and focus on finishing these tasks before 12 pm during the day. In the next quarter, write down a similar set of achievable goals. For example :Quarter 2 :

1. Drink one glass of water  30 mins before lunch at 1 or 2 pm
2. Grab more salad during lunch.
3. Do a 5 minute deep breathing exercise before getting into a long meeting
4. Take your smartsnackbox to the meeting.
5. Eat a fruit after the meeting instead of a samosa.

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Do a similar task oriented jotting down for  the next two quarters of the day. These will help you break down your goals into bite sized segments that you can actually achieve. It changes every day so it is important to track whatever you do every quarter of the day. During this time you will not think about anything else but what you put in your body. Breaking down goals helps you not overthink. It helps you not make a huge deal about your goals. It helps you train your brain bit by bit to become open to adopting a new food habit. Simplify food, simplify your life.

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Simplify healthy eating with our various Health & Nutrition Programs, sign here

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Cheers,

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Lovneet