Creating quality life changing habits for our fitness and health endeavors means something different for everyone. Albeit a different journey, the one thing that commonly results in a successful change, is the forming of positive new habits. Not just any habits, but ones that align with our end goals on a daily basis.
It takes roughly 28 days to build a habit that we stick with in our daily routine. And the first couple of weeks are often the hardest. It takes great determination and a strong why, for us to ‘buy in’ to our new ways. Then before we know it, with a few small wins along the way we gain more and more belief that our dreams can become a reality.
The first step to making life changing habits is asking the right questions. Let’s break these down in 5 simple steps.
- Then break down your current habits into 2 categories. Positive or Negative current habits that will either help or harm your progress towards your goals
- Look at your negative habits and remove what you can, leaving room to replace these with new positive habits
- Create your new habits list with your primary goals in mind
- Ask yourself what your reason is for this new habit you would like to create.
- Lastly, you will need to build your action plan. Read more on this below.
SET SOME CONCRETE GOALS TO REACH AND DEFINE YOUR WHY
Be clear in highlighting your top 3 goals you want to achieve with your fitness. Make sure they are specific and realistic for you to achieve in your given time frame. Use 28 days as your starting guide and set targets to hit by then.
Importantly, think about defining your reason/s behind these goals. We are much more likely to stick to goals when we set our heart to achieving them. This deeper desire often comes from our emotional connection with the goal itself. So make sure when you are defining your goals, you give them a why and a deadline.
CREATE A CLEAR PLAN OF ACTION
Now that you have your goals, you can go about creating a plan that will help you to reach them. This can include, for example, 3 days of strength training and 2 days of cardio. Next, break down each individual session for the next 4 weeks into exactly which exercises you will be doing and for how long.
That way, you know exactly what lies ahead and what steps need to be taken in order to reach your eventual goals. You can do this with all areas of your fitness journey including your meals, your training schedule, your days off and life events. This ensures you are covering all bases and limiting the potential for slip ups to become complete ride offs.
SET UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT FOR SUCCESS
Often an overlooked and very important first step is setting up your environment for success. It will be much harder to stick to a new habit or routine if you are stuck surrounded by previous bad habits or triggers. Take a good look around and see what sparks your desires of old ‘negative’ habits that can impact your new goals and hide these or even better, ditch them altogether.
Often the simplest place to start is the kitchen, are the chocolates at eye level in the pantry? If so, move them up top or down the bottom where you can’t see them. Our desires are very visual, and having to stare at what we crave on a regular basis will place that as a focus in the front of our minds. So do yourself a favour and set aside anything that interferes with your newly formed habit, and replace it with something that will help positively affirm it.
TELL OR INVOLVE OTHERS IN YOUR GOALS
A great way to create life changing habits and help bring your goals to life, is to talk about them with anyone who is interested and to those who can support you. Make it clear that you are committed to maintaining your new fitness habits for the next 28 days, and let them hold you accountable.
SET REWARDS
Reward your consistency in maintaining your new positive habits. Know that with a strong work ethic towards your why, you will continue to move one step closer to your goals each day. Keep your rewards small but meaningful. This isn’t an excuse to throw all your good work away in one hit, but a chance to celebrate the small wins along the way in your journey. You should set rewards for maintaining your schedule. This might include having a cheat day every Sunday, where you get to eat what you like. But only so long as you go to the gym for every scheduled workout that week.
FIND A WORKOUT PARTNER OR COMMUNITY
Perhaps the best thing you can do is find someone who also wants to commit to working out and join you in your 28-day challenge. Your chances of success go up greatly if there is someone else there ready to motivate you. If you don’t have someone at the ready, perhaps join a local gym or personal training studio. And have fun amongst like minded people all aspiring to their best health and fitness achievements.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hopefully now you understand a bit better, the importance of giving yourself 28 days to create life changing habits and stick with them. It may be tough in the beginning, but if you have your reasons outlined and a clear action plan in place, you will give yourself the best chance of a successful outcome.
Want To Learn More?
Our blog
Is the first point of call for all things health and fitness. Click for hundreds of recipes, articles and hints all aimed to make your health and fitness journey as simple as possible. You don’t want to miss it!
Stay in touch
Over the last 7 years Authentic Personal Training has established itself as a leading health and fitness studio on the Lower North Shore. We are incredibly proud to announce that we have been voted The Best Fitness Business on The North Shore for 2019.
Join us on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/authenticpersonaltraining/
To book a complimentary Personal Training Session with one of Sydney’s most experienced Personal Trainers, simply fill out the form below
