You’ve tried one too many times to create a habit, only to have it go by the wayside. Why is it so difficult?
Maybe it’s as simple as making your action steps too big.
I’m going to let my client, Sarah, tell you how she changed her life with just two pushups.
Here’s the very first email she sent me:
“Dear Debbie,
I’m going to get right to the point. One of my friends just turned 40 and she did 40 modified pushups on her 40th birthday. I found that so inspiring that I want to do the same. My challenge is I only have 3 months to prepare.
Here’s the thing: Eight months ago I decided I could do this on my own. I set a goal of doing 15 pushups a day and increasing it by 5 every few days until I reached 40. That’s what my friend did. It worked for her, why wouldn’t it work for me?
The first problem I encountered was actually being physically able to do the 15 pushups. I’ve never had upper body strength so I was only able to do 9 “half pushups” (I could only lower half down. Oh yes, and I was on my knees!). So right off the bat, I felt like a failure.
On Day 2, I dreaded doing any pushups at all because it reminded me of the failure of not being able to do 15 the day before. And on Day 3, I was so sore, I couldn’t do any at all.
I remember having so much going on with the kids and being so tired, that for several days, it was hit and miss. Mostly miss. I do remember being thankful for having an excuse not to do them. I had completely forgotten how good it was going to feel doing 40 on my 40th birthday. I lost my motivation and my will power …
Until someone told me I should try a health coach and your name came up. It’s a little over 3 months until my birthday and I really do want this, to be able to do 40 pushups, as a birthday gift to me. (And losing some weight and gaining some new habits would be nice too!) Can you help me?
Sarah”
There’s good news!
Sarah did end up doing 40 modified pushups on her 40th birthday, but used an entirely different method to get there. Creating habits by starting with small goals can be beneficial on so many levels. A goal of 15 pushups for Sarah wasn’t realistic and it did not motivate her to continue.
When we started working together, instead of starting with a “go-big-or-go-home” goal, she started with 2 pushups.
“If your going to do only two, then why bother?” you might ask. Great question!
I asked Sarah if she’d be willing to share her success and here is her reply that is a great answer to that question.
“Dear Debbie.
I want to thank you for showing me how choosing small action steps was a game changer for me.
When you first told me to start by drinking such little amounts of water, I wasn’t sure it would work. I was skeptical. Then when we came up with doing 2 pushups a day, I didn’t understand how that could possibly turn into 40. But since starting at 15 didn’t work, I knew you must be on to something. Oh, yes, and the vegetables. You know how hard that was for me but it literally changed my life. It all did.
When I started doing 2 pushups a day, it made me feel successful right at the beginning. There were days I was exhausted or days with kids’ activities that before we worked together, I would not have done pushups. But with your method, I was actually excited to do my pushups because I knew it would make me feel good and successful in the moment -- far from the old way I’ve done things. I never would have thought I would feel good about doing pushups! Lol
It felt so good that I started doing more than two just because I could. You were right in that I felt like a “super student” when I did more and it did encourage me to do extra. On several occasions, I found myself doing pushups at other times during the day too, mostly while I was watching tv.
Within four weeks, I was doing 22 pushups every other day. By this time, I was so motivated to do 40 pushups on my birthday that I found myself being very consistent. I was surprised at how strong I had gotten and the difficulty of doing 15-20 pushups was like doing 2 at the beginning. Not much effort was required. My strength and motivation have made me a new person.
When you asked me how my view of myself changed during this process, I immediately knew the answer: that I’m now the type of person who can follow through. I’ve never thought of myself that way. Thank you for that.
One of the best parts about this was I didn’t get sore. After my first encounter with “soreness”, I was dreading it simply because I thought “no pain, no gain”. I ended up having no pain and a lot of gain!
I’ve lost a few more pounds since our last session. I’ve now lost 36 pounds!! My energy level has soared and best of all, I’m still not craving sugar and bread. I’ve even gotten Scot on board. He’s doing pushups and has lost some weight too.
When I did 41 (I did 1 for good measure!) modified pushups on my birthday, everyone was floored. No one (except Scot and the kids) knew I had been working on this goal. I’ve even inspired two people to do something similar for their next birthday!
Thanks so much for everything. This program is amazing and it changed my life. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do at 80! lol
Sarah”
You can see from Sarah’s experience how starting small changed her life.
Here are the benefits she got from creating a small habit change instead of her initial bigger action step:
· She was able to meet her daily goal even when she didn’t feel like it.
· Meeting her goal made her feel successful and that success caused her to want to do even more.
· She’s gotten strong.
· She now views herself as someone who follows through.
· She didn’t get sore.
· She has more energy.
· She’s encouraged others to take action.
· She met her goal of doing 40 pushups on her 40th birthday.
· Oh, and did I mention she’s lost 36 pounds!?!? Wow!
All this … from starting out doing just two pushups a day.
What’s one small habit you can start today that will move you to the person you want to be?
If you want to get clear on the perfect habit change for you, schedule a free, no strings attached, session with me here.
Here’s to your health!
