The Problem With Habits

Habits are tough to develop. You can't just think about them for 21 days and suddenly it's a habit. No, it's not that easy. You have to do them. Over and over, actively doing this new thing. And even then it's easy to be derailed. One of Cheryl's daily habits is seen in the photo of her sweeping our pool. She is proud of our sparkling pool. We use it almost daily. You don't see it here, but last weekend it suddenly turned green. Full blown algae bloom. Total surprise to us because we really pay attention to the pool every day, keeping it brushed, the chemicals in balance. BUT LIFE HAPPENS, and there is one of the big problems with developing habits.

Yesterday morning when I logged on to MyFitnessPal I was greeted with encouragement that I had done so 440 days in a row. If it had not been for that one day in May of 2011 the number would have been about 530. What happened you ask? Cheryl and I had been with our Realtor looking for a new home in advance of our move to South Florida We looked at eight properties that day, the first one being the one with the pool Cheryl is cleaning. It was a busy day that did not follow anything resembling our daily routine. By the time I got around to logging what I had eaten it was after midnight and my streak was broken. My resolve to maintain the habit had not been shaken, so I smiled again at hitting the 440 day mark, and then scanned further down the page.  I noticed that a couple of other folks who had "friended" me had not logged in for over two weeks. I was disappointed. Knowing they had could not have reached their goals yet, I sent them gentle notes of encouragement to get back on track. Both started out full of vim and vigor about losing weight and getting in shape. Then for whatever reason they quit. It is possible they found a new tool - I hope - but I don't think so.

Then a little further down the page I noticed that Bill had logged in for 40 days in a row. He is a new friend that I met in person a few months ago, and he is doing great. He has shared some details with me and given me permission to share with you which I will do in the near future.

What does this have to do with Cheryl, me and our pool? It was a lesson for both of us that our daily habits have to be constantly tweaked. Life happens. In our case, it was a lot of rain and very hot sunny days that taught us we needed to ramp up our knowledge about pool maintenance. We didn't get discouraged and quit maintaining the pool. We sought out professional advice and yesterday morning our pool was sparkling clean and we resumed our daily swimming. Cue. Routine. Reward. Read about it in this post at LifeHack: The Amazing Secret Behind All Habits.

How are you doing on your resolutions this year? What habit are you struggling to develop? Or get rid of?

Be sure to eat some breakfast, and take a Clif Bar with you.

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Eat Right. Exercise. Get Plenty of Rest.

Have An Impossible Dream

Like John Richardson, I have dreamed about being about being able to fly. No surprise then that one of my favorite books many years ago was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The author, Richard Bach, wrote that "Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again." That could have described me for too many years. Someday I will share some of those details, but, for now, I agree with blogger John.

Everyone should Have An Impossible Dream.

It's never too late to change your life. It's never too late to try something new. It's never too late to do, well, anything you can dream of. It might be harder to accomplish the longer you wait, but it will only be impossible if you don't try.

When I weighed 367 pounds I was completely out of balance in all kinds of ways. Life was not much fun, and I felt trapped with no hope. Today I am in the best shape since high school at 208 pounds. Today anything seems possible. All it took was a DECISION, followed by daily ACTION and sharing the goal with friends who would hold me ACCOUNTABLE.

Decision
The first thing I had to do was decide that I really wanted to look like the me in an old photo holding my then 1 year old daughter. My estimate was that I was might have weight 225 pounds, so I set that as my 18 month goal. It was October 1, 2010.

Action
Setting that goal was not enough. Achieving any goal requires daily steps toward it. David Allen would call those the "next actions." For me the next action would be to eat breakfast the next morning. And to eat lunch. And then have a sensible dinner. And go for a walk. That may seem like an odd goal, but I was fat because I was not eating right; hardly ever ate breakfast or lunch.  And please note that I didn't set calorie goals or exercise goals. For goodness sake, I didn't have any idea 21 months ago how many calories I should net each day. I just knew that I needed to eat right and exercise. Decision must be followed by action. My next action was to eat breakfast.

Accoutability
My first accountability partner was TLOML. I told Cheryl what I wanted to do and asked that she remind me to eat breakfast each day and pack a lunch and some small snacks. The next morning I ate breakfast, headed to work, and received a text from Cheryl - "did you eat breakfast?" Later I would add Marshall and Wayne and then my friends on MyFitnessPal. Earlier this year I asked you join my group of accountability partners by focusing this blog on my journey to a new life.

Results
The dream seemed impossible on October 1st, 2010. My goal was to lose 142 pounds in 15 months. Guess what! It took only 11 months to hit that goal. When the fifteen months was up I had lost 152 pounds, and have since lost ten more. My pant size went from size 60 to size 34. I ran a 5K one year after making the decision to look good again.

Do you have a dream? If not, why not? If you do, do you need an accountability partner?

Please use the comment button to share your success, your struggles or any other thought you have about being a dreamer!

Be sure to eat some breakfast, and take Clif Bar with you.

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