Making a Plan to Improve Your Wellbeing | Part One

Dr Richard Pile, a doctor and GP, shares his thoughts on how making a plan contributes to long-term lifestyle changes.

When broaching the subject of making a plan in my early days as a GP, I decided that many of my patients who needed to make lifestyle changes also had undiagnosed conditions that resulted in problems with their planning processes. Some cases stood out, like the man who was still popping out for fag breaks in between ward rounds on the coronary care unit after he’d had his heart attack. Or the elderly lady with furred up arteries in her legs who looked me straight in the eye and told me that she was more scared by the thought of life without cigarettes than she was by the below knee amputation that she was heading relentlessly towards. Surely the only explanation was stupidity or a death wish? Or so I thought.

Years have gone by and I have learnt a lot about people, which is an inevitable and highly desirable side effect of working in primary care. I have spent time talking these things through with patients. I have read round the subject of behavioural psychology and spent time discussing these issues with psychologists and other colleagues. Atwe are working with the Centre for Behavioural Change to ensure that all our practitioners are appropriately skilled in this area to help their clients, offering a service that is more than just education about giving up smoking or losing weight.

For the purpose of today’s blog post, I am going to share with you a small but important part of what I have learnt over the years. It’s not very clever or surprising. Neither is it difficult. Everyone can do it. It’s about having a plan.