You ARE the Sum of your habits

“Make yourself a slave to good habits”

Coach Dan John

That is the best advice I can give you for just about anything and everything.

You are the Sum of your habits. If you can’t imagine leaving the house without brushing your teeth, you have instilled this habit. The chair you always sit in after work, the beverage you drink when you first come home and the sound of the television on in your home constantly is all habits, habits, habits.

You ARE a slave to your habits

I honestly can’t imagine a day without some form of exercise. Like a dog, I crave my daily walk or movement. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. I don’t have magic DNA; I have habits.

If you find yourself needing to turn a corner in life, the easiest approach is to check into some kind of prison that restricts your free will, food choices, snacking, and bingeing. Perhaps, we could also get you to do some forced labor.

I’m not a fan of this.

With my clients, I used to give them, Day One, massive lists of food choices, “good” and “bad” foods to enjoy or avoid, laundry lists of things to do, and massive training protocols.

I used to do this.

Now, my favorite “go-to” is simply to ask them, for an entire month, to drink TWO glasses of water every day. We agree on a time for me to call them and… here we go.

Often, after the excitement wears off in the second week they begin to understand something

Simply this: drinking TWO glasses of water every single day is a habit that takes a bit to adopt. I used to believe people when they said they would do anything and everything to begin the change. Now, I understand that turning the titanic takes a bit longer than we thought. There is a movie that explains this, I understand.

The next month is simply finding a parking place far away from their office or place of work. Usually, by this stage, the client is understanding things. Body composition issues and solutions are best served by gathering benefits from improved habits

You ARE the sum of your habits. That beltline was developed over years of tiny choices. The extra chin didn’t come from supersizing something just once. Or even twice.

It’s time to gather new habits. In training, it’s time to learn new movements, experiment with new ideas, and train appropriately to your goals.

The key to developing good habits is to write them down and create a “Daily Ritual”.

The “Daily Ritual” acts as a map to fitness, health, longevity, and performance and stacking together enough “good days” and the results will come
Here is an example of a daily ritual:

1. I will plan my day the night before
2. Wake up and be grateful
3. Daily Workout: Mobility, Strength or a walk
4. Eat 8 different veggies a day
5. Carry a water bottle with me at all times

Everyone knows that if we got 8 hours of sleep, ate protein and veggies at every meal, drank lots of water every day, walked daily and trained appropriately 2-3 times a week then everyone’s fitness dreams would come true.

I encourage you to write your own daily ritual to help maintain focus on the process and whats important. As committing to the process and consistently stacking more good days is what being a healthy active person is all about!

Start slow. Gather a few new food choices, try some new exercises, explore a new sport or game, or simply just try a new walking route in your local park.
Gather new habits. Then…

Become a slave to them!