From somewhere on the road between Current State and Dream State:
A short update to keep my promise of continuing my public accountability to acquire more healthy habits into my life. I am working in parallel with a client who wishes to do the same thing, as both his “coach” and accountability partner.
Recall the process: 12 weeks of daily practice of ten healthy rituals, ranging from proper nutrition, limiting crappy foods and alcohol, continual hydration throughout each day with lots of water, regular intense exercise six days a week, to taking short work breaks every 90-120 minutes. All this to gain more high-quality, focused energy throughout each day and to lay the foundations of a balanced set of non-conscious habits to “burn as bright as possible for as long as possible in the service of what really matters.”
I have some good news, and some not-so-good news:
I’ve had a couple of successful weeks, AND they haven’t been very fun. I have had to “keep at it” in order to stay accountable. It’s been difficult to to integrate the rituals naturally into my working routines each week. I have had to adjust some of my old routines to accommodate the time necessary for these new rituals. The biggest accommodation was to commit to work out even on days I was teaching at Ohio State, and traveling to Texas to see clients there. While I’m still not perfect on the track record of 6-day workouts each week, I’m getting in at least five, and that’s a big change from last year…plus my energy levels have really improved!
On the other hand, maintaining the schedule and following through has been kind of a drag lately. Getting to the gym is not yet automatic, especially in the cold weather we’ve “enjoyed” in Central Ohio lately.
Some insights that may be beneficial for you to use:
1. Investing energy in acquiring new habits would be even more difficult than it already is if I hadn’t had experience with this process before. Because I have used this process before, I now know how it works–after a month or so of practicing the rituals, it becomes a lot easier to continue in months two and three. If you’ve never done this before, keep going.
2. I’m beginning to feel a change in the “input-output” ratio of the energy I’m investing in acquiring these habits. It’s a strange and wonderful thing to transition from my pushing the rituals, to their pulling me. That’s what’s happening right now. They are beginning to become habitual, meaning I don’t have to consciously think about doing them so much any more; they’re becoming automatic.
3. I urge you to see this transition as a big deal–a secret to success. Most folks I know who fail to maintain their resolutions to change–New Year’s or otherwise–may not anticipate this switch in energy happening at about week 4 or so. Pushing through what Seth Godin calls “The Dip” is a key to success. The Dip is that period of time when we are attempting anything new that feels like we are making no progress. After the initial burst of excitement and improvement that comes in the first couple of weeks, we move into a dismal period where no real progress seems to occur. That’s exactly the time to continue, not to quit. On the other side of “The Dip” lies the momentum of new habits taking on a life of their own.
That’s what I’m just starting to feel on this set of healthy lifestyle habits.
If any of you are undergoing a change process like this, please share your insights with us. Meanwhile, I’ll check in with you all in a week or so on this…
BUILT TO LEAD 