Let’s face it. Changing a habit is hard. Whether you are trying to quit a bad habit or start a new healthy one, change is hard. It seems like everything is fighting against you when you want to make a change. Right when you want to give up McDonalds, the McRib comes back. Just when you decide to go on your first run outside, it starts raining.
I get it. We inherently like normal and unchanged situations. We get comfortable and know what to expect. The problem with comfortable is that unless you are exactly where you want to be, you will never reach your goals. You will continue exactly down the path you are heading. If you gained a little weight over the past few months, then you are going to gain a little more weight over the next few months.
All hope is not lost. You just need a better strategy to implement change, start a new habit, or reach a goal. The two problems I often see are first, you wait until the perfect situation. “If only I had more money I could….” If only I had more time I could…” When things get a little less crazy I will be able to….”
You can admit it. You have said these things before. I know I have plenty of times. When I hear myself say something like this I do my best to turn it around. “Why can’t I just start right now. Maybe it won’t be perfect but I can start something and get closer to where I want to be.”
The second problem is you take on just way too much. I love when clients get motivated and ambitious to reach new goals. But I make sure that they are focus on the small habit they need to do daily to reach those goals versus focusing on just the end.
Here are 4 steps you should take to set a new goal and actually hit it. And when you do it will be contagious and you will want to hit more goals.
- Write it down.
Yes you need to actually write down what you goal is and be specific. Focus on a daily goal. What is something you can do every single day that would make a significant impact on your overall goal. For example you may have the ultimate goal of losing 20lbs, but instead your daily goal would be to hit 10,000 step every day of the week.
- Look at it every day.
It is amazing how easily you forget something when it is not in front of you every day. So when you write your goal down make sure to keep it somewhere you will see it. The bathroom mirror is always a good place so you are reminded for this in the morning and last thing at night. That way you can march around the bedroom in case you hadn’t hit your step goal.
- Be prepared to sacrifice.
If you are planning on starting a new habit you likely have to give up something else or sacrifice activities that you normally may do. So staying on the step goal example if you normally come home and sit the couch all day you need to accept the fact that you probably can’t do that anymore or at least as much. You must commit to yourself and tell yourself that you are going to sacrifice something in order to do this new habit.
- Have a plan and a date.
It is great to write the goal down and have it visible, but how are you going to implement your goal. If you need to get more steps think of ways you can get them in. Maybe you are going to walk 30 minutes during your lunch break everyday or you will going on a walk every night after dinner with your spouse. Have some sort a plan to implement. Then make sure you have a start date and potentially an end date if necessary. Map out the plan and then just follow it.
Give it a try. See if you can pick up one new daily habit this week using these 4 steps. When you are successful you can try adding a new one, but wait until this habit is not longer an effort to complete.