Get a Fresh Start on PCOS!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Will PCOS interfere with any of your dreams or aspirations for this year?

If you think of your life as a party, then PCOS is your rude, misbehaving party crasher. It wrecks your self-esteem, puts on pounds, prevents you from starting a family, makes your hair fall out, puts pimples and whiskers on your face, strains relationships, disturbs your sleep, and in general tries to make your life party a miserable affair.

Free PCOS Newsletter

The worst thing of all is that it doesn't just come to the party, make a mess and then leave. It just stays and stays and never really goes completely away. It permeates almost every aspect of your life and deeply affects your enjoyment of life.

So it's really smart to have a plan for keeping PCOS under control for the rest of this year and beyond.

Here are some suggestions that may help you be more successful.

Set Goals and Choose Only ONE to Work on First

There may be quite a few things you would like to have happen this year. After your write them down, pick the single goal that is most important to you and put the other ones aside.

Behavioral research shows that when you pick multiple goals, the likelihood of achieving them is dramatically reduced. This is a big reason why we never achieve our goals -- we're pursuing so many that we don't achieve any of them.

You can actually achieve your goals faster if you focus on one at a time. Achieve goal #1 before moving on to goal #2.

If you don't have any ideas for goals, you can always consult the Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility e-book for things you can do to reduce the impact of PCOS.

Have a Concrete Plan

There's an old saying, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there". A plan is like a roadmap. What would be your roadmap to take you to your #1 goal?

When you make a definite plan, you firmly embed your intentions in your memory (which reduces forgetting), plus it's harder to procrastinate because you have made a clear commitment to yourself.

In one study, people were advised to get flu shots. Some were told to privately write down a plan specifying the date and time they would come in for their shot, while others were not. The people with a plan had a 13% higher rate of coming in for flu shots.

Put Something Valuable on the Line

If you don't have any skin in the game, you won't take it as seriously. For example, you might give $100 to a friend and tell her to contribute it to charity if you don't meet your goal. If you meet your goal, you get your $100 back. Fear of loss can be an effective motivator.

In one study, individuals who set aside money for forfeiture shed 14 more pounds than people who did not.

Bundle Your Temptations

The idea here is to associate temptations that make your feel guilty with behavior that takes your closer to your goal.

Let's say you would rather read romance novels than go to the gym. So you end up feeling guilty about something you enjoy (reading novels) but you don't get the exercise you know you need. The solution is to put the novels into your gym bag and read them while on your exercise bike at the gym. So the only time you're reading romance novels is when you're exercising.

Or, suppose you love ice cream. You could associate ice cream with specific celebrations, such as birthdays. On your birthday, or when attending someone else's birthday event, you can have all the ice cream you want. On all the other days, you don't have it, nor do you keep any on hand in the fridge.

Seek Social Support

If you have a mentor or supporter, you're much more likely to reach your goal. Try to find someone who understands PCOS or who has successfully dealt with it. See if you can engage with that individual and find ways to help and support each other.

In a recent article in the New York Times, people with poorly controlled diabetes were paired with people who previously had poorly controlled diabetes but had since achieved mastery over their disease. The mentored individuals had better control over their blood sugar than those using drugs.

Start Today!

Once you have a plan, there's no need to wait until "tomorrow". "Tomorrow" never comes. All you have is this day, today. So have a look at your plan and begin to implement it.

Summary: You can make this year truly memorable (and fun too!). Your journey will be faster and easier if you first create a roadmap (a plan).