The Shocking Realities (& Benefits) of Habit Formation

“I think I need to shock my pool,” my client Peg (not her real name) said one day.

WHAT?

Background: Peg has several brain and body-based diagnoses. As a result, she decided that using an Endless Pool (a small, easy-to-use, swim-in-place pool) would be beneficial for her health.

The Plan: Get the pool installed and start swimming.

Peg understood that the pool installment wouldn’t happen overnight, however, she wasn’t prepared for the amount of time and number of decisions required: get Homeowners Association approval, find and schedule vendors, make numerous decisions about materials, and more.

So once the pool was ready, it was just a matter of figuring out when to swim and testing the water periodically, right?

Well…

In addition to checking the water on a regular basis, there’s proper storage for pool chemicals, locations for necessary tools, learning how to operate the various pool settings, and creating a swim routine.

Things were going along well: Peg swam on a regular basis and she was seeing/feeling positive changes in her body!

Until the chemicals got out of wack and the normal fixes didn’t work.

What happened to the marketing promise of being easy to maintain?

It often seems simple to set up a Beacon Habit (movement, rest, nutrition, anchoring, and mindset). Buy a couple of items (if needed), plan a step or two, start, and there you are!

As you can see from Peg’s story, sometimes building a new routine doesn’t flow so smoothly.

Here are other challenges she encountered:

• It took longer than anticipated to get the pool installed.
• There was confusion about which tests were more reliable.
• Some chemicals had to be stored in a cool, dry, yet open area – this isn’t always easy in the South.
• Finding comfortable and functional equipment: swimsuit, goggles, earbuds, etc.

Peg could give up. After all, she’s shocked the pool twice without getting the results she needs.

There have also been several times when she’s had to stop swimming for a week or two due to health issues or travel.

Yet she loves the positive changes in her stamina, muscle gain, weight loss, and mood. Swimming is a great stress reliever for her.

Peg knows that if she stops, she’ll not only lose all of her gains, but it will also be more difficult if she decides to restart swimming in the future. Once a habit is abandoned, it’s harder to begin it again.

You may not want or need to create an exercise routine. But I’m sure there is at least one Beacon Habit (movement, rest, nutrition, anchoring, and mindset), that would benefit your well-being.

What’s the first step?

Decide what habit you want to acquire – just one!

Then consider some of the details:

• What tools or supplies do you need?
• When? Days and times.
• Of your current activities, what has to change? Do you need to discontinue some obligations? Do you need to shorten the amount of time you spend on one or more endeavors?
• What else do you need in place to be successful?

Check out The Secret of Successful Habit Change for additional ideas.

My clients discover that coaching with me helps them create and maintain new habits more successfully.
Whether establishing a new morning routine, developing a better system for processing your information, or designing consistent self-care practices, any new habit will have setbacks as well as successes. Keeping your focus on the benefits of the new behavior will help minimize frustration when you hit a glitch.

Habits are the basis of successfully navigating a medical diagnosis. This is why two of my educational support modules in The Roadmap (the supportive educational material in my Overwhelm Slayer Coaching Program) are: Habits are where it’s at! and With These Beacon Habits You’ll Never be Lost.

Want to find out more about how the Overwhelm Slayer Coaching Program can help optimize your life after a medical diagnosis? Contact me (IM, call/text: 919-467-7058, send a message in a bottle, or comment below and I’ll send information right over.