A couple of months ago the gas struts on my car started to go.
You know – the arms that push a vertical car boot open and stop it closing unless enough downward force is applied.
So I got some new ones.
I measured the length and found some universal ones of that length on Amazon.
Got them delivered and fitted them.
It turns out that, despite being the same length, they don’t have quite the same power.
If you just open the car boot and leave it to lift itself, the strut extends an inch or so less under the weight.
A little push up will open it fully but that slightly reduced strut length equates to the boot opening more like four inches less high.
Which caused, you guessed it, for me to bang my head on the boot.
Repeatedly.
More times than I’d care to admit.
I couldn’t tell you how high the boot used to open.
But I was obviously so used to it being such that lowering my head to a certain height always meant I cleared it.
Old habits die hard.
I’m fine now.
Got there in the end.
Without thinking about it, I just duck that little bit more.
Which is the first lesson.
Habits do change.
With enough reps.
We don’t always know how many reps are needed.
But the reps are the only answer
The habit won’t change if we stop doing the new thing.
Some people will tell you it takes 28 days or 8 weeks to make a habit.
What if the habit is submitting your annual tax return on time?
It’s a number of reps, not an amount of time.
And that number will vary person to person and habit to habit.
But the answer is always more reps.
And the second lesson is that it really helps when there’s pain involved.
Maybe not ‘cracking your head’ type pain.
But some immediate downside to the choice you want to make less of.
Something so you ‘notice’.
If the only downside to the food or exercise choice is that you won’t be slimmer in 6 months, it’s super easy to make the choice that we perceive will give us something we value right now instead.
If we arrange to meet a friend for a workout, we’ll notice the ‘pain’ of cancelling on them more than if we never had anything concrete arranged and just don’t do a workout.
If we eat in a deficit during the week so that we can eat in a surplus at the weekend………
And still create average deficit across the week……….
And then have the integrity to not still eat in a surplus at the weekend if we haven’t ‘saved back’ enough……….
Then we’ll notice the ‘pain’ of not doing what we intended to during the week when we can’t do the thing we wanted to at the weekend.
If we choose to reward ourselves with an activity we enjoy (day out, favourite programme, time with loved ones) for making the food or exercise decision we might otherwise let slip by…………..
And then, again, have the integrity to not just do that thing anyway……….
Then that bit of ‘pain’ can be enough to change our choices and the habits that surround them.
Ultimately, if the only downside to our choices lies in the future, we’re unlikely to change from our default behaviour.
If my head didn’t hurt until three months later, I’d still be banging it now.
If there’s an immediate downside (and / or upside) then we’re infinitely more likely to change those habits.
Much love,
Jon ‘Mosh and Thrasher’ Hall
P.S. The blog image is, of course, what comes up when you google “head bang car”.
P.P.S. If you’d like actual help in changing habits in a way that works for you (and a bit of accountability along the way), then that’s what we do and why we get such success with people who’ve previously struggled. Reply with INFO to find out more about how we can help you!
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RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
