I've posted about dedications and habits, and Ashley has posted about not breaking promises to yourself, so let me add routines. We all need them. I'm a planner, so my routines are crucial to me not having anxiety. Even if you're not as crazy as me, you still need a routine. It's healthier for your body and your mind. So today I want to share my habit tracker, something so simple I made on Excel, that I hang on my bathroom mirror each month and color in the boxes each day.
There are a million different things you can write in as your habit that you want to make or keep, or even get rid of! These are some of my personal (besides the 'no soda' - that one is for my mom!) We have more ideas on our Pinterest page, and also on my personal Pinterest board (called Habit Tracking).
It's easy to think on Monday, 'I'm going to do this, this, and that during this week' then Saturday comes and you look back and you think either 'man I did great' or 'this was a bad week.' I've found sometimes I think one extreme or the other, but when I use my habit tracker I can look back and say 'okay, I did good on this thing, but not on that one' -- new goal for that day, and the next week.
We talk about daily goals and daily changes in our Facebook Weight Loss Group, you don't just wake up one day and you've lost that weight you wanted to, or you've now grown in that area you wanted to, or you've learned a new skill overnight. It takes work, dedication, time, routine, practice. You have to make changes each day to do this. It isn't easy, but if it's worth it to you, then you'll work hard instead of make excuses. DAILY changes, little by little, help. It's not so scary to change a little thing each day. The habit tracker can help with that.
Sometimes it's hard to focus on those daily things, you see the fitness accounts on Instagram, or the before and after pictures on Pinterest and you think 'okay I have my motivation, I'm doing that!' and then after a week or a month or a year, you've lost your motivation. You can't ALWAYS be motivated, you must always be DISCIPLINED. There is a difference.
A few of us at the gym have been training for the half and full marathons for St. Judes in December - we are tired, we are sore, we are sometimes over it. We've lost some motivation some days. But we are disciplined. We get out there and do our scheduled runs anyway. We go to spin class and lift our weights, so our bodies can be prepared. Discipline is what gets you through. You create discipline in yourself by habits and by daily dedications.
Don't focus on what can happen in a month or a year. You need to think about the day in front of you, and do what you need to do that day in order to get closer to your goal, where you want to be, where you want to go. Baby steps aren't so scary.
Better yourself for yourself - for your health, your mind, your anxiety, better sleep, a better attitude.
You CAN become the best version of yourself. You WILL.
Love,
Christine
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