Too often we are convinced that when we do not keep up a good habit, even if only for one day, we have lost and ruined all the effort that we had put into it. In that case, we usually think all our endeavors have been in vain, and there is no point in carrying on with it. However, your ability to stick to your new behavior is not affected when you miss a single day, as a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology has found out.
Many CEOs skip their lessons, forget to meditate, and athletes sometimes don’t do their workouts. It is consistency, not perfection, that makes elite performers successful. Finding your way back on track is what really matters. A momentary lack of motivation doesn’t mean that you don’t have enough willpower, claims the business2community.com website. Occasional mistakes and lapses are nothing to be bothered about in the long run. However, if there have been two lapses in a row, then kicking bad habits and nurturing the right ones are much more at risk.
Carry on even though you have slipped up
How is a habit defined? It is simply something that is consistently repeated. Our behaviors don’t need to be perfectly regular to form a habit, and that is a really important idea to bear in mind. It can help you not to give up and to preserve and utilize the progress you have made so far. Two mistakes begin a pattern – get back on track quickly.
1. Put all your energy toward getting started
Don’ try to do more in order to offset the lapse, just do as much as you usually do.
2. Schedule
New habits start easily once you make them a part of your schedule. Do it publicly and you will be more likely to actually implement your intentions.
3. Eliminate distractions
Determine why it happened, and if the reason was not an unavoidable emergency, find a solution to eliminate the thing that takes you off track.
-jk