Anytime you start a new program, whether it be a fitness and nutrition plan, a mindset program, mindfulness, stress management, or a complete reset, it is important to start by setting yourself up for success.
All too often, when starting a new program, my clients want all the results all at once, and they want them yesterday. By the time they are seeking my coaching services, they have already reached a point of desperation within their lives. It’s okay. It is human nature to want immediate results. Sure, I could technically give them the tools and details of the entire program and send them on their merry ways. I can also predict that some of my overachievers will go full steam ahead on all of the practices. This will last a good one to two weeks, at best. At that point, it, will become overwhelming, get put by the wayside when life stuff comes up, and eventually will become a distant memory of something that didn’t work. Why? Because it is way too much, way too soon, and all at once.
It takes 21 days to make a habit. It takes 90 days to make a lifestyle. That is pretty impressive, given that it takes a lifetime to learn the habits that are embedded into our psyche and the cells of our body. It goes to show the power of the mind and what you can do when given the right tools. One of the things I stress to my clients is that any change or transformation takes time. Just like it took a lifetime to learn old habits, it takes time to unlearn them as well. I want to make sure that my clients are set up for long term success. And part of that is setting the stage for how the next 3 or 6 months together will go.
Setting the stage, for me, means sharing mindset tips that will help them navigate the entire process in the most gentle, nourishing and realistic way. Here are my top five mindset tips for success.
- Set small goals and use them as stepping stones for achieving the much larger goal. Learn one habit, practice it, make it a part of your life and lock it down. Then add the next new habit. Practice that one, lock it down, then move on to the next. By breaking the larger goal into small, approachable and attainable goals, you can lay the foundation and build upon it without feeling overwhelmed.
- Celebrate the heck out of your milestones. Each small goal is a milestone. When you have reached the goal, celebrate it. Pat yourself on the back. Post about it and get some positive attention around it. Do something special for yourself. Whatever it is, make sure you acknowledge your accomplishment and take the time to reward yourself for a job well done.
- Focus on progress over perfection. The path to a new lifestyle is rarely a straight line upward. Not every step is going to work out perfectly. Some of it might look downright ugly. You might backslide for a day or two, then return to your path. Whatever happens, focus on your progress. Look at your overall progress over the course of the week instead of hour by hour. What you want to see is an overall forward movement.
- Learn from your mistakes. We all make mistakes. Especially when we are learning a new habit, it is easy to revert back to old habits. Remember, it took a lifetime to make those habits. So of course you might slide back to them for a minute or two. What is important is that you do not beat yourself up over the mistakes or quit your program because of them. Take the time to step back and look at what happened. Acknowledge the mistake, then ask yourself what worked and what didn’t work, and how you can do better next time. Be gentle with yourself here. Remember, we all make mistakes. What matters is that you learn from them.
- Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. At the end of the day, focus your attention on gratitude. Practicing gratitude allows you to focus on the positive things that happened rather than focusing on what went wrong. You will start to look for the positive things. And as you connect more and more with gratitude, more of what you are thankful for will show up in your life.
Connecting with my top five mindset tips for success can be used for personal transformation programs as well as for just about anything else going on in your life. That could be relationships, jobs, sports, schooling, a business or a project.
I challenge you to choose one of the tips above and apply it to something you have been working on in your life. And then check back and post a comment to let me know how it went!