Falling off the proverbial wagon happens to everyone when they start a new diet or exercise routine. You have an unhealthy meal, you miss a workout, or have a complete day of poor eating choices, so you scrap the diet or exercise routine and go on a binge, does that sound familiar? Why does this happen?
People go into these ideas about dieting and exercise as an all or nothing sprint. Your decisions are emotional and spontaneous, maybe because a friend asked you to join them in a challenge or you saw a social media post and told yourself you can do that. The next morning you get up early or lay out the items for a healthy dinner. Day one goes as planned. Day two the alarm goes off and you’re so sore from day one, you skip the workout. You know what I’m talking about?
Day one is always full of excitement and hope. Day two is reality and the end of the journey. To help you get to day three, take along-term approach from the start. You know in every journey there are bumps in the road that slow you down and try to take you off track. To borrow Jeff Bezos’ idea, make every day into day one. In other words, make each day a fresh start and independent of any mistakes that happened yesterday.
Making changes to your health, fitness, and wellness are long-term philosophies, not sprints that have a beginning and ending a few steps away. Yes, it’s difficult to stay motivated with something that does not have an ending. Motivation ends, and discipline begins with every long-term change. Finding a way to mix motivation with discipline is the key to managing the obstacles life throws at you.
Here's how you can keep the day one freshness going:
· Set a daily goal
· Yesterday is done, forgotten, and forgiven of any mistakes
· Repeat steps one and two for tomorrow
I’m working with a client who is on a serious weight loss journey to drop 50 pounds. He didn’t gain 50 pounds in a week, and he won’t lose it in a week either. We work on focusing on the success of each day and not allowing past mistakes to derail today’s goal and progress. He has learned to forgive himself and manage the daily ups and downs.
During one of his workouts, he commented how his mindset has changed to allow this day one philosophy to work to his advantage. He stays focused on the present each day and starts over with his goal and tasks to lose 50 pounds. In this process, he’s building healthy habits to allow him enjoyment of events without the guilt and anger of messing up. So what, he had dessert last night. Today, he begins fresh and forgives himself.
On the flip side, you need discipline to not allow constant mistakes and using forgiveness as a crutch. Learn from your mistakes to better manage a situation when it arises, or you know an event is coming that will impact your day.
On my podcast, The Peale Appeal, I give usable and practical information to help you do exactly what I’m talking about in this blog post. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and learn how to manage your ups and downs. You must put the information into practice, and I will tell you exactly how to do that.
Remember, day one every morning you wake up. Stay focused on your current day and forgive yourself of yesterday’s sins. Tomorrow, rinse and repeat for long-term success!