Get back on track: 7 strategies to bounce back

by James Clear

There will always be days when sticking to your regular routine seems impossible. There will be a million and one reasons for you falling off track but it’s no reason to give up! Below are some strategies that can help you get back on track. Habit formation is key to making this work!

Seven strategies to getting back on track:

1. Schedule your habits into your life.Make sure you don’t miss out on doing them by setting these reminders for yourself:

Option 1: Put it on your calendar.
Option 2: Tie it to your current behavior and create triggers that act as reminders for you

2. Stick to your schedule, even in small ways.REMEMBER THIS: “It’s not the individual impact of missing your schedule that’s a big deal. It’s the cumulative impact of never getting back on track.”

For that reason, it’s critical to stick to your schedule, even if it’s only in a very small way.Everyday, find a small way to stick to your schedule

3. Have someone who expects something of you.When you know you have people counting on you, you’re more likely to get the job done!

4. Focus on what you can work with.Focus on your available resources and work with them rather than focusing on why you can’t accomplish your goal because of what’s lacking. Shift your focus from what is withheld from you to what is available to you.

5. Just because it’s not optimal, doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial.Good habits are built gradually. Start slow, live your life, and get better along the way. Progress is a spectrum, not a specific place.The optimal strategies will make the last 10% of difference. Meanwhile, 90% of your results will hinge on you simply sticking to the basics: don’t miss workouts, eat real food, do the most important thing first each day. Master the fundamentals now. You can optimize the details later.

6. Design your environment for success.Don’t simply rely on being motivated for action to take place. Make it WORK! Make yourself work by putting yourself in an environment guaranteed to stimulate your energy and drive. Plan out an environment that will contribute to your daily habits without you needing to be “motivated”. Allow it to become automatic and second nature.

7. Care.It sounds so simple, but make sure that the habits that you’re intending to stick to are actually important to you.It’s remarkable how much time people spend chasing things that they don’t really care about. Then, when they don’t achieve them, they beat themselves up and feel like a failure for not achieving something that wasn’t important to them all along.

Bottom line: Get Back on Track

Change can be hard. In the beginning, your healthy habits might take two steps forward and one step back. Anticipating those backwards steps can make all the difference in the world. Develop a plan for getting back on track and recommit to your routine as quickly as possible.

To learn more and read the full article, go to http://jamesclear.com/get-back-on-track