It’s been a really long time since I’ve posted in this blog and I definitely have a new perspective for consistent bloggers. I realize how difficult it is to maintain something even as easy as writing out your thoughts and sharing it with people who may or may not listen.
Even more pressing is maintaining something that may now expected of you that might be not be a norm for you. We all have these experiences; think about maybe when you started a new job and brought in some candy or some sort of treats for your new coworkers to share with you to show your kindness. How many times have you brought back that candy? Don’t worry I answered none too.
When something isn’t part of your typical routine it’s difficult to make it stick. Hence why we’re humans, we’re a creature of habit and love to do things that have that constant or stable reinforcement. That’s where diligence comes in; where you need conditioning to change a maintained behavior to a more desired behavior.
Diligence is as simple as setting up constant signals to help trigger specific desired actions. Setting a specific day to bring in candy to work, placing the word candy on your desk towards the end of the prior day, stopping at the store on your way home from work and leaving candy in your car.
One behavior I have diligently practiced is eating right and maintaining consistency with that behavior. In the past I used to just grocery shop for healthier food items and think it would all come together. It wasn’t long before I discovered I was still eating crap food and throwing away more of the healthier Items because they would go bad or I’d have them for too long.
It was such a waste of my efforts, time and most importantly money! I understood that I needed to be diligent and consistent from grocery store to meals but I was missing specific actions that would help me accomplish consistency. To help myself change I started, not only prepping my meals for the week every Sunday, I made sure to pack all my meals for the day the night before.
I set a trigger date to meal prep, and also made sure to grocery shop weekly the day prior to ensure meals would be enough for the week. I also started experimenting with odd foods to spark my interest and provide reinforcement. I even discovered Greek yogurt! Oh my goodness it’s ridiculous!! If you hate yogurt like I did, you need to give yourself a easy in by trying some Greek yogurt, granola and your fruit of choice; strawberries for me. PHENOMENAL!!
Honestly my example is so basic but you know yourself and what triggers your memory and motivation to act in your desired way. We all know how easy it feels to just maintain routine and stay doing things that have us just go through our days. Its extremely difficult to be diligent especially intentionally. My challenge to you is for you to create ways to be intentionally diligent and execute on the actions that drive and reinforce any new desired behaviors.
