How do you make a new habit stick?
You’re all ready to go. You know what you want, it’s in alignment with your long term goals and values, and you’re feeling inspired–and then, you just can’t seem to make it stick. That new habit of going for a walk after work or fitting some fruit into breakfast most days or prepping weekly vegetables on Sunday night. You do it a few times, then life gets hard, and pffft, it’s gone.
In my humble, non-professional opinion, motivation isn’t the problem. Everyone’s feelings (motivation is just an emotion after all) will ebb and flow. People learn to stick to habits without constant motivation all the time. When was the last time you got really stoked to floss your teeth?! The problem is creating a routine that we remember to do that feels natural, so that there’s a low bar to cross for compliance.
10 Realistic Fitness Goals, Recommended by Personal Trainers
With the first month of 2022 behind us, many may be losing steam when it comes to sticking to their New Year’s resolutions. Why? Because people either set unrealistic goals that leave them discouraged or fail to hold themselves accountable through tracking their progress, Lindsay Ogden, a NASM-certified personal trainer at the health club chain Life Time, tells Health.
Therefore, the key to setting yourself up for fitness goal success is devising them with the SMART method in mind.
So rather than most people exercising a moderate amount through daily movement and everyday exercise, we’ve got a few people who work out a lot while the majority of people get no exercise at all. ( Again, I say “we” because although these are US numbers, Canadians aren’t much better.)
So how do we do it? Here’s some advice on making time for movement.
And when I asked on our Facebook page, there was a lot of positive discussion.
Here are some of the Facebook commentators’ ideas….
How to Make Exercise an Unbreakable Habit
Adding exercise to your daily routine is a common resolution entrepreneurs make and quickly abandon months after starting. Exercise improves mental health, boosts productivity and has countless physical benefits, but creating a new habit is hard. A lot of business owners won’t stick to their new workout plan as soon as life gets “busy.”
The hardest part of exercising regularly is forming that lasting habit. Once you establish a habit, exercise will become second nature or even something you look forward to each day. Here are some tips to help create an exercise routine you can carry with you beyond just the early stages.
HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED TO EXERCISE (10 TIPS FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS)
One of the most common things I hear from people who don’t exercise regularly is, “I know I should do it, but I just don’t have motivation. How can I get motivated to work out?”
I understand how they feel, because that used to be me, too. It feels like a mountain to overcome. It feels like you must have something lacking inside. I used to think of athletes and fit people as some kind of unicorn, possessing innate magic and abilities that I just didn’t.
The truth is fit people don’t necessarily have more motivation or willpower than you. They have simply formed a regular habit of exercise. For some of us, this doesn’t come naturally and we may have to work at it, but it is absolutely within your reach.
That’s because exercise success isn’t dependent on motivation or willpower. Rather, it’s about habits.
