Baby steps help habits stick

It is day two of the new year. How are you feeling today? Enthusiasm already beginning to wain? Check out today’s top tip for making your resolutions stick.

Get inspired by the big dream, but commit to small steps

It’s the rush of the dream which makes us want to make that change, but when we are in dream world we don’t tend to focus on the small daily actions which will lead to the big goal. The small steps aren’t glamorous or sexy, that’s why so many films make use of the ‘hard work’ montage! (think Rocky). This article by James Clear explains the important distinction between goals and systems and how your focus is far better spent on the latter than the former.

Getting too caught up in making that big career change, creating a successful business or achieving a fitness goal  can make us fixate on the fact that we’re ‘not there yet’ and cannot be happy until we are. Too many of us already suffer from ‘not good enough’ syndrome and if our big goal reduces our happiness it must be counter-productive.

Break your resolution down into small, easy-peasy steps that you cannot excuse your way out of and you will feel the daily reward of progress. Make the small steps your focus. Our brains want a daily reward of dopamine, the feel-good hormone, rather than holding out for months before the big hit. Remember, there is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.

What would be a win for you today?

In order to keep my mind focused on what I can do today, I have found this question invaluable : “what would be a win for me today?” What thing can I do, which if I did it, would mean I could be satisfied that I had gained a win that day? I took this idea from the Self Journal and find it a really positive way to enjoy the process in the here and now, rather than yearning for a distant future.

Stay tuned for tip 3…