Don’t Break the Chain (How to Form Real Habits that Stick)

I have a FitBit, just like almost everyone else in the world these days.

I had it for a long time and I didn’t even wear it. Then one day, about 6 months back I put it on because I was just curious how many steps I got in a given day.

(particularly when I work from home and sit on my ass generally all day)

2000 steps

Damn….that’s not a lot.

Then I compared it to a day when I was at the gym, coaching and running around,  I easily hit 10,000 which is what’s recommended per day.

I also compared how much better and leaner I typically felt when I was going for walks. It helps clear my head, gets me some low level exercise (which is great for your hormones and stress) and allows me to either just chill and listen to music, brainstorm or listen to my favorite podcasts.

So I set a goal for myself to get a minimum of 10k steps per day. No matter what.

This became a non-negotiable for me and it’s easy to measure because the good old FitBit will tell me what’s up. Some days I get it easily, some days I have to go for a walk (usually 3x per week) and some days I crack my husband up because I’ll just do laps in the house if it’s already like 9pm and I’ve
just gotten home from the gym.

But I’ve made it a rule. Gotta hit the 10k steps.

It gives me a focus, it ensures that I’m more active and I just feel better.

Done and done.

What’s my point today?

Find something that you can do that with, and just don’t break the chain.

I’ve come up with a few for myself and it allows me to stay focused and get important things done.

My 10k steps
3 liters of water per day (I track this simply by using my water bottle, and downing 3 of them)
Meditate 10 minutes in the morning
Move my body every day
Do my gratitude and positive focus every night

Just don’t break the chain. Don’t start with 5 things and then get discouraged. Find one thing you can do every SINGLE day and measure it. Every day. Then after a few weeks that’ll become a habit and a daily ritual. Figure out a way to make it non-negotiable (like for me, the FitBit tells me yes or no, no stories).

Then you move onto the next thing and you continue to create daily rituals that are positive in nature. Simply reminding yourself not to break the chain will help you stay on track with it. Make it a simple switch, easy to measure and something that actually provides you with some positive feedback when you do it.