Tell Me About Your Routine....I'll Tell You About Your Life

 We've all heard it.  For some time there has been talk about "routines" and habits and how having good morning, eating, exercise and evening routines (doing small things consistently, day in and day out) makes a big difference in the overall peace in our lives.  But why are habits so important? 

Webster's dictionary describes "habit" as a settled or regular tendency or practice. The theory in principle is that if there is something we do or don't do we can simply "change" and either stop doing something or start doing something.  Sadly, friend, it isn't that simple.

James Clear, in his book "Atomic Habits" points out : "It’s hard to change your habits if you never change the underlying beliefs that led to your past behavior. You have a new goal and a new plan, but you haven’t changed who you are." OUCH - that's convicting.  But - it's not the end.  So many of us (myself included) tend to give ourselves a pass on behaviors that we may need to change or eliminate when changing runs counter to a longheld belief (i.e., Lifestyle Diabetes is genetic so it won't matter if I change my nutritional habits I'm going to end up diabetic).  I've always run to the slender side and now that I am an athlete (BTW - if you have a body, you're an athlete) I tend to "forgive" nutritional indiscretions that don't serve me by saying "I work out hard enough often enough I can eat this/that and it won't matter."  It does matter.  

Changing a habit - creating healthy routines - is about deciding to be in love with the process. Deciding that every positive thing we do is worth doing again creates habits.  In the morning, getting up when the alarm goes off means you have time before you have to jump into the day.  Committing to a fitness program - even if it means you can only do 10 minutes.    Increasing your water consumption a little at a time until you are taking in half your body weight (at a minimum) in ounces of water. You get the idea.  Habits are simply creating systems of behavior that serve us, rather than hinder us. 

"Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations." (James Clear, Atomic Habits)  

Dear friend - New Year's Resolutions simply DO NOT work.  What does work?  Making a decision to slowly, systematically, address the things in our lives that are keeping us from the life we say we want so that we can indeed have the life we want.  What's one thing could you do today that, done consistently, could be compounded and added to other changes that would allow you to live your best life?  I'd love to chat with you about how I can help YOU create simple, sustainable life changing "Atomic" habits.  WGL - Coach A


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