Fail and be ok with it
Be bad to get good - The mindset of the successful.
We’ve all been there; we make a new year’s resolution and it doesn’t stick.
Why? Because we don’t allow ourselves to be bad at it at first. We fail a few times and then give up.
People get it caught up thinking “how long” when they need to be thinking “how many”.
How many times do I need to do this before it becomes habitual? Habits are iterative and governed by repetition, not time.
The person who goes to the gym for 15 minutes per day for a week is 6 days ahead of the person that goes once for 90 minutes.
Adopting a new habit is going to feel clunky at first because it’s un-practiced. Think about the first time you tried to roller skate or type on a computer. The key to taking on something new is to practice it frequently while getting comfortable with failure. You can do this by avoiding scenarios where you could experience big letdowns, and instead trying out experiments that allow you to fail in smaller ways.
For example;
If your goal is to exercise every day, start by going for a short walk each morning. If you don’t get far, no biggy – It’s just a walk. Slip on your kicks tomorrow and go again. Build your new habits in a way where you can practice them often (perhaps you walk to the office, at lunch, and then back home again) and in a way that creates context for your future goals.
By creating a framework for a general habit (fitness for example) you give future you the option of changing the content of the habit as time goes by. A month from now that walk to the office can easily be a 45 minute morning workout.
Pro tip;
Social accountability is powerful. When we share our intentions with others we stymie our self-doubt. Not to mention that accountability often grows into social support when we tell the right people. It also increases the likelihood of us following through no matter how bad we are at it the first time.
Double pro tip;
Keep a consistent record of your practices and results in some way. Over time you’ll notice how far you’ve come and rather than focusing on the inevitable hiccups, you can appreciate your progress overall.
Want more?
I built a free habit tracker exactly for this reason. It’s simple, gamifiable, and has the highest impact health and fitness habits built in to start – if you want to replace them with your own, then it’s customizable too. I know. Amazing right!
You can download it for free HERE.
