December is here. Time to reflect on how quickly this year has gone by. Hopefully it's been a good one for you.
As the calendar turns there's a rush to make resolutions. Big plans how to make the upcoming year the best one yet.
Here's the thing: you don't have to make outsized plans in order to get great results. And there's nothing saying you have to wait until January to start.
Big plans are fun to think about. The new year is a fresh start that means you can improve every single thing about yourself.
Except that's unrealistic. How did your plans for sweeping changes in 2019 go? That's not an indictment. There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself or your situation. We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term.
What does that look like when it comes to fitness?
Someone resolves to lose 30 pounds in 30/60/90 days, for example. The problem isn't the goal here, it's the timeframe. What's it going to take to do that? If it is achievable, how sustainable is it?
Someone else resolves to go from going to the gym zero days in the past six months, to start working out 6 days a week beginning January. That represents a huge change in habits and behavior. Is that sustainable?
This might sound discouraging, but I'm trying to do the opposite. If your plan is unrealistic, that means it's not feasible. You're going to miss your mark. Then you may feel like you failed, which might have you feeling worse than when you started.
Okay, here's the encouraging part. It's made of two simple ideas. Start small. Start now.
Why start small?
Starting small is achievable. You can get that first win under your belt. You already have more habits than you can probably count. Take a second and think about all the little things you do on a daily basis that you do on autopilot. Brushing your teeth. Making (or ordering) breakfast. Your commute to work. You can do all those things with barely any thought. Those are habits.
When you want to change, you'll have to change your habits. It takes lots of time and lots of effort to change habits. The Big Plans thinking will have you trying to change a bunch of habits at the same time. This will require a ton of effort and mental energy.
What if you try a different approach? Rather than starting big, start small. Now this doesn't mean that your ultimate goal is any smaller. You can still have that objective of dropping 30 lbs. from the example above.
Starting small means choosing one (yep, just one) habit that's a step in the direction of that ultimate goal. Perhaps that's swapping out one soda a day for a glass of water. That sounds doable, doesn't it?
That's the point. You add in one small habit. The extra mental effort to change your habits is minimal. Your daily routine remains exactly the same except for one little change. You knock back that glass of water and you've got your win for the day. You keep stacking daily Ws until that glass of water is just another thing you do during the day without really considering. You want it to get to the point where it's on autopilot.
Maybe it takes a few weeks or a couple months. That doesn't matter. It takes as long as it takes. You've now added a positive habit. It's a small thing, but it's incontrovertible proof that you can change, that you have changed. You know consciously and subconsciously that you did that. If you did that, you can do more.
Now you add in one more small change. Repeat the process until this becomes something you do on autopilot. Stack the Ws. Then you add one more.
You can see how this works.
Why start now?
There's no rule that says you have to wait until January. If you're ready now, there's no need to wait. The sooner you start, the sooner you start stacking Ws. Waiting until January is just procrastination. Procrastinating doesn't get you closer to your goals.
Today is the perfect day to start.
This works hand in hand with starting small. It's much easier to justify waiting to start if you're contemplating a big change in your daily routine. But this is just a small adaptation. If you're currently workout out zero days per week, you don't have to jump to six. You can start with one. Today.
Go for a walk, a bike ride, some physical activity. It can be as brief as a few minutes. You can fit a few minutes one day a week. Yes, it's small. Too small, in fact, to create a big change on its own. But the point here is to take one step in the right direction. Just one.
Going from zero to one is plenty of change, if that's your current situation. As you stack that one weekly workout week by week into Ws, you can increase the frequency.
You start with something you know is good for you, that you know you can do. Just one thing. Then prove to yourself you can do it, by actually doing it. You'll build a new habit. More importantly, you'll build confidence - a belief that you can make changes that stick. Start stacking the small wins. Once you fully internalize that habit (there's no rush. It takes as long as it takes to do this.) you add another.
Think long term. Improve in small increments.
That's it. That's how you win. That's how you make big changes: stack small Ws.
Comments