Recovery

A friend of mine was asking me how I was to build a consistent routine at the gym and my response was that it has not always been easy. My first few months at the gym were very rough and during those times I was not that consistent, I used to be on and off at the gym, but at the end of the day, I was able to get it together. Till now it’s not as if I am perfect with the habit of going to the gym, just that I was able to build a habit but is not always about trying to have a perfect workout, but I try to build a routine with consistency.

When we are trying to create a habit, we are always filled with different thoughts, especially the thought of making it perfect, this is the wrong thing to focus on at first. When you are starting a habit it is good to build consistency, I’m using the gym as an example because it is what I do. Sometimes I don’t feel like going to the gym, but I still go anyway and those days I may not work out properly but the plan is to show up every day and not have a perfect workout. The perfect habit is not possible and sometimes you’ll backslide but your ability to recover quickly is what makes the difference.

You must recover quickly.

The main reason why it is advisable to start a habit gradually and build from there, the goal is not for you to have a perfect habit, The goal is for you to be consistent, trying to build a perfect habit is a way of telling yourself that you don’t want to do anything, if care is not taken you might keep procrastinating until you forget about the idea of why you want to create the habit in the first place. We must remember that having cheat days is not a bad idea but the most important thing you must consider is your recovery plan because when some people backslide it is difficult to recover.

When you miss the gym once a month, it may not have a major effect on you as long as you are consistent for the remaining part of the month. When we tolerate a bad habit once in a while, it doesn’t always make a major difference, but when we do it consistently without recovering quickly, this is where we see the consequence of doing the bad habit. Any time we are planning to cheat on our habit, we must also have a plan for quick recovery so that we won't end up destroying our years of hard work and consistency. You must always remember that there is nothing like a perfect habit and our goal shouldn’t be to create a perfect habit. Our goal is to create what works for us and be consistent with it.

Thanks for your time.

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