One of the hardest things to do is to create a new habit but once you have that set routine it’s difficult to remember what life was like without it.
Habits relate to everything in life – work, school, cleaning, driving, coffee…
Can you remember when you happily got through a whole day without any caffeine?
Creating a habit takes time, you need to be encouraging and patient with yourself especially if you are creating a morning training habit and you aren’t usually a morning person!!
So… how can you create a habit and how long does it take until it sticks?
If you type into google the words ‘creating a habit’ you will get quite a few articles and studies pop up with different techniques and advice, below are a few options summarised into easy to read sections, most of these are techniques I have successfully used myself. Different styles work for different people and if there’s something that has worked for you that isn’t on here I’d love to hear from you and if there is something I have put on here you don’t agree works please feel free to contact me I enjoy discussing the different ways our brains work and am always looking for new ways to help motivate my team.
The length of time it takes to make that habit stick varies from person to person, studies show in as little as 21 days some people have reached that point but with many others it can take up to 66 days. What I find is once you start seeing results in yourself that is when you have successfully won the challenge and generally speaking in 6 weeks of solid training and healthy eating you will start noticing changes.
I get my team to do fitness testing updates every 4-6 weeks as in this time you may be looking for some extra motivation to continue on as you may not have yet noticed the physical changes that are occurring and the fitness testing will show you how much you have improved.
Set Goals: I can’t tell you the last time I went on social media and didn’t see a post saying something along the lines of ‘dream big’. ‘reach for the stars’ or ‘aim higher’. A big end goal is a good idea, for example wanting to lose 15kgs in 6 months or running a half marathon in 8 months although; being such a big challenge with a huge time frame can often seem unreachable and put you in a negative mindset. Try breaking your goals down into smaller more manageable pieces using weightloss as an example losing 2.5kgs in a month feels much more achievable than losing 15kgs in 6 months. Always write your goals down and date it so you can keep track, I have a board of goals in our team training area they are kept anonymous and for those who aren’t sure what they want to achieve it gives them idea and inspiration for their next step.
Remember why: My computer background is a simple quote ‘when you think about quitting think about why you started’. Why is it you have decided to make this change? How much does it mean to you? How are you going to feel when you hit that goal? Don’t over obsess about the end result instead remember why you are trying to get there.
Start Simple: Similar to breaking down your goals into bite sized pieces start the change off simply and remember Rome wasn’t built in a day. To get healthy you are going to have to cut out lots of different types of foods and possibly incorporate a whole new way to think about food, depending on how much of a change you need to make take it slow, pick 1-2 foods that you need to cut out and start there. For me I chose bread first; I used to eat at least 6-8 pieces of bread a day cutting that out also helped me limit other things as I wasn’t eating the spread anymore and once I was used to no bread I went with the next option which was pasta. I still eat these foods occasionally but I no longer feel like I need to eat them on a daily basis and I don’t even notice they are missing.
While on the topic of cutting foods out try not to cut something out then eat more of something that is worse if you have to fill the gap with other food always go for the healthy option – If snacking is your issue try to always have nuts or carrot/celery/capsicum cut up in the fridge for you to grab on the run.
Get a buddy: Finding a friend who is interested as much as you are is the best way to achieve anything because if you don’t turn up to a session it’s not just yourself that you are letting down it’s your friend too. It also makes it more enjoyable having someone to talk to and joke around with, talk about how much it hurts but feels good at the same time, someone to compete with if that is what helps motivate you.
Reward yourself: Positive reinforcement is a great motivational tool, after you get through your first week reward yourself then do it again when you get through your first month or when you hit one of your small goals. The reward doesn’t have to be huge or expensive you know yourself best, start off with something as small as a new training headband or socks then increase it to a new outfit etc as you start hitting goals and creating the habit. The best reward will be your amazing results so don’t forget about those by rewarding yourself with something that is going to undo all of your hard work.
At the end of the day we are all wired differently so what works for me isn’t necessarily going to work for you, the best thing for you to do is be honest and open with yourself. Do some experimenting, enjoy yourself, find what works best for you and stick with it.
