You started a new habit, got distracted and broke the chain, How duo you restart?
Don’t worry, for people new to creating habits it’s a common occurrence, but you need to break that BAD habit NOW. The best way is to restart the habit chain immediately!
The sooner the better. Don’t worry about failure, forget about the guilt, you’ll develop the discipline, it all takes time and repetition. Go now, before you finish reading this… I’ll wait…
Ok, you’re back. Did you restart, or did you procrastinate?
Here’s the deal, the longer you put it off, the more difficult it will be to restart. That’s because internal guilt builds up inside of you, and each day that you avoid restarting, you’re thinking about it, building guilt, more and more. Do you see what you’re doing? You are training yourself to be okay with the guilt…OMG! Exactly the opposite of what you want!
You need help, so here it is…follow these steps.
- Restart it… No, now! Don’t worry that you’ll fail again, it doesn’t matter. Start small, do fewer reps, take less time than you initially planned, just do it!
- Let go of it… The guilt in your head is completely of your making, it’s a little demon you created and are allowing it to control you. That demon isn’t real, you have the power to destroy it, do it now before it/you consumes you.
- Improve it… Maybe you took on more than was feasible, try doing less. Maybe a shorter duration with more frequency will work. Try it out and see. If that doesn’t work, try longer duration less frequently, try a different time of the day, use a different trigger to get you going. Maybe you need an intermittent rest, like every 3rd day you don’t do it, instead you reflect.
- Journal it… Remember the first lesson, the habit of writing everything down? This is you chance to put that habit into action. Write down your progress in tackling this new good habit you are creating. It will reinforce the writing down habit, and keep you focused on this new habit.
- Get help… If you really are having a hard time not breaking the chain, then get someone else that you trust and admire, someone you wouldn’t want to let down, and ask them to keep you accountable. Not only to yourself, but to them as a friend and confidant.
When you get down to it, this habit stuff isn’t really all that hard, and it gets easier as you go deeper into it. But the benefits are off the chart. You don’t have to kill it at first, you don’t have to be the best, the fastest, the most durable, you just have to do it and be consistent, and build on what you can…and above all, this is supposed to produce positive things in you, when you achieve them you’ll be very happy, and it will be fun.
So, knowing that, what could be more fun to do than something that will make your life easier, more enjoyable, more fruitful and happier? Answer: nothing, so get to it!
