So often people try to change everything at once. Although intentions may be good, trying to implement that much change at once can shock the system. We “fall off the wagon” and end up feeling worse than before because now we have a side of guilt. That guilt normally leads to more of the behavior we wanted to change in the first place. What can be worse, is we start to fall into this mindset and belief that “I won’t ever be able to change”. That is a very dangerous place to be, one that can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy.
1. We don’t believe we can
2. We start the journey with very little potential
3. We take little or “low” effort action
4. We don’t get good results
All of which compounds the original belief that we won’t ever change.
THERE IS HOPE!!! The mind is a funny thing, always seeking out the path of least resistance. A better option to intensity is consistency. Instead of trying to workout at the gym 5 days a week, and only eat salad with lemon juice, wake up at 3 am and bench press your SUV. Try just getting up when your alarm goes off. Try just doing 10 push ups, 10 squats, and 10 sits each morning. If you drink 3 pops a day try just drinking 2 a day. Start so small that your mind doesn’t know what’s happening. What you are starting, is working out your mind, you are flexing your consistency muscle. It will continue to grow and become stronger so that you can implement bigger and bigger changes. But you MUST start small. (for most of us, I realize there are a select few that can just jump ship but it’s not for everyone)
Consistency is the beauty of the compound effect in action. Something is always better than nothing, and too often everyone goes for the quantum leap instead of just dialing in the basics of crawling first. If you want long term success and to be able to actually change from the inside out, you need to start building trust with yourself. Building that trust will come from you keeping your word to yourself. I said I was going to only drink 2 pops a day and I have done that. That will start to build your confidence and you belief in yourself. Soon you will be saying to yourself “dang I did……. I wonder what else I can do.
Start thinking long term, it’s a numbers game, don’t underestimate the power of the compound effect. Think of it like this, you might say 2 pops or 3 what’s the difference, well after one year, that is 365 pops you haven’t drank. That’s (roughly) 23,000g of sugar you haven’t drank. And I don’t want to get into the 0 sugar diet crap, it taste sweet doesn’t it? It’s sweetened with something, but that’s a blog for another time. You get the point.
Another example is people won’t go to the gym or workout because they don’t have time. So I say do 10 reps of push ups, sit ups, and squats. Again, thinking long term, after one year that’s 3,650 push ups, squats, and sit ups.
There is power is small moves, I believe in you! I challenge you today to pick ONE thing that’s so small…. you can’t fail at. Do it everyday until you don’t even think about it and then add another. Remember you don’t need to focus on the outcome so much, focus on developing the habit. The outcome will be a side effect. Stay limitless friends!