Struggling to make habits stick?
You've tried to make changes to get more energy in the past but anytime you try and make a new habit stick? It just...well it doesn't!
It feels impossible with all the other things we have going on and our never ending to do list to actually prioritise and follow through on things that support our health & well-being.
I want to let you in on a secret.....
You are completely normal for finding it hard to make changes...
You are not the problem.
The problem often comes from how we think habits work. We assume that making a change is about just saying "Right from tomorrow I am going to go to the gym 5 times a week and I am just going to make it happen because it's good for me".
I hear this a lot from clients when they first start working with me, especially when there is guilt or shame around not already doing things they know are good for them.
Well please free yourself from ANY guilt or shame right now.
Because the truth is making change actually requires learning new skills. Behaviour change skills. Just telling ourselves to do something with no plan and unrealistic expectations around what how quickly change happens- is setting ourselves up to fail.
Now to be honest? Learning how to create new habits? That is where the magic of coaching comes in.
Because behaviour change skills are what you learn when you have a coach. A good coach anyway! A good coach won’t just tell you what to do. They’ll guide you with HOW to follow through and turn that ‘what’ into daily action.
A coach also gives you the other super important side of making change last which is accountability, guidance and support.
Someone to be your north star constantly guiding you on your journey and helping you pivot and change direction when needed and have a super clear path forward so you feel confident moving towards your goals.
But say you're not feeling ready for a coach just yet...
There is something you can do today to help support yourself on that journey to making habits stick. And that is having these mindset shifts.
🌿100% consistency is not needed for you to be successful in creating a new habit. If you're aiming for that? You'll always feel like you're failing, which is demotivating. And untrue! You aren't failing. Inconsistency is normal, especially in the beginning. Normalise it so rather than turning it into a big deal in your mind when you skip a day, you can come back to it the next day knowing you are still well and truly on track towards your goals. Miss a day? No stress, take a 5 minute action today to help make sure you do the habit tomorrow (like a reminder, visual cue in your environment, making a little plan)
🌿 Experiment- Rather than deciding a new habit and being like...right that is it from here on out I am going to do this habit every single day. Instead? Plan the habit. And do it once. Then ask yourself, how did that go? Did doing it at that time work for me? Was there anything I could have done to make it easier? Get feedback on what did and didn't work, then come back to it tomorrow.
🌿 Make sure it aligns with what you ACTUALLY want and value. The reason my coaching is so collaborative (rather than me just telling clients what to do) is because if you don't really truly in your heart of hearts want to do it? You won't make it happen. Are you doing it because you truly want what it will bring you? Or are you doing it because you feel you 'should'? If it aligns with your values, it will be much easier to find the right path to actually making the habit stick.
Hope that helps gives you some food for thought with how you approach your habits going forwards!
Elise
xo
How we can work together:
1-1 Coaching program “The Wellness Spark”- a personalised 12 week coaching journey.
