Habits Over Goals

Whether your goals are sport, fitness, professional, or academic driven — once you accomplish them you will almost inevitably hear: “So, what’s next?”

Sometimes the answer is simply “Nothing right now.” and that’s perfectly fine. In fact, in between crushing goals it will almost always serve you well to take a step back, re-evaluate, and fall in love with the process again. We live in a time where “hustle culture” surrounds us. It’s constantly put in our faces to chase the next thing, then the next, and so on. We’re almost conditioned to only function well with a goal in mind — so much so that if we’re not in pursuit of something, we may struggle to sustain the habits or standards we once had in place. Perhaps we feel lost, or directionless. How do we combat this?

We’re going to focus our efforts into stacking small, sustainable habits that will lay the foundations for accomplishment when we find ourselves with another goal to pursue. These are going to be non-negotiable standards that we set for ourselves. The beauty of this? There is no pass or fail, win or lose. Think of these habits as your personal flotation device, or life jacket; they’re going to help you tread water and prevent you from drowning.

Let’s break it down into three steps:

1. Pick ONE Area of Development – For this example, let’s say we want to develop a nutrition-based habit. We want to eat more fruits and vegetables.
2. Make it Measurable – Here’s where the standards come into play. Eating “more” fruits and vegetables is great, but let’s get more specific. For the purpose of this example, we’re going to include a minimum of one serving of fruit or vegetables with each meal.
3. Be Patient & Persistent – Be patient with the process, and with yourself. These habits aren’t built overnight. You will stumble, you might even miss a day, that’s the point. Give yourself time to adjust and implement a new habit before adding anything else. This may take a month or even longer, it will require some persistence. Once you have that habit firmly engrained, time to repeat the process again.

The key here, as always, is consistency over perfection. The more unwavering we become with our own standards, the more attainable and less lofty our goals become.

If you need help establishing and developing positive lifestyle habits, book your complimentary, comprehensive nutrition assessment today! Fill out the form below, or email kate@groundworkathletics.ca to get started!