One of my members was telling me about a friend who was going on and on to her about her new diet plan. She’d gone through her house, thrown out all of her old favorite foods, hit the grocery store with a list in hand, bought a bunch of food she didn’t even know had existed, and rushed home to do a big meal prep with all of her new storage containers.

She didn’t know how to cook all of that stuff, but she was excited!

You know what? That’s awesome. I’m glad she’s made a change.

HOWEVER. When it’s laid out on paper, I think you can see where this is going… probably not a long-term fix.

We get excited about a change, and we jump in whole-hog. I’ve seen it over and over again, and of course, I’ve done it, too. It’s a common mistake that we all have a tendency towards.

The thing is, though, as excited as you are to jump in it is rarely a lasting answer. It doesn’t pan out in the long run because we’re largely habit-driven people. Habits work so well because they become nearly automatic and “hard-wired”, which means they also don’t change well. Your whole life is built around your current habits. When you kick the anthill and scatter them, your mind tries to fight that chaos by reverting to its autopilot habits…

I mean, as adults, it’s very hard to just stop a habit, be it smoking, overeating, chewing your nails, fastening your seatbelt, brushing your teeth with your right hand, etc. Adults don’t tend to just trash existing behaviors.

So, how DO you make a change? Continue reading

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