I’d put “strength” on my calendar but when that time arrived I wasn’t done with a project I wanted to finish so I mentally pushed going to the gym to something I’d squeeze in before cooking dinner.And forgot.
I’ve been trying to start a consistent strength training program for years. I start and stop and get motivated and lose motivation and begin a program then forget I even started a new thing as I just go about my days in the same way I always have.
It’s kind of like that movie, Groundhog Day. Where the same day keeps repeating over and over and over again.
Sound familiar? Maybe not about strength training, but something else you’re trying to adjust for your health or sanity? It could be decluttering your house, improving your diet, or practicing a new skill you’re trying to learn.
It’s not the knowledge of what to do that’s stopping us. That’s usually fairly simple:
- If you want to lose weight, eat more veggies, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and whole grains and move your body every day.
- If you want to write a book, get to writing.
- If you want to learn a language or an instrument, practice.
But that’s not what we do. Here’s what we do instead:
- We read all about what we’re supposed to do.
- We think and talk about what we’ll start soon.
- We put off the action and do what we’ve always done instead.
- We blame ourselves for being “lazy.”
- We finally decide to just begin already, so then we do some more research.
We’ve all done it! I’m here to tell you it’s not your fault.
It’s your energy.
Each of us has an energetic habit field and there are a whole bunch of reasons why we have it. Primarily, because it would be too hard for us to have to do everything for the first time each time we do it. We create habits so we can go on autopilot.
It’s the autopilot that’s hard to break out of.
I’ve been a runner for over 30 years. It’s the easiest thing in the world for me to put on my running shoes and head out the door for a morning run. It’s my habit and I love it. I feel out of sorts when I don’t do it.
It’s also not the best thing for me to do every day anymore. At my age, I need to get to the gym and lift weights. It’s really important that I do that and I know this because I research aging for my job.
Switching my habit from all cardio all the time to consistent strength work is unbelievably hard, even for me, an expert in the habit field and someone who loves to exercise.
In 2018, I launched my first workshop on the habit field. It sold out in one day. Early in the pandemic, I created an online course called Your Energy and Your Habits. It’s by far the most popular course I ever created. I tell you this because I want you to know that it’s not just you. A lot of us struggle with habits.
The first thing you can do to ingrain a new habit is acknowledge that: yes it will be hard and also that it’s 100% doable. Everything you do all day you’ve created as a habit and you can create new ones (and uncreate old ones too.) It just takes persistence, a can-do attitude, and a deep knowing that you’re worth it.
Who you are now is based on the choices you’ve made before. If you stay where you are, you won’t break out of the Groundhog Day and grow into the person you can become. Imagine the possibilities if you could break out of some of your old habits and turn them into new, healthy ones?!
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
~ Lao Tzu
