The
Coaching Bit
I hope that
you may have tried adopting the 5% principle that I shared with you last week
to chunk down a goal and make it manageable to achieve. I am still increasing
my weekly walking target by 5% and I am on track to meet my goal by the end of
March. At that point it still won’t be a habit though. I will have to continue
to walk at this level for 66 days in order for it to have become a habit. This
sounds like a lot of hard work – but the positive is that after this it
shouldn’t take any willpower to keep it up! (That is a thought I like).
Let me
explain.
The brain is
not hard-wired, it has what scientists call ‘neuroplasticity’. That means that
it is capable of making new connections, developing new ways of thinking and
new ways of doing things – meaning that you can change!
It has been
stated, by scientists that it takes approximately 40 days for a new action to
become routine and approximately 66 days for it to become a fully fledged
habit.
The 40 days
is based on research done by NASA scientists working with astronauts. They
wanted to understand how long it took to rewire the astronaut’s brains.
To do this
they gave a group of astronauts convex glasses which flipped the world upside
down. The scientists then observed the astronauts to see what happened. Well,
after 21 days the first astronaut’s world turned the right way up again. The
others followed, taking anything from 21 to 40 days for their world to right
itself. Their brains had totally rewired in that time.
Interestingly,
if the convex glasses were removed half way through the experiment, even if
only for one day, it took another 21 to 40 days to achieve the change.
Consistency is clearly vital for routines to be formed.
However, in
another experiment by University College, London, it was discovered that it
takes approximately 66 days to form a habit. They define a habit as a
behavior that has reached a stage of
'automacity', where it is performed whenever the situation is encountered
without thinking, awareness or intention.
However,
There was a wide variation in time it took the participants to form the new
habit which ranged from 18 days to 254 days, 66 being the average. So why might
it take you just over two weeks or about eight months to change a behavior?
Simply put – motivation. You need to be serious about making the change and
have a really strong ‘why’ to overcome the urge to not bother.
If you are
reaching this point, here are some tips to help you keep going for that magical
66 days (more or less).
- · Change only one habit at a time.
Overhauling your life needs to be done one step at a time.
- · Start with small steps – that 5%
more that I mentioned last week. Make the goal possible for you to achieve.
This builds momentum.
- · Make this a habit by repeating on
a daily basis until it is automatic – you feel that you need to do it and can’t
imagine not doing it. Then make it bigger – walk further, eat a bit less,
whatever it is you are doing, take it a few steps on once it has become
habitual.
- · Identify your cue – what causes
you to do the activity? It may be drinking a glass of water before dinner or going
for a walk after dinner. Your cue, in this case is the time of day or the meal.
If this is consistent the action should be easier to form into a habit.
- · Be sure that it is a habit that
YOU want to install. If getting fit is your goal then because someone else is
running five miles each day, doesn’t mean you should if you hate running. Walk,
dance, swim, - find an activity that you will enjoy, it’s YOUR life, do it YOUR
way.
- · Plan for the days when it just
isn’t possible. You may feel ill or have an unavoidable meeting. What will you
do then? Maybe just do less, or allow yourself that one session off, knowing
that you will be back on track the next day. Dieters are notorious for letting
one lapse turn into complete abandonment of the diet. Don’t let that be you
–mentally plan your strategy.
- · Create accountability by telling
others what you are doing. It is much harder to quit if you have to explain why
you quit to others. I certainly found that publicly stating my aim to only
drink water for the month of January and asking for sponsorship ensured that I
stuck to the goal. Failure wasn’t an option once I had done that!
The
Styling Bit
Last week I
mentioned that I would share some of the characteristics of the five main body
shapes.
•
If
you are an apple shape, you have a voluptuous chest, round tummy, little or no
clearly defined waist, quite a flat bottom, chunky arms and wonderfully slim
legs.
•
If you are a pear shape,
you have a small bust, slim arms, slim waist, flat tummy, curvaceous hips and
thick legs.
•
If you are a strawberry
shape, you have a wide back and broad shoulders, a large bust, flat bottom,
slim legs, and you carry weight around your tummy.
•
If you are a rhubarb
shape, you have a boyish figure with small bust, no clearly defined waist, slim
hips, wonderfully long slim legs and a long body.
•
If you are an hourglass
shape, then you are curvaceous, with a full bust, small waist, rounded hips and
generous thighs. You may also have heavy legs.
As you can
see, there is no perfect shape. If you are like me, you would probably like to
have aspects of each, but acceptance of what you are is key. Once you are clear
about what body shape you have, you can dress to flatter your shape,
highlighting your assets and drawing attention away from aspects that you are
less keen on.
(Excerpted from my soon to be published
e-book “Success with Style: How to Create a Signature Look That Says You Mean
Business”)
So which
shape best describes you?
Over the
next few weeks I will share some of the styles that flatter the different
shapes.
