We're Going Streaking!!!
“You can bring your green hat” – Will Ferrell Old School
STOP!!!! Don’t start disrobing just yet, it’s not that kind of streaking. What I’m talking about is similar to a winning streak in sports, when a team has been winning for several games in a row without a loss and wants to maintain that record. In sports maintaining a streak will spur athletes and fans to participate in some rather unorthodox practices , from eating a little bit of the grass on the field before playing a game, throwing octopi onto the ice rink and wearing the same piece of clothing for an entire season. Having a streak adds much needed momentum to a process that can be challenging and puts the focus on the wins rather than on the work that needs to be done.
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, it takes anywhere from 15 to 254 days to establish a habit, with most habits cementing themselves after 66 days, and according to the Stages of Change, 180 days is when you’ve finally reached the maintenance stage. Often the passage of time can be one of the major obstacles, but when you start focusing on your ‘winning streak’ you start using time to your advantage. Just so we’re clear though, if you’re looking at establishing a habit the number of days it takes should be less of a focus since the purpose is to make this new action part of your life….right.?!
Don’t Break the Chain
You want to be able to see each link in that chain so make it visible, reminding you that if you miss one link you break the chain. Use a calendar or a white board, set it up where you’ll see it daily and for every day you follow through on your promise to yourself put a huge X on that day. Making it a daily habit is key, it’s been shown that doing something daily will increase your likelihood of fully establishing your new habit. Having to decide what days you’ll bike, go to the gym or track your food intake will just add more opportunities for you to fail.
For example, if your goal is to make cardiovascular exercise a routine habit, then start with something small like riding the stationary bike for a minimum of 5 minutes a day. This might seem so small and easy that you’ll not need to track it and that would be a mistake. Regardless of how large or small, tracking your success in a visual and physical way will only aid to the process and your progress. It takes hardly any effort to draw an X through a day on a calendar but seeing all of those X’s lining up day after day will make it much harder for you to skip one. Every X you place on the calendar will activate your brains reward system and that allows for a little dopamine to be released, which feels so good.
If you’re truly serious about the habit you’re trying to create, then start tracking it, start building that winning streak and you’ll be surprised by what you’ll do in order to keep that streak. You may not wear the same shirt every day, but if you’re crawling into bed and glance over at your streak calendar only to see you’ve failed to put an X in for today, you may find yourself in your jam-jams peddling away on your bike.
Copyright 2020 Strength & Grace Life Coaching LLC