People tend to rely MORE on habits during periods of high stress. Which habits however, are determined by which ones you cultivate, develop, and give your time to.

Your routine can either be more useful, or less useful. Either way, a highly structured routine, or a non-existent routine, is still a routine. 

Particularly with the people I work with (CEO’s, execs, entrepreneurs, and generally detail oriented, type A folks) it is common for them to get swamped by work throughout the month/quarter. It’s not always predictable stress and when it happens, they tend to fall back on whatever habits and structures they have in place. This default is automatic, so they can consciously apply themselves to the increase in work.

If you are all but guaranteed to fall back on habits when the shit hits the fan, then it pays to spend time now developing ones that serve you.

Habits is one of those words that you say so many times it loses its meaning and just becomes a sound (semantic satiation). We are numb to “habits” at this point and often just want to be told what to do.

3 keys for habit creation;

• Identify the highest priority right now.

  • Don’t try and change everything all at once. You lower your chances of success with every additional detail added (the master plan is the one you can follow). Look for one thing you can do now in your fitness, nutrition, sleep, or lifestyle that will be manageable, have a noticeable impact, and that may have knock on effects elsewhere? This might be leaving your running shoes by the door, buying tupperware, setting a bed time reminder, or calling your freinds.

• It’s not how long, it’s how many. 

  • I get asked “how long does it take to break a bad habit” almost daily. Spoiler; it’s not about how long, it’s how many. How many times you can practice an action will better dictate whether you get good at it. If you do something once per month, chances are you won’t get good at it soon, if at all (I know when I my asked staff to do an intricate task once per month they rarely got it right if they remembered to do it at all). If you make something part of your daily routine, then you have 30 attempts per month to get good at something (make it hourly and you’ll get closer to 360 shots at it per month). Focus your efforts on things you can practice frequently. This helps build momentum, gives you proof that you can create new habits, and it’ll get you results at that thing.

• Most importantly, set realistic expectations.

  • The promise of “easy” in health fitness is now ubiquitous. Look quickly at your own world however, and tell me where you get good results by doing the easy thing?

    • Parenting?

    • Management?

    • Finances?

  • It’s important to differentiate between easy and simple. Simple actions aren’t always easy and we can often overlook them because we think they aren't worth it (getting up 15 minutes earlier is a simple task, but it’s likely not easy).

  • In my experience, we can set more accurate expectations once we have experience. To begin with, give yourself more time to achieve a goal than you think is needed, focus on the frequency of the practice, and one you hit the goal, use that timeline to inform your next habit development. If you are data driven, you can by all means see how quickly you can make the habit stick.

If this all sounds great but you don’t know where to start, or have tried before and are ready to outsource some support, then I can help with this. I work with busy people trying to make a decent living, a global difference, social change, or all 3, every day.

dYou have a business coach (some of you are business coaches even), you have an accountant, you have a baby-sitter, so why would you not have an experienced and proven coach for yourself that is dedicated to making your life, body, and health better, so that you can do all of your other shit better? If you want to learn more about how I can help you, email me HERE, book a call with me HERE, DM me HERE, or carrier pigeon me HERE.