Competitive athletes put in a lot of time – years of their lives working toward specific goals that they may or may not achieve. They absolutely must develop good habits and avoid bad ones to even come close to competing at the highest levels. They make sacrifices but in doing so, they are setting themselves up to be in a better position to achieve their goals and reap the rewards.  

Habits have everything to do with how successful we are – or aren’t, in almost every aspect of our lives. When you think about it, most of our days are made up of habits – teeth brushing, drinking coffee, checking emails and the list goes on. Ritual might be the better terminology for some of those activities, but you get my drift.

So, you could surmise that if your days are filled with habits that waste your time and lead nowhere, you might want to ditch those and replace them with ones that will make you more productive and successful, right? Of course, you would! Honestly though, it just isn’t always so easy to change your habits, ritual or routine. Think about the last time you had to fast for a physical. Instead of your morning routine of coffee and something to eat, you can only sip a little water. Time drags on and you count the minutes until you’re free from the doctor’s office and can get your hands on some coffee! You just feel off and out of sorts until you’re able to get that first sip. Even though that’s a temporary change of habit or ritual, you feel it. It’s uncomfortable and somewhat hard to accommodate, but you do it. You tell yourself it’s only temporary and it is. But, what if making coffee off limits forever would make a huge impact on your life? What if giving up coffee would; a) turn back the clock – you look and feel like a 20 year old, b) you enjoy perfect health until you die in your sleep right next to, and at the same time as your significant other or c) you find happiness and value every single day and are living your best life? Cool options, right? Feel free to make up your own because your own personal motivation is the key to habit management.

In order to make significant changes in your life you have really want something. It has to be extremely important or meaningful to you. You have to determine if it’s worth the sacrifice or discomfort in the initial stages of either; a) implementing a new habit or b) losing a bad one, because likely  whatever you’re shooting for is going to require that you do both. 

Approach this as a project that you’ve been tasked with managing. Start with the end goal in mind. Let’s say that you want to go back to school and study for a new career, finish your degree, or improve your golf game. You’ve defined what you want, now let’s look at why. Why this is important and what impact this will have once you’ve achieved it is critical. It’s not enough to carry it around in your head, you need to map this out. Use whatever means resonates with you – journaling, Word document, spreadsheet, vision board, just make it visual. 

Next, map out your journey – what are the steps that you’ll need to take to get there. How much time will you need to devote? Will you need to get up earlier to study, stay up later?– the list goes on. Take it down to the tiniest detail that you can think of at this point. Going through this process should flag some habits, rituals or behaviors that will need to change to accommodate the end goal. It also segments the journey into manageable pieces allowing you to prioritize and change habits in order of importance – don’t try to do everything at once. 

Then you’ll want to identify what obstacles may pop up. Will you need more money, less or hours working, less time with friends, family – social media? As you can see more opportunities for habit management exist here too. Aspects of your goal will undoubtedly have an impact on your personal life, so it’s critical to your success to get their support. That doesn’t mean that they should bend on everything to accommodate you, but at least hopefully they will understand that your absence, let’s say, is not personal. If your end goal is in jeopardy because your friends guilt trip you for not hanging out anymore, you’ll have to be ok with guilt and FOMO. Changing your social habits – who you spend time with may be part of the equation too.

That takes us back to your why. It has to be important enough to get you out of your comfort zone which may include some pain. Nothing that will kill you, but will definitely make you feel out of sorts, left out, like you have no life maybe, poor, tired, old – but all of this is temporary. If your why is going to change your life for the better – make you happier, healthier, wealthier, reenergized and reinvigorated – all of that good stuff, it’s worth the temporary sacrifices. Your why, if really important to you, will give you the strength and stamina you’re going to need to make the necessary changes to get there.

Change is hard and it’s been said that it takes anywhere from 21 to 274 days for new habits to form or to shake old ones. Set yourself up for success by setting priorities and not trying to change or do everything all at once. Be prepared to be kind to yourself if you backslide – that’s okay, just start over. Don’t forget to celebrate your wins along the way too. You deserve it and by the way that’s an excellent new habit to start. Incentives can work wonders!

J