Last week I ran an #instagram poll asking people whether they believed motivation or discipline played a bigger role in adherence to a wellness / fitness / nutrition program…DRUM ROLL please… discipline won with a 91% vs. 9% tally.
I USED to believe that motivation was the most important thing when adhering to a wellness program.
I USED to train clients with isolated body part exercises relying on a bunch of gym machines to “get the job done.”
I USED to focus on body fat caliper measurements, scale weight and tape measurements as “client wins.”
I believed that I was a highly motivated person and that my motivation was my main source of fuel for all the amazing things I’ve accomplished. And then shit happened. Life happened and I went through some tough stuff that left me empty, emotional and definitely UNMOTIVATED. And I stayed unmotivated for a WHILE, but, I also noticed something very interesting…
Despite having ZERO motivation, my discipline never wavered.
I was depressed. I went to the gym.
I was sad. I went to the gym.
I was happy. I went to the gym.
I was mad and pissed off. I went to the gym.
No matter my EMOTION (i.e. MOTIVATION), my discipline is what drove me to push through my adversity. My discipline kept me going when my motivation, and excitement evaporated.
And the light bulb went off! If discipline is the major driver for success, then how does one become disciplined? It’s much more than just telling clients what they should and shouldn’t do. And this was my AHA! moment!!! Discipline is created out of HABITS.
What the heck is a habit anyway?
Habits are routine behaviors done on a regular basis. They are recurrent and often unconscious patterns of behavior and are acquired through frequent repetition. And like all things, habits can be deemed “good” or “bad.”
HABITS are effortless products of Mindset and this is the very reason why I’ve evolved my coaching into wellness that STARTS with a Mindset of Moderation (MOM).
You see, creating healthy habits are HARD until they become EASY; but getting to that “easy” point can be difficult.
Here are my three (MOM) tips to get started on creating sustainable healthy habits:
- Ask yourself what habit are you trying to change? Then ask yourself, what is that habit doing for you? Find your reason or distraction for doing that particular habit and you will find your trigger.
- Once you determine your trigger, disrupt your routine. Change your environment. Mix up your schedule. Replace the habit you want to change with a different behavior. Then rinse and repeat. Put in the reps. Do the work. Over and over and over again.
- Reward yourself for doing the work. Once you identify your trigger, and disrupt your routine or change your environment, reward yourself. Rewards provide contentment and relief; but more importantly, rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future. Just be sure that your reward is in line with the new habit you are trying to create.
It’s gonna be HARD. But it shouldn’t be miserable.
Is this you?
You have an all or nothing mindset. It’s go big or go home but you always are left feeling like a failure and unworthy.
It is either black or white and there is no room for any deviation of either, no gray and no stray, even though this perfectionist method leaves you feeling anxious and hopeless.
I’m too overwhelmed and there is so much work to do, so far to go, it’s all just too much, so I am going to leave it all right here and thrown in the towel.
You’re not gonna feel great or love your body all the time. This is normal. It’s how you handle those feelings that create mindset change. I coach you to have body image flexibility – you’ll have bad thoughts because it’s not all unicorns and rainbows all the time; but, with my vibe_365 method you will learn how to deal with those negative thoughts and not react to them.
I’m looking to work with a small group of women who are suffering from the scenarios above and are really struggling with creating healthy, sustainable habits that free them from extremes, with food, with fitness or with avoidance of it all because it’s too hard to mentally deal with. I got you BB. Message me to join our next vibe_365 tribe! We start March 1st!
