It’s A Slow Process – But Quitting Won’t Speed It Up

It’s funny…When we aren’t seeing the results we want quick enough, we quit.

But quitting is for 100% certain NOT going to speed things up.

Heck, it will actually often make things worse.

And then when we don’t like where we are at and think of making a change, what do we do?

We find all the reasons why the change won’t work. We slip back into old habits.

Habits we KNOW haven’t been working.

So how do we overcome this strange cycle of constantly backsliding into “safe” habits that we KNOW won’t work?

By slowly making small habit changes and by celebrating little victories along the way.

AKA by changing our mindset about how we approach CHANGE.

So…I was the kid growing up that hated change so freaking much, I wouldn’t be able to sleep the week before a new school year started.

I tell you this because I want you to know that I’m not a person that loves change AT ALL.

Even now Ryan will suggest a change and it takes me way too long sometimes to implement it….And of course I get that smug look after I do finally make the change, when I admit the change is good…You know…that I told you so look.. 😐 GAH!

But I’m getting better at it. AKA I’m telling you I understand that change is freaking hard and scary!

But that change, no matter how hard we want to resist it, no matter how uncomfortable it is, needs to be made if we want a different and better result.

Love this picture because it is 1000% true. (yes not 100%, 1000%!)

But there are things we can do to make change easier.

For instance, if change scares you and seems overwhelming, break that change down into pieces that AREN’T intimidating.

If you want to start working out but the idea of committing hours each week is intimidating, try just 5 minutes twice a week. Or whatever amount seems almost ridiculously easy to do.

Yes eventually maybe you want to workout for 1 hour a day, 6 days a week. But that is a HUGE commitment right off the bat!

Because while 5 minutes twice a week may seem ridiculously easy, actually accomplishing that goal creates momentum.

Versus if you had set the goal of 6 1 hour sessions in the week and only have made it to two…Yes technically you worked out MORE, BUT you may have caused yourself to feel like you failed, which could lead to you feeling overwhelmed and fall off.

While one is only 10 minutes in the week, we can celebrate the victory of accomplishing what we set out to do while all too often we see the other as a failure even though we did MORE.

A big part of change is how we set ourselves up to view that change.

And as one change becomes natural and we see a positive move forward, it will motivate us to make more changes.

But what if the change is too slow? I mean if we don’t see instant results, that initial motivation wanes.

The funny thing is…We most often don’t see the results we’d like when we don’t really make a change.

We half ass it.

We don’t 100% commit to a program.

And most of the time we don’t 100% commit because we are really scared of the change.

But if instead we start with small swaps, small changes, we can start to build momentum. And while this won’t create drastic changes over night, we also begin to focus on the VICTORY that is in making the change itself.

Making that small change and building momentum helps us reach that long-term goal. And not only reach it, but create a whole new lifestyle for ourselves.

It’s basically a mental game we need to play (but one that really freaking works).

We need to find a way to make the change not seem intimidating. And we need to give ourselves immediate results to focus on (aka seeing the results of making the small changes themselves).

Plus, when changes aren’t overwhelming and we feel like we are succeeding with them, we often see those small results, that 1 pound lost, or second shaved off our time, in a different light instead of just focusing on the fact that we aren’t yet at our end goal.

So as you start a new day, a new week, take this into consideration.

And take a second today to celebrate a little victory you may not have otherwise recognized. It could just be the thing you need to keep moving forward toward your goal!

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