As a behaviour change expert, Dr. Lisa Belanger helps you to implement seemingly small habit changes that have a profound impact on your well-being, productivity, and happiness.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT:
How to gain motivation when trying to create healthy change in your life
The reason why identifying your “why” is so important to help you reach your health goals.
How improving your health can help you to achieve goals in other aspects of your life.
How to find the time to prioritize your health even when you’re living on-the-go.
How to take advantage of “habit stacking” when creating new health routines.
How long it takes for a new health behaviour to become a habit.
How to build a mindset that encourages consistency when implementing new healthy habits.

About Dr. Lisa Belanger:
Dr. Lisa Belanger is a researcher, author and award-winning CEO of ConsciousWorks, a boutique consulting firm that shows leaders how insights from behavioural science can strategically improve habits of both corporate leaders and their employees. Inspired by a teenage friend who passed away from cancer, Lisa also founded the Canadian charity Knight’s Cabin – a cancer survivor retreat that focuses on physical activity, nutrition, sleep and stress management. Her mission is to show individuals, corporate groups and other audiences how seemingly small habit changes can have a profound impact on one’s well-being, productivity, and happiness.

Lisa was the recipient of the Edmonton Top 20 under 30 award, the YWCA Woman of Influence- Local Hero Award and the Young Alumna of the Year 2013 from St. Francis Xavier University. She has authored two books: The Money Book for Everyone Else and Inspire Me Well: Finding Motivation to Take Control of Your Health, as well as dozens of research publications.



Lisa shares her motivation to live a healthy life:
“When I’m asked what motivates me to be active, to eat well, and to live a healthy life, I can pinpoint the answer to one brief phone call that I will never forget. My friend Jane and I had plans one night and when it came time to get together I could not get a hold of her. I was frustrated and slightly hurt that she blew me off, so I went over to my then-boyfriend’s house. While we were watching basketball, the phone rang. I was surprised it was for me—it was Jane. She was at the hospital waiting for test results she had done earlier that day. She felt so guilty for breaking our plans that she called my house for my boyfriend’s number. She said, “They think I have cancer, and when I heard that all I wanted to do was talk to you.” The summer between Grade 11 and senior year, my best friend Jane was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

That phone call, those few seconds, changed my life more than I could have ever imagined. At 17, I watched my best friend have more needles poked in her, more drugs injected into her than the average person does in a lifetime, and I watched her fight for her life. She lost her hair, but never lost her beautiful smile. After a gruelling two year battle, she passed away. I will never forget holding her hand while she gasped for air and was drugged so that she could not feel the pain while I said goodbye.

Your perception of life changes when you are staring at death. Jane and I created a “bucket list” of things we wanted to accomplish before we died. It is now up to me to work through the list. This list has allowed me to live life to a depth I could never have even imagined. Every day, every breath is a treasure. Although I miss Jane and selfishly I want her with me, I know she inspires me every day.

When Jane was alive, she said: “You only get one body, and it is your temple.” I realized then how much we take our health for granted. I realized that when I woke up I just expected my body to wo...