Do Habits Matter? (Atomic Habits by James Clear)
Updated: Jan 3
Welcome to the Keto Mom page, my name is Stephanie Mielke. Today we're going to dive into "1% Better or 1% Worse"...
I want to talk about what it looks like to either hit your goal or not hit your goal. The reason why you might never hit your goals is a pretty simple concept, and it can seem boring or monotonous. But if you understand this one concept, it will keep you going for the rest of the year. So that when you get back to the end of 2023, you've actually hit a goal.
We've been going through "Dream It, Pin It, Live It" by Terri Savelle Foy, for the past 60 days. If you have questions about how how to create S.M.A.R.T. goals or how to hit your target, I have done videos for the last 60 days.
You can watch them on ketomomsecrets on Instagram, or you can go to Keto Mom on YouTube or Facebook. We even have a podcast called ketomomsecrets. There's no shortage of places to listen and learn. You can even send me a message, I would love to help.
So I want to give you a thought from "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. It's around setting goals or what you want to achieve this next year.
"Why small habits make a big difference".
This book talks about the basic building blocks of creating habits and systems for you to hit your goal. I want you to hear this one concept, and I have a visual for you.
"It is easy to overestimate the importance of one big defining moment, and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis".
I'm going to lose weight.
I'm going to get stronger.
I'm going to get our finances under control.
I'm going to have a better marriage.
I'm going to have a better relationship with my teen.
I'm going to work on myself this year.
I'm going to lose 50 pounds.
I'm going to do date night every week.
I'm going to listen more than I speak.
I'm going to do an unassisted pull-up and stretch every day.
I've said that actually for years, but then it's different when you actually write it down on your vision board. You've got this great vision and goals you want to achieve.
"Too often we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal. We put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about".
So we're talking about 1% Better, 1% Worse. I've talked about this before, every day, after your vision board is created. After all the holidays are done, you're going to be in this spot where it's a day-in and day-out where you have choices. And every choice you make is 1% better or 1% worse.
When you get up in the morning, you either hit the snooze or you get up with the alarm clock. 1% better is getting up and starting your day. 1% worse is hitting the snooze button and sleeping an extra hour.
Does that affect your day?
Does that affect your mindset?
Does that affect all of your goals for the rest of the year?
No!
1% Worse: I eat the doughnut
1% Better: I eat eggs and sausage.
Does that make you gain 25 pounds in a week because you chose the donut over the eggs? No! But you have to understand that the little things you do every single day are "1 percenter". You might not get acknowledged for it or feel super excited about it. You might feel sorer because you went to the gym but you will actually feel better about yourself.
It's actually been a week and I haven't been able to do an unassisted pull-up. That's me, I haven't been doing all of the right things. But I've been going to the gym, and one of our CrossFit coaches came up to me while I was doing some pull-ups. She said, "I think you're ready for a lesser band". And I was like, "I'm just gonna do these. I know, I'm going to be able to do an unassisted pull-up by myself". And she said, "If you actually want to do the pull-up by yourself, you actually need to be doing this"...
And I asked, "Really? That one move every single day will get me to where I want to go. And she said, "Yes"... So I just need to do 10 reps every day. It was like jumping up to the bar and slowly letting myself down. And the coach said that I will be able to do an unassisted pull-up before the end of next year if I actually do this every day.
I realized I'd been doing the wrong movements or the wrong things. I've been doing something, but not the right thing, to get me to where I want to go. It's also super easy not to do that.
If I do 10 backward pull-ups today, am I going to be able to do an unassisted pull-up tomorrow? Probably not. But if I don't do the 10 pull-ups today, is it going to affect my mind? I might think, it's not a big deal since I just missed one day. It's one day over and over again. It's easy not to do it. I need you to understand the power of the "1% percenters".
"The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is outstanding. Here's how the math works. If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better than the times you were than the time before you were done. Conversely, if you get 1% worse each day for the year, you'll decline nearly down to zero".
"What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates over time".
If you choose better every day, even if you're not seeing the results that you want. It might take a year or six months, but if you get up every day and work on 1% better, you will reach your goals.
Not hitting the snooze
Reading for five minutes
Work on my mindset
Making my bed.
Creating healthy habits
Packing my lunch
Going to the gym
Walking upstairs to the gym in my home
Doing those 10 pull-ups every single day
People aren't going to see me do it every day. I might not feel like I'm progressing, but over the course of a year, if I do it every single day, surely I'm going to get better than when I had not been doing it.
"This can be a difficult concept to appreciate in your daily life. Don't dismiss the small changes because they don't seem to matter very much at the moment. If you save a little money now, you'll still not be a millionaire".
"If you go to the gym three days in a row, you're still out of shape. If you've studied Mandarin for an hour tonight, you don't get to speak Mandarin. We make a few changes, but the results never seem to come quickly, and so we decide to backslide. Then we decide to not do it, then we decide this isn't working".
You have no idea how many people have sent messages to me about getting frustrated. They've tried all of these diets, and still, fat loss isn't working.
How long has it been?
How long have you been working on this?
How long have you been doing keto or low carb? How long has it been?
And usually, the answer is it's only been a couple of weeks or months, and they haven't seen any change.
You have to set the right expectation, whether it's finances, relationships, making money, job change, or fat loss. This isn't overnight!
It's the 1% you do every single day that people don't see, but you know you did, that will get you to a different place in a year. And it might not even be a year. Your mindset should be committed. Is this 1% better or 1%? worse? Ask yourself this question and you might find yourself making better decisions.
"The slow pace of transformation also makes it easy to let the bad habits slide in. If you work late tonight and ignore your family, they'll forgive you. If you eat an unhealthy meal today, the scale won't move. If you procrastinate and put your projects off until tomorrow, there will usually be time to finish them later".
"A single decision is easy to dismiss. But when we repeat 1% error day after day by replicating poor decisions and duplicating tiny mistakes and rationalizing these excuses. Our small choices compound into toxic results. It's the accumulation of many mistakes, a 1% decline here and there, that will eventually lead you to a problem".
Once you know something, you know it. You might not be able to express it. When you hear something, you might not actually take action on it, but you have the awareness of it. If you're not hungry, you don't need to eat.
Do you actually know how to lose weight?
We've actually talked about the basic building blocks of losing weight. You actually know what to do to get to where you want to go, there is no shortage of information online.
You know the power of small habits, you know the power of your day-in and day-out. You know 1% better or 1% worse. As you go throughout your day and make decisions every day, you get to ask, "Is this 1% better or 1%? Worse?"...
Is this going to help me long-term with my goals? Or is this going to get me further away?
It's all about awareness and commitment. So thank you for tuning in, your presence matters. You can always privately send me a message and I'm here to help. Have an incredible day and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye, everybody!
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