Let’s be real, we all have terrible habits.
For instance, if my fiance buys a jar of PB it’s the only thing she will be consuming for the next 2 days. She will open it up and spoon feed herself at random times during the day until there is nothing left. It becomes 90% of her diet. Partially because she loves it. Partially because it’s more convenient than cooking a meal.
I love asparagus. I mean, who doesn’t, right? If there is such a person I don’t care to meet them. Every time I go to the grocery store there seems to be a special on them. Buy 1 bundle for 5 bucks… Or something like that. So I do. I buy 1 bundle with all of the intentions in the world to eat asparagus each day for the next week. I’m going to put asparagus in everything. Omelettes, stir fry’s you name it asparagus is going in it!
On Monday I eat some. Then on Tuesday, I don’t. I don’t have one Wednesday either, nor Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (maybe half some on Saturday). Sunday rolls around and I have a bunch of mushy asparagus in the fridge. So I throw them away, go to the grocery store, and see another sale on asparagus and proceed to buy another bundle. The asparagus debacle repeats itself the following week.
One more terrible habit for no good reason. I try to quit things for no other reason then to quit them. I try to quit caffeine. I try to quit waInstagramstagram before I go to bed. I try to not check email first thing in the morning. I’ve successfully failed at quitting all of these things.
I’m sure you have some bad habits of your own and If you’re like me – every time you fail at trying to break them you tell yourself I just need to be more disciplined. To have more willpower. To just DO IT.
But discipline is overrated. So is willpower. And so is just doing it. They don’t mean anything. They’re just words with no action and so far they have failed me when trying to break my terrible habits.
To solve problems like these sometimes you need to jump into the cold pool.
Jumping into the cold pool is done by making the thing you want to stop doing nearly impossible. The main way that you do this is by changing your environment.
- Want to stop eating ALL the PB? Stop buying PB and tell the people you buy it from to not let you buy it (I’m serious).
- Want to stop checking social media first thing when you wake up? Delete all social media apps from your phone and use a website blocking service like Freedom
- Want to try going to bed earlier? Remove all distractions from your room (phone, computer, tv, etc..)
The idea is to make it as hard as possible for you to do the thing you want to stop doing. Put as many barriers and steps in your way as possible. The opposite can be said for things you want to start doing. Remove as many barriers and steps as possible for you to do the thing you want to start doing.
Late night snacking on junk food is a common complaint I hear from many of my clients. I always recommend doing a kitchen makeover every Sunday or re-design if you can’t do a complete overhaul. That means every Sunday throw away all the shit that you accumulated during the week. Or put all those delicious snacks that you would normally go to in a really inconvenient area. For example, my fiance is 4’9 so instead of not buying PB we keep it on the top shelf where she either needs her trusty step stool or myself to get it for her. The hassle alone stops her from mowing jars of PB.
If you’re struggling jump into the cold pool and make some big-time changes to your environment. If you need help making these changes don’t hesitate to book in for a free consultation where a team member from Club Sweat can help set you up with an action plan to get you in the cold water and break those terrible habits you’ve been trying so hard to get rid of.
