Whether your goal is to lose weight, put on lean muscle mass, implement a dietary strategy, or run a marathon, there are little tricks of the trade which you can use to increase your likelihood of success. Here are 6 clever tips for achieving your health goals. 

1. Have A Sponsor

Both Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous recognize that the power of comradery is very important. We evolved from and are still, social primates, and being accountable to your friends, family, and colleagues is very important to most of us. If you’re setting a goal you hope to achieve, see if a friend or family member will help keep you in line. Encourage them to cheer you when you succeed, and remind you when you slack off. When your goal involves being accountable to someone else as well as yourself, you’ll take your journey far more seriously.

2. Don’t Set Yourself Up For Failure

If you haven’t run a mile since first grade, don’t set a goal to run a marathon in your 40’s. Set yourself smaller goals, be realistic about what you can achieve short-term, and once you’ve completed them, don’t get complacent. If you’re making progress, remember the thought process which got you there, and see if you can apply it to other goals you have elsewhere in your life. 

3. Read REAL Science

Scientists have a specific way of speaking and operating. If your plan is to lose weight, adopt a particular diet plan, or start lifting weights, no one in the history of humanity has had access to more resources of empirical scientific literature on such topics. Be a good researcher: cross reference claims that seem too remarkable, pay attention to things like sample size and lifestyle factors. The best part about reading and listening to the work of scientists is they will always use appropriate jargon and avoid words like superfoods, real foods, cure-all, healing, and other non-scientific buzzwords.

4. Treat Your Willpower Like Calories

A hard workout will require plenty of energy in the form of calories, while months and months of dietary discipline will require inspiration, determination, and the occasional reward. Willpower and discipline are depletable resources, so don’t rely on them forever, especially after a hard day’s work, or a hard work out. Use inspirational sources often to help replenish your stores of willpower and keep you mentally focused on your goals.

5. Don’t Forget To Celebrate

Among humans, there is a behavior called capitalization, which involves the sharing of good news among colleagues to illicit positive reactions and increase social bonds. If you’ve lost the first five of 50 pounds you hope to lose, tell someone, try and celebrate your achievements as often as you feel it’s warranted. If you see someone else achieving their health goals, raise them up with positive reinforcement. It’s more likely they’ll reciprocate the gesture when seeing you accomplish your goals, and increase both the desire to accomplish more, and the quality of the relationship. 

6. Get Good Quality Sleep

Again, no matter what your health goals happen to be, good quality and quantity sleep is vitally important. There’s no substitute known for good sleep, it helps clear harmful plaque build-up in the brain, restore hormonal balances, cement information learned the previous day into memory banks, and repair muscle tissues from your eyes to your ankles. Amazon has an enormous selection of wonderful mattresses available for fractions of what it used to cost, so you can kind of consider a mattress like a piece of fitness equipment.