Three Things to Focus on If Your 2025 Goals Include Health and Wellness
Build Sustainable Habits and Routines:
We are the sum of our habits and routines. They define how we show up each day and ultimately shape who we are. When setting health and wellness goals, start small, focus on building one healthy habit at a time. Even a single consistent change, like drinking lemon water each morning, or avoiding your phone before bed, can create meaningful progress.
Once you’ve mastered the first habit, you can layer on another using habit stacking. In this technique new habits are built into existing ones. This increases your changes of success and helps the new habit stick.
Ideas for habits to adopt in 2025:
Hydrate first thing in the morning (and no, coffee doesn’t count!)
Flossing
No screen time before bed or right after waking up (no emails, social media, TV, etc.)
Make a walking habit - walk x amount of steps each day, or walk for 10 minutes after lunch or dinner each day
Sunday evening reset routine - set goals, go over calendar, check in with your partner
Stretch after every workout
Morning or evening meditation
Recommended:
Blog post: Master the Art of Continuous Improvement by James Clear
Blog post: Habit Stacking Makes New Habits Last - Here’s How it Works by Real Simple
Podcast: The Science of Making and Breathing Habits with Andrew Huberman
Adopt the 80/20 Nutrition Approach:
Strict diets can lead to burnout and binging. Instead of aiming for perfection, adopt an 80/20 mindset. Take each day as an opportunity to feed your body with wholesome, nutrient dense foods most of the time, while allowing flexibility for indulgences. Aim to make healthy choices 80% of the time while allowing yourself flexibility for indulgences for the remaining 20%. If you eat 3 meals per day, that equals 21 meals per week. using the 80/20 approach around 4 of those meals can be indulgences. Remember it’s not about perfection - it’s about finding what works best for your lifestyle.
Planning ahead is key. Meal prep can save you from reaching for unhealthy options when you’re tired or hungry. Keep versatile stables stocked in your fridge or pantry to choose from. With these items on hand you can quickly create meals like wraps, grain bowls, tacos, or salads, that are both satisfying and nutritious.
Things I like to keep on hand include - sourdough bread, tuna, baked chicken, chickpeas, bag of salad, berries, apples, bananas, cottage cheese, bone broth, tortillas, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions.
Recommended listening: The Doctor That Changed My Life - What’s the Juice Podcast by Organic Olivia with Dr. Lyon
Create a Mindfulness Practice:
Mindfulness isn’t just about mental health, it’s a powerful tool for overall wellbeing. There is growing evidence that regular mindfulness practices can alter the brain in a positive way. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve emotional regulation, creativity, sleep, memory, stress response, learning, the immune system, symptoms of depression, and more.
Mindfulness has many forms - meditation, journaling, EFT tapping, mindful walking, or non-sleep deep rest (NSDR)/yoga Nidra. Mindfulness goes beyond mental health. Start with a few minutes each day and work your way up to longer sessions. Prioritizing mental health will enhance every aspect of your wellness journey.
Ideas to help your mindfulness practice in 2025
Download Insight Timer - by far my favorite meditation app (with a free version too!)
Buy a journal and write in it, any will do. Here is my favorite blank journal and gratitude journal perfect for starting mindfulness habits
Go on a walk without headphones and simply observe the things around you, mindfully .
Recommended:
Article: The State of Mindfulness Science by The Greater Good
Blog: Can Mindfulness Change Your Brain? by Dr. Andrew Budson at Harvard Health Publishing
Podcast: The Magic of Mindfulness: Complain Less, Appreciate More, and Live a Better Life with Time Ferris
