What's your Health WHYdentity? How to Train Your Mind to Think Healthy

If you’ve read any of our blog posts, watched any of our videos on YouTube, or tried any of our Organifi products, we know something important about you:

You believe you can change your life.

Or at least, you want to.

In this post:

• The reason you quit your health and fitness efforts (spoiler alert: you’re not lazy)
• How articulating a meaningful WHY may help you achieve your health goals
• The science behind why that "Why" works
• What is the Whydentity and how to get yours
• The magic four-questions-process to the ‘ideal you’

You want to feel better, live healthier, longer, and happier.

But have you ever stopped to think about why? Almost everyone wants to experience a better life - make more money, have better relationships, better friendships, more health- but not everyone can easily articulate why they want to make that change.

And that wouldn’t be a problem, except:

When you don’t know your WHY clearly, it’s easy to drop the ball, quit, and lose progress.

Have you ever started a project you love, began a fitness transformation or tried a diet you were really excited about, only to drop it eventually after a couple of months of hard work?

Sure you have, we all have.

I can almost guarantee that everyone on the planet has, at one point or another, experienced something similar: start something full steam ahead, with hope and energy, only to drop it at some point.

Contrary to what other people will tell you:

You’re not lazy, unmotivated, or in any way “bad” - you just lack clarity on your WHY.

What is this ‘why’ anyway? I call it the “WHYdentity” and it’s based on the notion that our thoughts and expectations can change our reality - our brains are incredibly powerful!

The Whydentity Process is a series of questions that help you visualize and understand your WHY, so that whenever motivation lacks or life gets in the way you have a mental support system to keep you on track.

The Science behind the WHYdentity

If you’re wondering how the heck this is connected to your health and fitness, let’s let the science do the talking:

#1 This Harvard Study on Awareness

Which observed that a group of hotel maids actually met the required amount of exercise in a day to be at relatively healthy body weight and health point.

However, in the mind’s eye of these 84 women, none of them had “enough exercise” and their bodies reflected it: their body fat percentage, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure levels, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were equivalent to those of a much more sedentary person.

The study divided the women into two equal groups: a control group who was given no information, and a test group that was told exactly how many calories each of their daily work-related activities burnt.

After 30 days, the researchers checked in with the two groups to find that the women who had been informed of how many calories their work burnt had actually dropped 10% blood pressure levels, lost weight, reduced the waist-to-hip ratio, and decreased systolic blood pressure.

Simple mental awareness, with no change in diet, exercise or routine, helped the women lose weight and get healthier - in just a month!

#2 The Placebo Effect:

You’ve probably heard of it, time and time again, in clinical trials researchers find themselves stumped when patients taking sugar pills, or fake drugs with nothing medicinal in them, improve under the perception -or idea- that they are being given medicine that is indeed helping them.

Today the placebo effect or “mind over matter” is the subject of many studies, that are finding more and more evidence that “expectations and beliefs” may “modulate neurophysiological and neurochemical activity in brain regions.”

This that the mere idea that you’re being exposed to a chemical or medication, a.k.a. a thought may actually modify the physical and chemical status of the brain and ultimately change perception, movement, pain, and emotion processing -  even when you’re not actually exposed to that chemical or drug. This is an amazing power we can tap into!

#3 Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NPL

Originally created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s, it’s an approach to psychology, communication, and personal development (that includes health and fitness!) that considers the connection between language (we think in words), our brain (neurological patterns and chemical chain reactions) and our behavior. It’s been used to successfully treat phobias, to help athletes win matches, and to help people communicate more effectively in work settings, among many others.

Bottom line: science keeps finding evidence that our thoughts have the power to shape our realities, by altering our perception and brain chemistry. That power can be harnessed to improve our health (the placebo effect), allow us to live better and more presently (mental awareness), and even psych ourselves up to win games (on and off the courts!)

The Health WHYdentity Process

Knowing your brain has superpowers, and that your thoughts can transform your reality for better, the WHYdentity process is a visualization technique based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), where you’ll mentally rehearse what you want to create in terms of health, fitness, and your body in a specific period of time.

Once you gain clarity on what you want, and why you really want it, you’ll naturally make space for it and show up every day to achieve those goals.

Think. Feel. Become.

You’ll first think about the things you want to change, determine them, go within and find exactly why they bother you, what you stand to gain when you change it and transcend the reality you’re not happy with now.

When you have singled out all the reasons why you want this change, nay need it, move on to the flip side: visualize yourself in the happiest version of you - the healthiest and fittest you’d like to be.

Think of it as an exercise in visualizing the “ideal you”, not the ‘ideal’ magazines want to sell you, your mom wanted, or even your partner - no, the version of you that would make YOU the happiest.

Maybe this person doesn’t care about the scale, maybe they don’t count calories, maybe they just feel good going up the stairs without being winded. That’s OK.

Heck! If the person that comes to your mind’s eye is ripped, winning contests and wiping competitions at high school reunions - that’s fine too!

 Who is this person? What time do they wake up? What do they eat? How do they support themselves?

Your Health WHYdentity is the real reason you want to get fit, healthier, and ultimately happier!

Your Health WHYdentity digs deeper:

If you want to lose weight or burn fat -

• Do you want to fit into those skinny jeans you used to wear? Is it because you want to feel sexier?
• Do you want to lower your blood pressure? Is it because your doctor warned you, or really because you want to spend more time with your children?
• Do you want to have a better posture? Or is it that you really want to stride in with more confidence?  

If you want to get fitter-

• Do you want a six pack? Or just to feel better at the beach?
• Do you want to run a marathon? How would that make you feel?
• Do you want to enjoy a glass of wine without worrying about some “muffin top”?

Ready? Then let’s find your Whydentity and make this transformation that one that sticks, forever.

Finding Your Health WHYdentitiy

“The mind gives up before the body does”

- Adriene Mishler

Except yours, because now you know you can hack it changing your self-talk and expectations!

Here’s how you find your WHYdentity....

Ask yourself these questions, visualize, spend some time with your eyes closed, put some tunes on that get your groove going and then put it down to paper!

Health Whydentity Questions:

1. In 90 days, what do I want to look like?

Be specific: visualize your skin, muscles, posture, what would make you feel happy? Like you achieved something? Find some pictures online, and print them out as inspirational reminders. Use a vision board, the fridge, or a place on your phone or computer where you’ll see them often.

A visual goal is more attainable than a loosely defined one.

2. What do I want to hear from my close friends, family, and relatives?

Imagine how awesome it would feel to hear them say nice, positive things about your progress? What rewarding words would they complement you with? Really try to hear them in your mind, this exercise will help your brain release those feel-good hormones that help us go after positive-feeling goals.

3. What do I feel like in 90 days?

90-day you feels good and knew that they would. Imagine the energy you wake up to, the quality rest you’re getting, that smile in the mirror when you see progress. Feel it.

4. Why am I doing this transformation?

Be honest! This is the Notorious BIG of the questions. Think of it like this: you don’t want to buy a house, you want a home you can come to and relax in, where you can kick your fit up,  take a dip in a bath and create memories with your loved ones.

You don’t just want a healthier immune system and ‘hot bod’, you probably want to age gracefully, to go hiking at 50, to feel damn good when you catch your reflection at the mall window. You probably want to hug your children longer, to prove you could do it.

Think about that Why.

Once you have all this put it down in writing: a journal, a google doc, a note on your phone: set your intention and get to work.

What do you need to let go of to be this person? What fantastic breath-taking, joy-stirring-thing do you stand to gain?

You may feel like your ‘whydentitiy’ is obvious, and maybe visualizing or writing this down feels silly, but this is actually a very serious process that happens everyday unintentionally. Every word we say and think (“ugh, I can’t do it”, “I hate broccoli”, “I suck at this”) builds your reality, but you have the power to make it easier for you - changing your mindset with your WHYdentity.

Do you know your WHYdentity?

We encourage you to find it,  and when you do feel free to come to us for questions, coaching, or sunrise-to-sundown support.