The secret behind your goals are your habits. If you have bad habits, you will not achieve your goals. If you have good habits, you will most certainly achieve your goals. So success relies in the habits you set in your life. Your diet habits will determine your future health. Good diets will increase your life expectancy and will reduce your risk of catching diseases. Recent studies show that our life is defined for around 20% by your genes, and for 80% by your life choices. So there is really no secret. If you want a good and healthy life, you need to make good choices, you need to reach good habits.
Several people I have been coaching struggle with that. They understand it, they know it but it is “freaking hard !”. Not surprising, I am convinced that all of us have really been challenged with setting good habits for our lives.
I have myself struggled for a very long time before being able to implement and being consistent at having successful habits in my life. Until…
Until one day, I was driving back home, after a long day at work. I was quietly listening to a podcast (Kwik Brain from Jim Kwik : I highly recommend by the way – Jim Kwik is the bomb !). The podcast guest was sharing several ideas on how to push yourself. And he shared the concept of “tricking your brain”. He quickly caught my attention. Hmmmmm…. Tricking my brain. That’s an interesting concept. I have studied enough the brain to know that the brain is here to protect you. The brain doesn’t like changes, the brain doesn’t like challenges. Why ? Because he is trying to keep you safe ! So challenging yourself by implementing new habits will encounter huge resistance from your brain ! That is why it is so difficult. Your brain simply doesn’t want to do it !
So when I hear I could trick that brain of mine, which keeps working against my desire to implement change in my life; I was then very, very, very interested !
I was expected something quite complex, but like often in life, the secret is simple :
The trick is ” Start with the first step”. What ???!!!!? What does he mean ?
The guest then gave an example.
For example, you want to implement the habit of running in your life. So today, you should be running. But you really don’t feel like it. You are tired, you have plenty of stuff to do,…Sounds familiar ?
Well, start with the first step. Just focus on one first step : for example, put your running shoes on. That’s it. It is such a simple step, so simple that it sounds ridiculous, that your brain will not give you much resistance. Then, once you have your running shoes on. Most likely, you will think : ” come on, I can do more than that”. So move to the next step. And so on, and so forth. And you may stop at any point, and that’s absolutely ok. The key is that you are doing more than nothing. You are making progress. And most likely, tomorrow, you will do a little more and the day after even more,….
One running coach I have been listening to, to prepare an ultra-marathon race, said one day : “the best day to finish a marathon is to concentrate on the next step. That’s it. Just one more step. And one more. And one more,…And then suddenly, you have run a marathon”
That’s it. That’s the trick. The key discipline to have is to do something about your habit every day.
You want to have the habit of running every day, but you are tired today, just wear your running shoes and walk for 5′.
You want to have the habit of reading every day, but you don’t have today, just open a book and read one paragraph.
Some days, you will stop there, and that’s ok. Some other days, you will continue to read more after the 1st paragraph; you will run after having walked…..
Since I learned about this trick, I have made the point to do something about each of my daily habits every day. I used to skip some daily habits because like everyone, some days, I am tired, overwhelmed, something has come up,….Now I just do something about it. Even if it is a tiny bit, but I do something.
It makes my daily habits truly daily, and since then I can see my results improving significantly.
Because a little bit is infinitely more than nothing.
As Mark Twain used to say :
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”
With much Love,
Anthony Perdrix – Successful Habits Coach
