Making a resolution or new goal stick requires changing some habits — by force if necessary. I know. Don’t you just hate that? And I do, and yet, if we want to reach our goals, we have to find a way to hold ourselves to it. To make a real change, it can’t be a short-term pause in our habits. That’s why diets don’t work: We alter our intake for a period of time, and when we go back to what we’ve always eaten, the weight returns — and often brings too many little friends with it.
Right?
It’s just so blinkin’ easy to fall into a habit that doesn’t help us, isn’t it? A little adjustment here, and extra whatever there, and suddenly the scale jumps up or my waistband shrinks. How did that happen? Honestly, it’s most often when I’m just not paying attention. I got busy, and I let an old habit creep in. I got distracted by some shiny bauble over there, and I created a new unhelpful one or gave up on a helpful one I wanted to create.
I have to jostle myself awake again. Now and again, I have to take myself by the scruff of the neck and give myself a good talking to, but you’re probably less stubborn than I am.
Reconnect: What do you want?
By when?
For what purpose?
To get there, what must you do?
What habits must you eliminate, alter, or install?
What habit strategies can you utilize to make it more effective?
What would pretty much force you to stick with your new habits? (that force thing at work)
What’s working for you?
What’s stopping you, and how can you eliminate the block?
How will you feel when you get to your goal?
Focus. You can reach your goals. It takes a little work, and you have to believe it’s possible, but you CAN get there.
One of my favorite books on habit change is Gretchen Rubin’s book, Better Than Before. She includes a bunch of strategies for habit change as well as working through loopholes. It helped me.
