Tag: Changeology

Atomic Changes

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A wise woman asked me to think of this:

“Where might a small change in my routine or habit create more energy?”

I opted for drinking a 23-ounce aluminum bottle of water every day at or near 7:00 a.m. consistently.

This is a question I think everyone should ask ourselves when we’ve reached a plateau.

And hey, I was excited to think that a shot of espresso in a tiny cup could lift fatigue.

It can be hard to change or break negative behavior. The book Atomic Habits is out of print however it’s likely available as an e-book or to check out of the library.

At the end of this James Clear guide is a two-page summary of the specific ways to replace an old habit with a new one.

Atomic habits I think are the ones to shoot for before things reach the point of requiring a drastic overhaul of everything all at once. Which is an impossible feat to accomplish.

Engaging in micro-habits to begin with if you ask me is the way to sustain the lifestyle and spark your motivation to continue.

This is where filming and living life in a slow beat production counts. To rush, cut corners or take shortcuts is a halfhearted approach guaranteed to be shoddy and precarious.

In the long run it’s always wise to take the long view if you ask me. Using the 90-day action plan in the book Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions could be the start of long-lasting or forever-lasting behavior change.

What if what you and I want to do is start something new and not replace an old habit? What if there’s nothing you want to change only a habit you want to add?

I like Google’s AI response. Per Google:

To start something new without replacing a negative behavior, focus on adding positive actions via habit stacking (linking new to old habits), starting incredibly small (micro-habits), changing your environment to support the new, and using mindfulness to build awareness, making it about growth rather than removal, with supportive plans and celebrations for progress. 

I wasn’t a fan of using Google until its first responses turned out to be excellent AI information that I could really use.

A small change is like an atomic habit. If we can micro-dose our happiness in tiny joy “snacks” each day as one expert calls them why not micro-dose the goals we have in smaller steps in the form of daily sub-goals?

More on these ideas coming up in a review of National Get Organized Month in January.

First coming up here a review of a new cookbook that if I remember right has just come out this fall.

Filming a Slow Beat Production

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In an instant one day the words Slow Beat Production streamed into my head.

All along I realized that slowing down was the way to go. To zhush up this philosophy I call filming and living in the video of life a Slow Beat Production.

Decades ago I coined the term of giving yourself a lifeline not a restrictive impossible deadline by which to achieve a goal. I’ve failed at creating 5-year plans. Every 5 years I was tackling the same goals onto a new 5-year plan because I failed to achieve those outcomes in the first 5 years.

It took me 13 years to publish my first book. Over 5 years to accomplish a current objective.

Our lives are going by fast enough. The older we get we don’t have the kind of time to waste beating ourselves up or expecting ourselves to be perfect and do the right things always.

I have an issue with using the word “right” to describe an action or behavior. In a coming post I’ll detail the distinction I make as to why there’s no one “right” way to think feel live act love and dress.

Living our lives in a slow beat is called for when yes we want to get the things we want to have that we’re supposed to get. I’ll refer followers to the book I reviewed in here years ago: Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.

The guide is a 90-day action plan for replacing an unhealthy habit with a new behavior. Ninety days isn’t really a long time. It’s far more viable to embark on a 90-day practice then to fall prey to a magazine article that tells you how to: Drop One Dress Size by Tuesday.

Again the ultimate aim is to reduce the pressure we have to conform, whether that’s following along in having a societally-approved ideal weight, an acceptable lifestyle, or a standard operating procedure for how to interact with others to name a few.

It comes down to self-respect. If we can’t live with ourselves when we wake up in the morning that’s when it’s time to change. This is why I said Goodbye, Chips.

What others think of us should be of no concern. Our best lives are calling and are within reach. This life is attainable when we have the courage to think for ourselves about the kind of life we want to have.

Avanti! Forward!

Giving Yourself a Lifeline

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Years ago when I was the Health Guide at a website I wrote an article there about goal-setting. Over five years ago I first advanced the idea of giving yourself a lifeline. Instead of a strict impossible-to-achieve-by deadline.

The goal of exercising 5 days a week I would say is unrealistic for most people except athletes and fitness buffs.

The goal of losing 20 or 30 or more pounds also can’t be executed quickly.

How quick is too quick? Expecting change within three weeks is not realistic. 90 days is the Changeology action plan length of time for achieving a goal. And some goals will take years and years to achieve.

The fact is that the cumulative effect of the sub-goals you’re executing week-by-week adds up over time.

You might not notice a difference until 5 months later. Five months later the change might seem to have come out of the blue. And it seems sudden and astounding.

I also know from my own experience that having a fallow period is to be expected.

This fallow period can last a year or two and not just a week or two weeks or a season.

That’s why getting hung up on achieving goals quickly is a mistake.

A fallow period or a plateau is to be expected and planned for.

A setback is the cost of doing business in the real world. It’s why I don’t like to use the word failure. Thinking you’re a failure sets you up to not want to try again when the first option didn’t work out.

When a goal doesn’t go as you planned that’s a sign that you need to adapt your strategy.

Life will tell you what to do if only you stop to listen.

Taking time to slow down is imperative. It’s called practicing mindfulness and I wrote about this in here a year ago. You can use the search bar of this blog to type in the word mindfulness to find this blog entry to read.

The fact is that rush, rush, rushing through your goals, your activities, and your life only serves to backfire.

Italians have the ethic of “piano-piano” which is doing things slowly slowly.

See if what I’ve written makes sense. Giving yourself a lifeline might just be the secret solution to achieving your goals.

Quick is often the antithesis of lasting when it comes to making changes.

Going at your goals rat-a-tat-tat and firing away at them every single minute of the day might also impede success.

Voila–extending to yourself a lifeline.

Egged On

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Succeeding at one fitness goal empowers you to make other changes.

I’ve been scrambling eggs for breakfast for 4 week in a row so far.

For two days this week wasn’t possible.

Remembering that setbacks are to be expected you can cut yourself a break when you fall down every so often in doing what you’re trying to do.

I egged myself on (pun intended) to embark on setting another goal.

I find that trying to achieving one goal at a time is the method for not giving up.

Having too many goals  you expect to get at the same time will backfire.

My goal is to use the Changeology book to execute the 90-day plan of having eggs for breakfast and salads for lunch.

I’ll end here by telling readers that the Changeology book website is flawed. I’d like to use their contact form to tell them to post a list of FAQs with answers for every reader.

In fact the team at the website will not respond to you individually even though they say they will.

I’ve had a number of questions: is it okay if it takes longer than 90 days to achieve your goal? If it takes longer does this mean your goal won’t stick for the long-term?

What if you want to change an aspect of your original goal so that it’s easier to achieve it?

These questions have not been answered.

In the next Fitness Fridays blog entry I will talk more about getting support–from an actual expert like a health coach, and from friends and family,  and peers and others.

It might cost a bundle to hire a health coach yet doing this can be a great use of any extra money you have.

Your health coach can empower to make these changes.

I found out that the simple act of changing what I ate for breakfast activated my desire to make other changes.

It starts by reaching out for support. And this doesn’t have to cost a dime all the time.

Checking a book out of the library on the topic or talking with a person who’s been down this road before: it’s all good–and it’s free.

Changeology: Step One: Psych

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On the upper right of this blog where there’s text I inserted a new quote. It’s well worth it to read and remember the quote.

Here it is in case you can’t see the quote right away on your cell phone screen:

“Proceed as if Success is Inevitable.” – Unknown

This week I’ve started Step One–Psych–in the Changeology book. There are five steps total: Psych. Prep. Perspire. Persist. Persevere.

Step One is where you get in the mental game to psych yourself up to achieve the goal you’re going to set for the 90-day time frame.

My goal is to eat more healthful food for lunch and to save money on buying lunches. So, I’m going to bring food from home instead of buying food outside.

To do this I ordered a purple Rachael Ray XL 10 Gallon Insulated Tote. It arrived at my door. Wow–the tote is huge. I’m going to use it anyway. It folds, so will be convenient to take back home folded up.

With the holidays here I’ve been exercising only once a week on Sundays. At the start of the New Year I intend to go back to the gym to lift weights 2x per week. Plus hop on the treadmill one day a week in the winter.

I’ll stick with this one goal of eating more healthful food and ordering food online to bring with me to my job.

First up is keeping a food diary which I’ve been doing for three days so far. I’ll keep the food diary for 7 days.

Next week I will start Step Two: Prep.

I’m so impressed with the Changeology book that I’m giving a copy out as a Christmas gift.

Using this 5-Step method I’ve been successful so far with 2 goals I wanted to achieve.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race. It’s a cliche because it’s true: Slow and Steady Wins the Race.

My hope is that by sharing my own goal-setting plan I can empower readers to reach for your dreams too.

How to Be Well

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how to be well

This book is the real deal just like How to Make Disease Disappear.

In the coming blog entries I’m going to write about health topics touched on in How to Be Well.

It was my goal to turn back to talking about fitness and nutrition.

With January 1st coming up soon a lot of us are going to want to achieve resolutions.

As always, there’s one goal-setting book I recommend. I seem to have altered the title before in the blogs. The actual title is Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.

This method is effective no matter the kind of behavior you seek to change.

One goal I have–I really don’t like to use the word resolution–is to create a better weekly meal plan and fitness routine.

Step 1 of the Changeology method is Psych. In order to be effective in realizing your resolution you first have to get in the mental game to do this.

Joining a gym and firing away at exercise before you engage in the Psych Step you’re going to run out of steam two months later and quit.

I’m going to end here with the truth that I’ll continue to detail in the coming blog entry: M.D.s don’t eat junk according to Frank Lipman, M.D. the author of How to Be Well.

He devotes a section of the book to GMOs which should be required reading.

I’d like to start in the next two weeks to use this blog as a forum for New Year’s goal-setting.

My aim is to show how it’s possible to realize your resolutions.