The Power of Habit - A Story About a Head of Lettuce
Do you find yourself trying out new fitness classes, new diets, only to find yourself quitting after a few weeks or even days? The reason behind it are numerous and mostly due to our busy life - we need to get things done, work hard, take care of your family, meet friends etc. etc.
And then there are so many distractions coming from all sides, especially if you belong to the vast majority of the population, which possesses a smartphone…or should I say obsesses with the smartphone…? We don’t seem to have time to breathe, let alone any of it to dedicate to our wellbeing, which in return makes us feel even more stressed, tired and unhealthy and this again diminishes our motivation to do anything about it. Fortunately there is a quite simple and foolproof solution to start changing your life to more health and happiness.
Years ago I was desperately looking for a way not to set 20 alarm clocks in the morning and still wake up groggy and stressed and almost or most definitely miss my train…You may or may not relate to this…So I stumbled upon a post, which was basically about reprogramming yourself from night owl to a morning person using the technique of repetition. Forming a habit. When you have some time - daytime or night time, doesn’t matter - you lay down with closed eyes as if you’re sleeping, set your alarm clock for a few minutes and immediately rise up like a warrior ready to fight…or a fearless Amazon, whichever image suits you better. Then lie down again and repeat the whole procedure several times until you condition yourself not to procrastinate standing up, which gives you more time in the morning and makes you less sleepy during the day. A lot of gains with little effort.
The key to success in any area is forming positive habits, however small they might be. Actually the smaller and easier the steps, the more likely it is that you will see progress, because you will actually take them instead of elaborating complex plans and in the end doing nothing because the “mountain to climb” is too big, if you know what I’m saying…
So when you want to get fit, the mindset you need to adopt is to start with one little thing, but do it consistently until it becomes a habit. Now I’m not telling you to take an avocado and set your alarm clock to bite into it every 5 minutes…especially if you do it at work, people might think you’re nuts and that’s not what you want to be in the office…that’s more what you need to eat if you want to be healthy…or so nutritionists say.
Having said that…I bought a head of lettuce some time ago to make another step towards changing my diet to a healthier one…and as I’m not a huge fan of salads or vegetables because frankly I’m just too lazy to wash them and slice them up…blame the fast-paced society again…when I open the fridge, the veggies seem to put on their invisibility cloak as I reach for something more unhealthy like an easy to unwrap fatty cheese and they unexpectedly uncloak themselves when organisms within have started their happy feast and coloured the lettuce in a nice brown-greyish mass - yummy. Feeling happy for the organisms, but bad for my wallet and for wasting food I decided that enough is enough. So I decided to start to reach for the veggies first every time I open the fridge and now I actually do eat more of them without thinking about it. Now I can start incorporating another healthy thing into my life, step by step.
Same goes for fitness…You just need to choose something you like and start doing it consistently. I chose dancing classes…Back when I started, I went only once a week, but I went every time…it’s easy to motivate yourself to fit one hour a week into your schedule…Less is more and from less develops more once you form the habit…Now as I’m addicted to dancing and it’s positive effects, I’m going several times a week and this process came naturally without big plans and without forcing myself.
So what is the one little thing you will turn into a habit to get the ball rolling?