It’s the longest day of the year today! And happily in my part of the world, the sun is shining bright and temperatures are in the low 80s. Heaven!
I wanted to share with you this wonderful “trick” to help you integrate positive new habits into your lifestyle. It’s from Leo Babauta from ZenHabits.net, a blog that I absolutely love and highly recommend.
Over the past year, I have been able to completely change my lifestyle lately to eating “plant strong” and making exercise a daily habit. Of course, using our Happy Mind + Healthy Body program was an integral tool to my success.
But I think this enormous change in my lifestyle can be summed up by the following simple change in mindset that Leo has brilliantly shared:
One of the best tricks I’ve learned to improve my likelihood of sticking to a habit is so simple it’s sinful.
Stop thinking of a new habit as something you have to do, but as something you are allowed to do.
Let’s say you’re starting a workout. Many people think, “OK, I gotta do this. It’s good for me, I’m way too lazy, I need to burn off my fat, if I do this I’ll feel better about myself.” This is wrong, because then the workout is a chore you have to get through to get the benefits, and so you struggle through this boring, hard, sucky thing in order to get to the goal.
Instead, you can simply think, “I’m allowing myself to do this. It’s a treat.”
And it is. A workout can be a lovely thing, where you feel your body moving, you push against the forces of gravity, you triumph despite the difficulty, you get fresh air and gorgeous nature and you are treating your body and being good to it. This is a rare treat.
Once you shift from “have to” to “allowed to”, you now feel good about the activity. It’s not a chore, but a treat. It’s not something you struggle through to get the benefit — it is the benefit.
Are you thinking about making a change in your lifestyle? Is there something that you have been putting off for one reason or another?
Take action now! Share with us what it is you like to change in your lifestyle and how you can think differently about it. We’d love to hear from ya! 🙂
Happy “official” summer! With love + gratitude,
Udechukwu Ugonma says
What I want to share that I also have been looking for a way to do way with it, is that I don’t know why I can’t stop thinking about conceiving , it’s just like its been there not going away from my memory, what do I do ? I really wnt to change my life style tnx
Julia says
Since I was not successful in my FET in May and I am not pregnant right now, there is so much I can do this summer to change my lifestyle and feel better. I want to be active in some way everyday and I would like to eat more fruits and vegetables. With the Farmer’s Markets well underway and the weather getting better, it will be easier to want to get out and do things. I would like to go hiking and play 9-holes of golf every two weeks. I love these activities and they are such a great distraction. When you are trying to conceive, your goal takes up a lot of your thoughts and you can become obesessed with getting pregnant. Finding something you love to do that takes time and focus helps get your mind distracted and busy with other things. I also think this makes me happier, calmer and more fulfilled. I need to remind myself that this is what helped me get pregnant the first time, along with positive thinking and being healthy!