Establishing good habits requires commitment, motivation and hard work. The desire to better your life by examining which behaviors are yielding positive results and which aren’t is a daunting process. We all have days when we just don’t feel up to the task. That’s ok! It’s completely normal to not be perfect. In fact, perfection is less important than progress. As long as you’re moving forward, being flexible and forgiving yourself, you are closer to establishing good habits that stick.
Slip ups are to be expected when you are trying to establish a new habit. Moving forward from the slip ups is progress toward your goal. If you get discouraged easily and give up, you are no longer moving forward, you are no closer to your goal. So, your attitude and persistence really ends up determining your amount of progress. It’s a journey, not a race.
Flexibility is key in advancing toward your goal of good habits. When a slip up happens, you will need to examine why it happened and make a plan of what you will do in the future. It may be that your former plan isn’t working, don’t be afraid to switch it up and be flexible. Your main objective should be to make a plan so that you can avoid the slip up next time. So, your plan should be fluid, depending on what’s working and working for you.
Last but not least, forgive yourself for your missteps and move on! Beating yourself up does absolutely no good. In fact, your focus is to be on changing your life for the positive. So, allowing yourself to get down because of a few slip ups is actually counterintuitive. Instead, use your slip up as motivation to do better tomorrow.
Establishing new habits takes time and slip ups are completely to be expected. Perfection is overrated, it’s your attitude, perseverance and willingness to progress that really matters. Remember that your goal should not be perfection. Rather, becoming self-aware and gaining the ability to use critical thinking when examining your habits should be. Put yourself in the driver seat when it comes to your health and goals for your life. Take ownership and be willing to change your goals and plans along the way to tailor to your specific needs. Eventually you will find yourself in a better place in your life than when you started.
