To Change a Habit

I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of how simple it should be to change your life.  Think about it… If you aren’t in your best physical shape, and you want to work towards getting healthy, literally all you need to is change what you eat and probably add some exercise to your daily routine. If you tend to be a bit lazy, all you need to do is to get up and get to work.  Or if you want to master an instrument, all you need to do is practice with good technique regularly and you will undoubtedly get better.  Procrastinator?  Just do it.  Hot tempered? Be nice.

This list could go on and on, but I’m guessing by now that you have either responded to these suggestions with “this guy is off his rocker,  what about genetic issues that make weight loss hard, or what if people feel unmotivated because they have emotional trauma…etc.,” or your response is “Actually, He makes a good point! It’s spinach and water and a marathon a day from here on out for me!”  To be fair, people who accuse me of being “off my rocker” are probably right as a general rule, but that’s beside the point.

I’m not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination, but my personal experience has convinced me that longterm habit change generally takes more than a “come to Jesus” moment.  Of course, serious habit change is often set off by a moment in time.  If your doctor tells you that you are on a crash course with a heart attack, it might jolt you into an immediate and permanent diet change.  While that’s obviously a good time to change your diet, I would like to focus on the small changes that happen thirty years prior to the doctor’s visit, that can hopefully eliminate the panic-driven diet change.

I’ve always loved the New Years celebrations and resolutions time of year. 

I’ve always loved the New Years celebrations and resolutions time of year.  Last year, I decided to get more serious about eating healthy.  Of course I have made that resolution before, and I have temporarily lost weight in the past, but this time was actually different.  Anita and I both have been working in the past year and a half or so to actually change our household’s health for the long run. By the time the beginning of last year rolled around, our home was actually set up pretty well to lose weight in.

What does a “healthy friendly” home look like? For us, it was steadily replacing anything unhealthy with a better alternative.  For instance, we basically eliminated sugar from our diets.  We definitely still have good snacks around but rather than cookies or cinnamon rolls or coke  we might have beef sticks or stevia sweetened baked goods or drinks.  I’m not going to pretend that the healthier food is “just as good” like some health nuts will claim, but that’s actually the point.  If I am always faced with choosing between a beef stick and a donut for my mid morning snack, the donut will often win the contest.  I’m just not disciplined enough to always resist the sweet treat, which is why holiday weekends tend to be my weakness.  Sure, there are usually some vegetable trays mixed in with all the traditional snacks sitting around, but what kind of choice is that?!

Shockingly, by the time that the year was done, I had lost 40 lbs… and it didn’t even seem that difficult. 

Shockingly, by the time that the year was done, I had lost 40 lbs… and it didn’t even seem that difficult.  Granted, it’s easier to lose that much weight if you have a bunch to lose, but it’s at least a start.  Unfortunately, I still have a good little way to go to get to my target weight, but I am no longer doubtful that I can get there.   

The change that happened was not only in my diet, it was also in my head.  When my mindset switched from trying to “get skinny” to “changing my lifestyle”, everything became different.  

It’s not always as easy as the last several paragraphs have made it sound. 

It’s not always as easy as the last several paragraphs have made it sound.  There are plenty of people who have issues such as a sluggish thyroid or a bad gut that make “easy” weight loss impossible, and that’s got to be frustrating.  My personal weakness is exercise.  I have done some of the crazy workout programs over the years but I still haven’t mastered the “mindset” of fitness for life.  My goal to adjust that problem this year is to do a short, relatively easy 10 minute workout program 6 days a week.  It’s short enough to do first thing every morning, and it’s not so hard that I dread getting out of bed because of it.  The idea is for it to be a starting point to get me in into the mindset of permanently having an exercise routine, and hopefully it will build into a proper workout program that I can maintain my entire life. 

Health and fitness are the low hanging fruit to use as an example for changing your habits, but the changing other aspects of our lives is pretty intriguing.  Take for example, a negative mindset.  What if you replaced your daily news intake with a reading a book or audiobook (that isn’t also super negative and doomsdayish).  

Another area that we have worked on over the last year is wake-up time. I’ve discovered that I’m not great at mustering the will power to get out of bed at 5:30 every morning just because that’s what my resolution says.  This year however, we almost always got out of bed somewhere reasonably close to the 5:30 mark.  The difference wasn’t more will power, it was a better bed time.  We started to begin the “going to bed” process for the children earlier in the even rather than at 8:00 when it “felt” like bedtime was coming up.  The slight change in our lifestyle of getting the kids ready for bed earlier in the evening, which in turn made our bedtime earlier, made all of the difference.  5:30 feels much less early 8 hours after you go to bed than it does 5.5 hours after you go to bed.

At the end of the day, lifestyle and habit change does come down to making a real change

At the end of the day, lifestyle and habit change does come down to making a real change.  If you want to start an exercise routine, you have to actually exercise, not just have a space in your morning routine that you “could” exercise in.  If you want to spend less time on your instagram app, you have to put your phone down.  You could create zones in your house that are “no-phone” but if you now sit at the kitchen table to scroll through your feeds rather than on the couch, you aren’t really getting anywhere.  Basically, creating an environment in which you are set up to succeed is your best bet to get where you want to go, but it’s not enough.  You actually have to do it too.

For a more in-depth read on this topic pick up this book by Atomic Habits James Clear: https://amzn.to/3qPiOEE.