How to Change Your Habits in 5 Steps

Do you think you lack discipline? Is that why you can’t accomplish your fitness goals? Well guess what… we are all 100% disciplined to the habits we currently have.

For instance, let’s take Heffer Hilary’s morning routine – she wakes up, takes a shower, and proceeds to make breakfast for her 3 screaming children and her corporate husband. The husband and the kids are spoiled, and the breakfast is not simple. On a certain Monday, breakfast consists of  eggs florentine, french toast, and orange juice. Coffee for the husband. Hilary happens to not have a dishwasher, so she washes all the dishes by hand and then goes on with her day. Her corporate husband makes lots of cash, so Hilary doesn’t have to work. Heffer Hilary is also clearly fat.  “Hmmm, I REALLY should hit the gym today”, Hilary thinks to herself. “But it’s sooo hard!”

Holy friggin shit! I would rather do 5 sets of squats, 3 sets of deadlifts, chest presses, shoulder presses, and run up a hill for an hour than feed 3 screaming children and a husband! Why? Because it seems a LOT less daunting to me. I am CONDITIONED to work out, and NOT feed screaming children and husbands. Thank god.

Do you see the point I am trying to make? You can make a habit out of any task and make it seem easy for yourself by doing it over and over again on a regular basis.  If you think something that the gym rat is doing is not feasible for you, you’re wrong. If you never squatted before, you CAN squat 100lbs. You just have to do it gradually.

So, here are the steps to change your habits and make working out easy (although you can apply the generic steps to any habit, including your diet):

1. Decide to make a change
   • Make up your mind that you are going to start working out. It seems dumb, but it’s important. Plan the days and times that you will go to the gym or the track, or whatever it may be.
2. Commit to going through the motions without necessarily doing the action
   • MAKE SURE that unless you are extremely sick, or your dog died, or something else traumatic, you GO to the gym. Even if you are extremely tired or not in the mood that day, just go and tell yourself you will do 10 mins on the elliptical (which is not a Cheetah-approved workout BTW). If you are going to the track, you will just do 2 laps walking. This will not make you a star athlete, but it will get you into the HABIT of working out. Be ready for this change to take roughly 3 weeks.  In other words, be prepared for the first 3 weeks to be rough. This is the hardest part of the process
3. Commit to action
   • Each time you work out build a little at a time, but progressively. For instance, if your goal is to squat 100 lbs and you have never squatted before, start with no weight. Next time, squat 5 lbs. Then 10 lbs, etc.
4. Be prepared for obstacles
   • You WILL get sick. And your dog may die. Things like this will cause you to miss a week at the gym. This is NO reason to give up on your new habits. Just deal with the obstacle, don’t feel guilty, and get back in there.
5. Maintain
   • Keep doing this and don’t stop! This step should be the easiest part since now that you are at least a month in it feels weird to not go to the gym.

Simple steps make the impossible very possible. Even if you are not a total beginner and you want to take your training to the next level, use these same steps. If you currently lift pink weights and do the elliptical for 20 mins, you CAN get to the point of squatting 100 lbs and running up hills without flinching. Just change your habits.