Day #36 - 40 Days of Training Videos - The little things matter...

The little things matter...

What kind of little things?

What we do everyday.

What do you do everyday?

Think about it a minute...

Have you incorporated habits or rituals in your life you do without thinking and without fail?

The people I work with who achieve lasting results are the ones who have designed and established life-long habits for the body and life they want.

There are also those who have not achieved lasting results, and this is one of the saddest things to me, so I wanted to do a video about it.

There are 3 main reasons why habits fail to stick when we try to adopt a new healthy behavior.

1. Size - When it comes to habits big is not better. Small...crazy small is better. Behavior and lifestyle changes occur by doing something everyday. Mini habits are a way to avoid mental fatigue that flows from a life packed too full. If you are busy, stressed, overwhelmed or do work that requires a lot of focus. You are EXTREMELY susceptible to biting off a habit which is too big. You might be thinking, "Yeah, but  I need to do more to create the change I'm looking for." That may be true, but this happens by stacking small habits together, not by adding overwhelm to an already busy life.
1. The first habit I start everyone with is 1 large glass of water (preferraby lemon) first thing in the morning.
2. Commitment - The saddest thing I see is when someone is about a month into a new habit and then drops it. Habits take time, and commitment. Food tracking is a great example of this. I used to be inconsistent with food tracking. I'd do great for awhile and then stop – typically because I stopped tracking when I went on vacation or was traveling. Upon return I lost my momentum. When my husband started tracking, he made the commitment to do it for one year, and he was getting steady and consistent results. It encouraged me to commit as well. The ones who maintain their ideal weight are the ones who continue to be faithful for years. We don't track to eat perfectly, we  track to remain aware, because we know we can easily slip into our bad habits if we don't pay attention.
3. Preparation. It's important to create an environment that supports the habits and lifestyle we want to live. I'm going back to water again. On Day 6 I showed you my Morning Water Ritual. This is part of my preparation for the day, but I also prep in the evening by having my kitchen clean and my bottles ready to go. I don't have to think about this behavior anymore, because I've done the morning and evening rituals for so long it is a fully established habit now.

I want to thank Cathryn Farley for the the photo in today's cover image.