CREATING HABITS THAT STICK: A BOTTOM UP APPROACH TO ACTUALLY ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS THIS NEW YEAR
Setting big goals for the New Year can feel a little bit daunting - the renewed energy of heading into a fresh year only lasts so long and oftentimes we ditch those big goals a few months into the year. It doesn’t mean that you don’t want the goals you set out to accomplish; rather, it probably means that your approach is setting you up to fail from the start. In today’s post, we’re sharing ideas for approaching your goals differently this year to ensure success and get you where you want to go this New Year.
CONSISTENCY IS WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS
We know from our experience of working with hundreds of clients over the years what it takes to create lasting change. And while it may not seem exciting or glamorous, one thing we know for sure is that practicing consistent habits add up to big change over time. You won’t ever see us boast about “How to lose 30 pounds in 30 days” or “The best (insert fad diet here) diet for your weight loss goals” (hint: it’s the one you can stick to). But, you will often hear us talk about consistency, and consistency in our nutrition starts with creating consistent habits. Our approach is simple: start with your goal and then break it down into bite-sized chunks.
1 | START WITH YOUR GOAL
When it comes to approaching your goals for the New Year, you obviously have to set your goal first so you know what you’re working towards. We’re not going to go into goal setting strategies here, (but we do have this whole guide for doing so) but know that the first step to figuring out how to get where you’re going is to first decide where you want to go. For the sake of this article, let’s work through an example together. Say your big goal for the New Year is to lose 20 pounds.
2 | MAKE A LIST OF ACTIONABLE CHANGES
Once you have your goal(s) in place, the next step is to figure out what actionable changes you need to make to move towards that goal. In this step, don’t worry too much about the details, but rather just brainstorm a list of things you need to do (keyword = actionable) in order to make that goal a reality. In the case of our example, your list may include things like: change my diet; eat more vegetables; drink more water; start exercising; buy a scale; hire a nutrition coach; hire a personal trainer; etc.
3 | FIGURE OUT SKILLS NEEDED
Now that you have a list of things that make your goal more actionable, the next thing is to figure out what skills you need to have or to learn in order to take those actions that you listed. In other words, what abilities do you need to possess or learn in order to achieve your goal? Going back to our example, one of those skills may be improving or building your cooking skills (as a way to eat more vegetables).
4 | BREAK SKILLS DOWN INTO PRACTICES
While creating this list of skills may feel a bit discouraging, stick with me here. Instead of pressuring yourself to dive into the deep end before learning how to swim, dipping your toe in the water and moving at your own pace seems a lot more encouraging, doesn’t it?
Thinking about learning some of these new skills may feel overwhelming, so breaking them down even further into practices makes them more approachable. Think of a practice as something that you need to do to build the skill. So, if the skill you’re trying to improve is cooking, a practice may be making your breakfast at home everyday instead of hitting the Starbucks drive-through.
5 | COMMIT TO DAILY ACTIONS
Circling back to the beginning, we know that consistency is that magic pill that everyone is always searching for. The way that we build consistency is by creating daily habits or daily actions that help hone the practices and skills that we need to get to our goal. These small, but specific tasks repeated over time are what create habits and that’s where lasting change happens. The cool thing about these daily actions is that they’re bite-sized and don’t feel overwhelming when thinking about your goal. When life gets crazy (because the kids went back to school and your dog is sick and you’re having car trouble and this is the week that your boss is in town), instead of feeling like your goal is this mountain that you have to climb, you can instead rest easy knowing that all you have to do today is one or two small things and you’re still making progress, even if you’re standing in the middle of a dumpster fire.
Some daily habits that we often suggest to our nutrition clients include: hitting your water goal (generally 75-100 oz. day); setting a daily step target; getting 8 hours of sleep each night; eating a vegetable with every meal; hitting a daily protein target.
PRO TIP || Recognize that motivation will always ebb and flow. If we always relied on motivation, we wouldn’t ever get much done because it can be so fleeting. Try to remember that action precedes motivation, so as long as you keep making it a point to stick to your daily actions, you will keep the momentum going.
As you’re setting lofty goals for this New Year, which we always encourage you to do, instead of letting them fizzle out by March, try taking a different approach. It may feel like the long way up the mountain, but we feel pretty sure that it will actually get you to the top AND it will create lasting change along the way.
Grab our free New Year Goal Guide for more actionable steps on creating goals you can stick to this coming year or learn more about how working 1:1 with a coach can help you define your goals and create sustainable changes to help you meet those goals in a way that works with your individual lifestyle.