Have you ever gotten so excited about a new endeavor and could not wait to get started. You go all in for day or two, maybe even a week, and then then move on to something else. Thinking back for a second, how does that make you feel? Disappointed, sad, like a failure?
During the earlier parts of the 2020 Pandemic, I began preparing all of my meals and working out at home! I saved a crap ton of money by not eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and coffee in between! Now, that protocols have been in place and I have emerged from the bunker, I have found myself eating out again! Despite, the risk, I find it much easier to continue working out daily, but not preparing my own meals.
There are plenty of habits that we have absolutely no problem keeping. We can easily scroll through social media, but will not check the latest news. We eat junk food and imbibe plenty of soda, but will not drink 3 cups of plain water each day or workout for 20 minutes of the 12-15 hours we are awake! Why is it so freaking hard?!?! Why is it so easy to start a new habit, but so difficult to maintain it?
Here are four concepts to think about as you create new habits:
- Continual Focus on the Next Actions. A common goal is make more money. Yes, you are going to increase your income, but how are you going to do that. What are the things that you are going to do each day, week, or month to gain new clients? Those are the habits that you must form to ensure success.
- Habits must be strategic and specific. Habits can be too vague. If your goal is make more money, you might say to yourself, “OK, I’m going to start a business.” Then what happens? Maybe you hop on WordPress and create a website, or maybe you decide to set up a twitter account because you read that is the fastest path to make $40,000 a month. You work on those things for a couple days, maybe a week. Then out of the blue you just stop. Why? Because “starting a business”, “creating a webpage” and “setting up a social media account” isn’t specific enough. Movement can give the illusion of progress–one must be specific. Each of these requires its own strategy.
- Habits don’t get you started. You have to be emotionally connected to the end result. Truly know what you are going after and make the commitment daily to work towards it. Going back to our business building example, The first step in defining the habit it making a plan. A plan will help you understand the actions to take and you time line for action.
- Make habit formation and re-formation a…habit. The reason people do not maintain habits for the long term is that they are not always fun to do, but they are necessary. We easily get caught up in the short-term and stop focusing on the long-term. We have to stay on track consciously. It is easy to slip off track when we are not holding ourselves accountable. Sometimes that means improving on the habit to make it work all the better. One thing that has helped me is setting a reminder to take action at whatever timeframe I have have planned to take the action.
Goals on Track is a an easy, affordable way to start building, tracking and keeping habits. This software helps you to Set SMART goals and stay on track, and Build great habits to make progress on autopilot! You decide how long and how often to keep at your habits. Check them off on the habit tracker calendars. The software automatically tracks your habit strength and daily execution–keeping you accountable!
You many also want to check out this book by Brendon Burchard on High Performance Habits available on audible, Kindle, Hardback and soft cover!
Thinking back to my eating out habit. I do believe it is because I was less busy, and I was at home more. Now that I am on the move more frequently now, it might behoove me to set aside time to plan meals for the entire week, and cook every two or three days. It appears that might be the best option. What are some habits that you would like to break or form?
