The Mind Savvy Answer is Commitment

‘Good morning!

Welcome to Tuesday, February 16, 2016 of your fabulous life. We’re 6 weeks into the year, which means about 40% of the New Year’s Resolutions that folks made have been abandoned. Bummer. By mid-year, that attrition rate will be 64%. Bigger bummer.

And yes, one thing that I have noticed that gets many of my clients and students down is that they “can’t seem to reach their goals.” Their goal may be to heal their diabetes T2, to get a more enjoyable job, to clean up their diet, to take a vacation in Peru, to organize their house, to lose 25 pounds, etc. ANY goal. They get all excited about a goal and then?…nothing happens.

There are some goals that aren’t attainable, in certain timeframes, for sure. But if we could put a man on the moon, I’d wager that most of our goals are attainable. The question is this: How badly do you want it?

I’ll give you a simple example. I often hear from folks, in my work, that they “don’t have time for breakfast” or they “don’t have time to exercise.” Sometimes, my sass button gets tripped (okay, often) and I ask:
If I promised to reward you with $1,000,000 if you ate a nutritious breakfast every morning for a year, would you do it?

Their answer: “You bet I would!”

Right. And why is that? Because Mind Savvy® shows us that:

If you’re interested, you’ll do what’s convenient. If you’re committed, you’ll do whatever it takes.

This is truth. People have done all kinds of mind-blowing things during human existence on earth. Their COMMITMENT is strong and their DESIRE is powerful. Therefore, they create a plan and supporting habits to reach their goal that they are so passionately committed to.

The habit thing is HUGE. Once you have committed to something like, “I’m going to start my day, 5 days a week, with a nutritious & delicious breakfast.” Then you add the caveat that it has to take 15 minutes or less, from start to finish. Then you need to create habits to make your goal happen. In this case:

1. Come up with 3 easy, nutritious breakfasts that you can rotate through during the week
2. Mindfully plan your food shopping so that the foods required for those breakfasts are always available
3. Set your alarm for 15 minutes earlier each day
4. Paste a calendar inside your cabinet and put a smiley face, or a check mark, on the days that you keep your commitment to yourself
5. EVERY time you do this, congratulate yourself and remind yourself how awesome and breakfast-y you are. Don?t skip this step!
6. If you fall off the wagon, simply dust yourself off, tell yourself you’re a beautiful imperfect human, and hop right back on that wagon. Don’t skip this step either!

The super-cool thing is that after about 21-30 days, this simply becomes habitual, like brushing your teeth. It’s just what you do. But you must have the commitment in the beginning. And you may have to use willpower a few times when you think, “Oh, I’d really like to lay here for another 15 minutes. Maybe I’ll just grab a donut and coffee on the way to work.” Willpower can get you through that, a few times, but you can’t rely on it for long because willpower, according to neuroscience studies, is a finite resource. So?

First, you have a goal. Then you must decide if you’re simply interested, or if you’re committed. If it’s B, create the daily habits that will get you there, and BOOM you’re a nutritious breakfast-eater, or a Peruvian traveler, or a person with a new job that you like better, or someone who no longer has diabetes T2. So, don’t make excuses, make commitments. Your happiness is totally worth it!

With love & happy habits,
Laurie