If you stop to think about how long you’ve been practicing the habits and thought processes present in your life right now, it’s likely that you didn’t just pick them up recently. For most of us, our unhealthiest habits develop over months, years, and some over our lifetime! There’s a saying in the world of development that says “Practice makes permanent.” That’s because, the habits we practice over time eventually begin to feel so natural that we do them automatically.
The Power of Resistance
We live in a culture that is vastly oriented toward quick fixes and fast results. But although it can feel great to achieve our goals in shorter periods of time, our human brains aren’t actually wired to sustain habits and lifestyles that were built rapidly. You see… although we are capable of change, we’re built for consistency, stability, and balance. So more often than not, when we try to modify our comfortable routines (and by comfortable, I mean the ones we’re used to), we start to encounter resistance. Resistance is the act or feeling of fighting against yourself. This can show up in many forms, including but not limited to:
- Procrastination
- Restlessness
- A Feeling of Being Forced
- Self-Sabotage
- Negative Self Talk
- And more…
This is your subconscious ringing the alarm bells telling you that what you are doing is NOT NORMAL, or rather that it’s outside of your normal routine.
Truth? This reaction is 100% NORMAL. Also… The bigger the change, the more aggressive the resistance. The important thing to remember is this:
Start Slow. Create Change.
Up to this point in your challenge, I’ve already emphasized the importance of starting SLOW if you want to create lasting change. To do so, it’s important to manage the process you use to shift your habits. Most notably, lasting progress occurs when you do these first:
- Manage Your Expectations.
- Do LESS Than You Think You’re Capable Of
We are so used to pushing ourselves to reach for MORE. This is a habit most of us learn in school and we continue to be rewarded for it in our professional lives as adults. As a result, we have learned to hold ourselves to the highest of standards. HUSTLE and GRIND for short periods of time to gain the next reward. Yet, as most of us have seen with lifestyle habits, once the grind ends, so do the results. The strenuous effort is too difficult to sustain over the long haul, so we revert back to what we were doing before.
Manage Your Expectations
What if, instead of holding yourself to he highest standard, you chose to:
- Be realistic. Reflect on your new habits and how they relate to your highest priorities in life.
- Acknowledge that you are not perfect. Value who you are now as a person, not what you can achieve. You’re awesome whether or not you decide to change.
- Release the NEED to change, while embracing the desire to.
Do Less Thank You Think You’re Capable Of
What if, instead of doing the MOST, you chose to:
- Commit to the Least. Ask yourself: What’s the minimum amount of time and/or effort I’m willing to put into building this habit?
- Do Less Than That. Make it so EASY, it would take more effort NOT to the thing!
- Be Compassionate. Understand that mistakes are inevitable. You can always start again.
Now I’d Like to Hear from You
PS – Don’t forget to complete you foam rolling practice. You can follow along with the video from Day 1 or complete it on your own!