The most disturbing problem I had in the beginning of my transformation was having external events that interfered with my newly born decisions, life changes and habits. For example, when I decided to change my eating schedule I suddenly had long meetings that conflicted with my new meal schedule. After changing my diet, I needed to go to China and did not have access to the food I decided to eat. When I decided to workout 5 mornings a week, I had early morning conference calls at the same time as my scheduled workouts. It was very difficult to fight interruptions and stick to strategic decisions.
Many people start diets and give up on the first serious glitch. They go to a party and “taste” just a “small” peace of cake, and then a slightly bigger slice…and so on. I have definitely been there, done that! It’s not easy to overcome procrastination. But when you’ve already made a decision about a change in your life – and that can be any kind of change – there is a 3 month timeframe in which your new lifestyle is very fragile.Any interruption that breaks the routine or new lifestyle can result in regressing to the old familiar habit. So how can we overcome our natural tendency to give in to external events?
I found the most effective way to achieve success in implementing c
hanges is to expect the glitches. More than that, plan ahead for the glitches and how to overcome them. Let’s see how this works. Imagine you decide to workout 5 times a week. You plan to work a different body part each day. It works wonderfully for the first 2 weeks and then, in the third week, you have a business trip and only have 2 days to workout. What do you do?
hanges is to expect the glitches. More than that, plan ahead for the glitches and how to overcome them. Let’s see how this works. Imagine you decide to workout 5 times a week. You plan to work a different body part each day. It works wonderfully for the first 2 weeks and then, in the third week, you have a business trip and only have 2 days to workout. What do you do?
I used to do…nothing. Actually, I waited for a new week to start. Or I would just quit. This happens because the new commitment has been broken before becoming a habit. But what if you had a ready made a contingency plan for working out 1 day, 2 days or 3 days a week? What if you recognize that working 2-4 times a week is OK when it happens from time to time?
You can overcome the glitch easily by planning your workout 2 days ahead. For example, the first day working out your lower body and the second day your upper body. You can make as many contingency plans as possible. If you can’t go to the gym at all, do body weight exercises at home, hotel or outdoors. Do you get the idea?
The most important is to plan ahead and not be taken by surprise by external events and never be clueless about what to do. Momentum is the key, and if you lose momentum, you subconsciously act against your own decisions. Here is another idea. Imagine you’ve changed your diet to 6 meals per day. Each meal contains protein and low GI carbs like I pitch in the
Anti-Aging Fitness Program. You are doing well, packing cottage cheese and apples to your office and starting to lose fat and feel good. But then your boss surprises you with a 5 day conference in Atlanta. If you are not ready, you will be hungry for 5 days and fall for the cookies and pastries at break time.
If you’re like me, you will pack in advance protein shakes powders, shaker, low GI fruit or even sugar free protein bars. You will never be hungry enough to fall for the junk food. Your blood sugar level will be kept stable and you will be energetic, humble, and alert the whole conference. But most importantly, you will stick to what you started.
If you are not well prepared you are stepping back into your old bad habits with less chances to return to your new lifestyle. This is a double bummer. You lose the chance to change your body and your health. But most importantly your subconscious mind records a failure. Your weaker part wins 1:0…with a knockout. Don’t let it happen. Be ready for the glitches, prepare for them, plan for them ahead and never let them win.
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