Recording, measuring and tracking your exercise and health behaviours all exist to assist you in creating a long term, sustainable behaviour change. This allows you to build long term, healthy habits.
We can follow a specific process to create these long term behaviours:
STEP ONE: Values and Motivation: While we can’t rely on motivation to always be there, we do need it before we can start making a change. We must be motivated to want to improve. We have to value the end result, and we have to genuinely want to get there.
STEP TWO: Outcome Goals: An outcome goal is the desired end result or destination of our behaviour change. This desired end result should be specific, measureable, action orientated (you have control over whether you achieve it or not, and you genuinely want to achieve it for you, not someone else), realistic but still moderately difficult, and it must be time based, with a deadline for completion.
STEP THREE: Process Goals: Process goals are the steps to take to achieve our outcome goals. They are how we plan our required habits. Process goals should be highly achievable with a low barrier to completion. When you set them, you should use self awareness to ensure they are behaviours that your future self would definitely complete.
STEP FOUR: Create Environment: You need to create an environment where completing your process goals is as easy as possible. Reduce resistance to completing these behaviours by removing any barriers that may stand in your way. If you find this difficult, look for ‘bright spots’ in your current behaviours, things that are currently working in other areas of your life, and copy them. Make it easy to start by create situation where it’s easier to do than not do. It’s hard to make people change, but we can create the conditions that support change.
STEP FIVE: Start: Once you have a plan and an environment conducive to that plan, it’s time to start. Starting can be overwhelming, so remember that you don’t need to start from the very beginning, build on something you already have. Even if you only rate yourself 2/10 on something, you’re still already 20% of the way there. Starting is the biggest effort, but once you get that ball rolling, it’s easier to continue. People make the mistake of thinking that starting a new behaviour needs motivation, so instead of thinking that motivation causes action, you can use action to drive motivation. When you start, don’t be too hard on yourself, judge success on completion, not quality. Once you get started, you being to produce momentum, as long as you don’t stop, you’ve built a habit.
STEP SIX: Willpower Fuelled Habits: All habits are, area long term adherence to process goals. If you stick with your process goals for long enough, they eventually become easier to do than not to do. Our habits are fuelled by our willpower, the ability to consistently make the decision to undertake our process goals. We can train this willpower by making these favourable decisions. 45% of everything we do in life is a habit, and by repeatedly actioningour processes goals, we move them into this 45% of automatic behaviours. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where it’s easier to maintain habit than not. Then, it’s become a long term behaviour change.
We created the Training Tracker because people told us they needed a better way to set and build goals and habits, track their health and log their exercise and nutrition. The Training Tracker is now available at http://rangeofmotion.net.au/trainingtracker.
