Two old pirates are sitting at a bar. One asks the other:
Pirate 1 “where did ye get that peg leg?”
Pirate 2 “I was ransacking a British naval ship and the captain swung his sword and cut off my leg.”
Pirate 1 ” AYE, and where did ye get that hook for a hand?”
Pirate 2 “Oh this?, I was raiding a schooner off the coast of India and that captain cut off me hand!”
Pirate 1 “argh! and where did ye get that eyepatch?”
Pirate 2 “I was sailing my ship on a bright day and seagull, flew over and crapped in my eye!”
Pirate one looked confused. “That’s how you lost your eye?”
Pirate 2: “Well, you see, it was me first day with the hook…”
Nobody adjusts to changes instantly. It takes time and plenty of missteps to get used to new conditions. You’re going to make mistakes, but they shouldn’t be taken as a sign you are doing something wrong. They’re a sign you’re in the process of breaking old habits and building new ones.
It’s a common myth that new habits take 21 days to form. A study in 2009 showed that it’s really more between two to eight months. It also showed that the success of a new habit depended almost entirely on consistently repeating its steps through repetition. You just have to keep at it, If you forget or fall off the wagon for a moment, that doesn’t seem to affect your success very much. The key is to not try to over-compensate for messing up (eating a salad because you had a burger).. but to get back to a baseline asap and keep practicing your steps in repetition.
Have you had a goal checkup lately? Book one with me here and let’s talk about your baseline.
