You know that feeling when you feel on top of the world, you're in your groove, & nailing all of your habits and routines that you have been striving for? Then boom life throws a curveball at you and it feels as if you've hit this blockade that’s holding you back from progressing. It feels like it's near impossible to actually stay consistent with the continuous obstacles you're always trying to dodge, though they always seem to trip you up. What if I told you there was a way you could actually move past those road blocks by making a few small changes in your mindset & routine and even move past them to actually build consistency.
In these 3 steps below, we're going to dive into the behind the scenes, what NO ONE is talking about when it comes to habit building and maintaining a sustainable routine. Everyone talks about building consistency, staying consistent, showing up for yourself, but no one is talking about how to actually do it..until now! Let's jump right in!
Part 1: Your Accountability Loop
What you need is an accountability loop. The circle shown here is not a perfect circle because we're humans and we're not perfect either! I want you to think of yourself as the green arrows that are going around this circle. This is when you're in that groove & super consistent with your habits & routines you have in place.
The red X’s along the circle are the breaks in your habit. This is when something or someone throws you off your routine or when an obstacle has presented itself. This could be getting sick, feeling exhausted, work picking up, traveling & events taking place or even family emergencies.
The biggest piece you may be missing in building consistency is your yellow dot. Your yellow dot is your accountability method and this is what keeps you or gets you back on track. This can be a person, an action or a method that holds you accountable to following through on your goals. Think of this as the alarm titled on your phone “get up it's time to work out” or blocked out space in your calendar for healthy nutritious meal prepping and grocery shopping on Sundays.
Your yellow dot can also be a person, such as your spouse, a loved one, a best friend, or a coach–somebody that you can rely on to pull you out of the depths of that red X that is blocking you from staying consistent on your habits and routines and reaching the goals that you have. For example, maybe you want to start implementing a new nighttime routine including evening stretching before bed. Your yellow dot could be a partner that you do your evening stretches with side by side or even remotely. You have that accountability partner to keep you going and make sure you both stay on track.
To make sure we're on the same page before we take this a step further, here's a video recap of the Accountability Loop.
Part 2: Your Habit Triangle
Your accountability method can also be in the form of what I like to call, a habit triangle. This is creating a system around 3 key actions:
something that you have to do within your day, or a habit that you already have set in place,
your new habit of focus, and
something you look forward to doing or love to do.
For example, let’s build that evening stretching nighttime routine (on your own) with this habit triangle theory.
Let’s say that these are your 3 key actions within your nighttime routine:
something you have to do/habit you already have: brushing your teeth before
[new habit]: 10 mins of evening stretching
something you look forward to doing or enjoy: reading a few pages before bed or doing your evening scroll
Follow the outline in the figure shown here of the habit triangle and link these actions together in that specific order, so your new habit is sandwiched between the action you already do and the action you love to do.
So in between brushing your teeth (your cue) and reading or scrolling before bed (reward), you are going to do your 10 mins of stretching (new habit). You're going to brush your teeth, do your 10 minutes of stretching, and you get your reward for your evening scroll or reading a few pages before bed.
You can apply the same habit sandwiching principle to any type of new habit you are seeking to implement into your routine.
Remember that no days are 100% perfect and that unexpected events come up often. Notice that in this figure there are always breaks in the chain. This is life. You’re going to have your ups and downs, highs and lows and times where you just need a break or a reset to get you back in your groove.
I want you to think about what or who or how you are implementing the yellow dots in your life and how you can use the habit triangle to establish a new routine and maintain consistency.
To make sure we're on the same page before we take this a step further, here's a video recap of the Habit Triangle.
Part 3: Build Your Own Accountability Loop & Habit Triangle
To continue this process with me to build your own habits & routines in my client proved, step-by-step method, download my free Mindset & Habit Development workbook HERE & jump right into building a strategic plan to achieve your goals.
See you inside!
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