6 Tips to Get Back in the Groove
Summer can be an easy time to get distracted with your health and fitness goals. For some it may be the change in schedule from having your kids home all day, for others the happy hours, vacations, or excessive heat cause them to stray from their normal routines. No matter the cause, it can be a challenge to get back in the groove. All is not lost and it’s not pointless to make a change now. You can at this moment alter your trajectory. As James Clear says, “You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.”
The Tips:
Don’t wait for motivation to come, start now. There is never a perfect time to start.If we wait to feel motivated, who knows when we will start a goal. Taking action will increase motivation. This also applies to once you have started. If you only complete the healthy habit you are working on when you feel like it, you probably won’t accomplish your goals. The more consistent you are and the more you focus on your habit (as opposed to the result), the easier it will be to make a lasting change and keep the motivation going.
Start small. Choose one healthy habit to focus on. It can be overwhelming when we try to change too much at once. Studies even show a drastic decrease in success when we try to change more than one thing at a time. This habit can be small. It can be as small as having one bite of veggies with dinner or walking for 2 minutes. The smaller and more manageable the habit, the more likely you are to complete it. Be sure to celebrate every time you complete your habit! It can be as simple as a smile or good job to yourself.
Plan ahead. If your goal is to eat a veggie with dinner, don’t wait until dinner to think about what veggie you are going to eat. Or, maybe your goal is to make it to the gym two times a week. If so, planning and scheduling those workouts the at the beginning of the week or better yet, the week before, can help to make sure they happen. Also, brainstorm obstacles that may arise and how you will address each one. Then when they pop up you already know how you can still make your habit happen. As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, plan to fail.”
Set your environment up for success. If your habit is to work out in the mornings, going to bed in time to get 7-8 hours of sleep, having your workout clothes ready, and knowing what you will be doing will make your morning workout easier. Same thing goes if you are trying to incorporate veggies with dinner. Making sure you have veggies at the house and prepped, if needed, will make getting those evening veggies in a lot easier. The less work you have to do when you want to complete your habit, the better.
Revisit your why. Why do you even care about your goals? I am not talking surface level here. Dig deep. Ask yourself “Why?” and then “Why?” again and again until you really get to heart of your why. By really understanding your why and linking it to the current habit you are working on your motivation and success rate will increase.
Call in the reinforcements! Hire a coach or if you already have a coach lean on them a little more for support. Often times just telling someone you have been struggling and are trying to make a change lightens the load. Having a person to check in on you and work through obstacles can make all the difference. This can even be a friend.
What’s the first small action you will take to get back in the groove?!