The 3 R'S For Habit Change

Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. What you repeatedly do ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray.

How in shape or out of shape you are is a result of your habits...

How happy or unhappy you are is a result of your habits...

If you want to improve in any area of your life, you need to form new habits. I'll show you how to go about it. 

Every habit you have good or bad follows the same 3–step pattern.

1. Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behaviour)
2. Routine (the behaviour itself; the action you take)
3. Reward (the benefit you gain from doing the behaviour)

1. Develop a ritual to make starting easier - Habits are behaviour’s that you repeat over and over again, which means they are also behaviour’s that you start over and over again. In other words, if you don’t consistently get started, then you won’t have a habit. In many ways, building new habits is simply an exercise in getting started time after time. This means that if you can find a way to make getting started easier, then you can find a way to make building a habit easier. Therefore, rituals and routines are so important. If you can develop a ritual that makes starting your workout mindless and automatic, then it will be much easier to follow through. 

2. Start with an exercise that is ridiculously small - The best way to make exercise a habit is to start with an exercise that is so easy that you can do it even when you are running low on willpower and motivation. Here is one strategy that you can use in the beginning, it’s very simple: focus on finding a way to get started in just 2 minutes rather than worrying about your entire workout.

Struggling to find motivation to go for a walk? Just fill up your water bottle and put on your exercise shoes. That is all you must do to consider today’s workout a success. Often, this little 2-minute start will be enough to get your motivation flowing and help you finish the task.

3. Focus on the habit first and the results later - The typical approach to diet and exercise is to focus on results first. Most people start with some type of goal. “I want to lose 10 kilos in the next 3 months.” Or, “I want to do 50 push ups 2 months from now. I believe too much focus on the end result can discourage you and I have seen a lot of clients quit in result of that. It’s like one of my favourite quotes “enjoy the journey not just the destination”. 

What if you focused on the system rather than the goal?  I'll show you the difference between goals and systems. 

• If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week.
• If you’re a runner, your goal is to run a marathon. Your system is your training schedule for the month.
• If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a million dollar business. Your system is your sales and marketing process.

If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still get results?

For example, if you were a marathon runner and you ignored your goal to win the marathon and focused only on your running or training program each day, would you still get results? Yes you would! 

Commit to a process, not a goal. Release the need for immediate results. 

I’ve found that goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress. Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. You committing to the process is what will make the difference.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Take control of your life, rock on!

Until next month, Evie xx

Book a session with us today! 
totalfitnesstraining.com.au