UAEX Money
Awareness to Accomplishment for Health and Financial Stability
In the book Small Steps to Health and Wealth™, we learn about small actions that can lead to successful behavior change for improving health and increasing wealth. Author Barbara O’Neil stated, “No step is too small to get started and you can never be too early or too late.”
Take the first step. It’s easy to disconnect from the reality of financial and health practices. This disconnect is denial and it can be a real problem if you’re trying to improve your health or wealth. In fact, awareness is necessary for behavior change. There are five “A’s” of behavior change: Awareness, Ability (able to make the change), Ambition (desire to change), Attitude (positive about the change), and Action (taking the necessary steps). A first small step toward successful change is to become aware of your current situation and practices.
Are you in denial? Look at the visible evidence. How’s your credit score? Is your debt load less than 20%? Do you have a positive net worth? Are you a healthy weight? How’s your blood pressure?
Keep written records. Record spending for two months. Most people don’t have a clue how many dollars they spend monthly on incidental expenses such as food and entertainment. Keep a food journal and record everything you eat or drink for two weeks. Keep an exercise journal and record minutes and type of daily physical activity. Use your written records to determine where change is needed. Watch a video about Small Steps to Health and Wealth™at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdh8D3tmAD8.
Laura Hendrix, Ph.D., Associate Professor – Personal Finance & Consumer Economics AFC® - Accredited Financial Counselor, Certified Volunteer Manager uaexMoney is your source for reliable information. Connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices, we are a catalyst of prosperity. Visit www.uaex.uada.edu/Money. Follow uaexMoney on Facebook and Twitter.