You get started because of motivation.

But you ultimately succeed because you’ve created habits.

When we fail at staying consistent with something, we often blame our willpower. We say we just don’t have as much self control as someone else.

But honestly that’s not really the case.

The truth of it is, we didn’t create new habits we enjoyed enough to stay consistent with them. New habits that actually took away the need to use will power to stay consistent.

Motivation is fleeting. Self control isn’t infinite.

What makes changes last and results truly build is that we’ve created new habits that, to some extent, don’t really take effort.

So when we are first motivated and all gung-ho and go to extremes? We may be setting ourselves up to fail.Because we are relying purely on motivation to carry us through.

Motivation that will burn out…especially often the more intense and restrictive we are to start.

Instead we’ve got to use that initial motivation to help us create new habits we enjoy even if it means not doing as much as fast.

As cliche as it is…it really is true you’ve got to find a way to enjoy the journey.

And that means creating new habits that do fit your lifestyle to some extent. Habits that you enjoy enough to keep repeating until they require no self control to do.

Now…You won’t enjoy every habit to start that you have to implement – change does require change and for us to be uncomfortable. 

BUT the more you can create new habits with things you DO enjoy, finding maybe new activities to do, new healthy restaurants to eat at, the more you’ll accept some of the things that aren’t as easy to implement to start.

All about that balance!

Here are 3 tips to help you create those new habits to carry you through!

#1: Tweak your current lifestyle.

We need to create new routines and habits if we want to make the changes sustainable. 

The easiest way to do that is to start with small tweaks to what we are currently doing. Small adjustments to things we love.

I know I like to eat out once a week, so Ryan and I found a healthy way to do so.

Know you really like to enjoy meals with your family so having to prep your own thing won’t work long term? Start by working backward from your family meals to tweak other meals. This way you’re keeping yourself in a routine you enjoy that you’ll ultimately want to do!

Love wine? Find a way to include it in your macros on certain days.

The key is realizing there has to be a balance. 

And that part of what makes creating new habits easier is piggybacking off of habits we already enjoy while changing ones that aren’t as ingrained!

#2: Challenge yourself to explore!

The more you do, the more you do.

The more you accept getting a bit uncomfortable in other areas of your life, the more you become open to changes.

And when making changes to your diet or workouts, why not explore other areas of your life that could introduce something new and fun and better promote the lifestyle you want to live?

Plus often we find activities and such that only make us want to stick with the new habits more.

Instead of just going out to dinner on a date night, why not try a new fun activity?

Instead of a Sunday morning just going to brunch and drinking, why not try adding in a hike with friends?

Explore other fun activities. You may be surprised by how much fun you can have finding a new activity you enjoy that only promotes the other lifestyle changes you want to make.

Not to mention, the more you get comfortable with change?

The more diet and exercise changes won’t feel so overwhelming.

Plus the more you create an overall new lifestyle, the more all of the habits fall into place together!

#3: Realize you won’t always want to do the things you should.

Even habits we’ve done for decades, we don’t always want to do.

And recognizing this is key.

We are human. 

But recognizing when we have lost motivation even in habits that once felt easy, is key. It may be time to try something new and slightly different.

It may be time to do some sort of reset.

Like maybe you do just need a day to skip your workout and not track.

BUT doing so consciously is key so you can get back to it.

Or maybe you realize you just need something new to jazz things up.

Creating a lifestyle doesn’t mean doing the exact same routines the exact same ways forever.

We can create routines and habits, but always constantly be running little experiments to keep things fun.

That’s the beauty of life. There are always new things to learn and ways to explore.

Routines and habits shouldn’t be inflexible.