Let's get real for a minute. I've been getting real a lot lately and I really just have to come out with it. I've made a bad habit of justification. It's a slippery slope. For every choice that I make that doesn't move me forward to my goals (hello spoon in the peanut butter jar) I have convinced myself that it's ok for this reason or that reason. That somehow I've earned a "cheat". And I've become ok with justifiable choices that do not promote my health journey. And where has it gotten me? It's rewarded me with a well-earned 15 extra pounds. Those pounds that I was so proud of losing at the beginning of the pandemic. Did I get lazy? No. I'm still doing the work exercise wise. I'm still doing my meal prep. I'm still talking to my coach and doing all the things. So no, I'm not lazy. You know what I am though… INCONSISTENT.
Inconsistency can absolutely kill the work that you've done in a split second. Wanna know why? I'm glad you asked. Because inconsistency can build momentum just like consistency can. So let's check out what consistency can do.
Brushing your teeth every day and making your dentist appointments will give you good dental health.
Moving every day and getting some sort of exercise will help build muscle. Do that enough over time and health risk factors reduce, you build cardiovascular stamina, and maybe even see some muscle tone.
Eating the right foods every day throughout the day stabilizes your metabolism and insulin pump.
Making your bed every day makes for a more enjoyable room to enter into…. And the list goes on.
But what does inconsistency do… well your teeth fall out, you lose muscle, gain wait, increase your health risks and hate the space you live in. You might thing that's a bit dramatic, but inconsistency over time will absolutely mess with your state of living….. not to mention your state of mind.
About a year ago I decided to do a 30 day challenge with a group of amazing and annoying healthy people. And I did amazing. I was consistent and on point for an entire 30 days. I had never done that before and felt amazing. Wanna know what happened on Day 31? I took a break. I did almost everything … but it was almost. I kept some consistent habits but honestly, I lost my edge. Because I lost my consistency. And I began to justify it. I would say to myself "I did great for 30 days. I can relax for a few days and jump back in and be awesome." But I didn't. I stayed in that relaxed mode and only focused on 2 or 3 areas of health. I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I've earned a spoonful of peanut butter, handful of animal crackers, insert snack food here. I also can't tell you how many times I've said I was too busy to work on my personal development or I'll put off meal prep this weekend and just wing it. Or that I earned that glass of wine in the middle of the week when I committed to weekend nights only. I can literally justify anything. I let that justification habit build momentum in the wrong direction. So now I find myself not fitting into my jeans as easily and not performing at my best when I'm running. All because I justified my poor choices.
So how am I going to fix this. You know how people will log their food and water to keep consistent? Well I'm going to start writing down everything that I justify. Every evening before I go to bed I have a habit of writing down at least three things I did successfully that day. I'm going to start adding to that list all of my justifications. Taking inventory of the things that I need to work on immediately, I hope will help turn things around. My goal is to turn consistent justification into radical responsibility. Because if I'm justifying choices then I'm blaming them on something. That can get twisted if I let it be. So instead of blaming my poor choices on something else I take ownership of them and start challenging them more. I know I can turn this around. If I could change my thinking in big ways a few years ago and maintain that I can adjust and turn this thought process around too. No more justification. No more excuses. I have goals and nothing is holding me back but me.
