Have you ever gotten so excited about getting started on a new habit, you jump in full speed on day one and by the day seven, you are done with it? Think about the last time that happened. How does it make you feel. Do you feel disappointed, ashamed, upset, or guilty?

Isn’t in interesting how we are so quick to continue habits of eating junk food, throwing back with a bottle of Mountain Dew, or spending money on the latest kicks?

So why is is so hard to maintain good habits, but readily pick up bad habits.

The number reason we fail our habits, is because we do not have a plan for sticking with our new habits.
The idea of reaching you goal make you feel excited, but the moments of weakness are the bane of our existence. Nothing sticks in our weak plans; here’s is why:

1. Your Purpose is too generic.

You have poor commitment because you cannot maintain a longterm outlook. For example, you can’t just say, I want to get ‘in shape by lifting weights’. Or you can’t just ways, I want to be a ‘millionaire by starting a business’ You have to understand what this new habit means to you and specifically what outcomes you expected to gain from implementing it.

2. Timeframes are too Short.

A 5’7″ 300 lb guy will not achieve 184lb physique in 6 weeks. So, the 6 juice supplement program you bought needs to be returned, you’ve just been ripped off. The real estate program you just bought that requires you to mortgage you home to pay for the next level, will not make you a millionaire in 6 months, you will still be digging yourself out of the debt! We always expect instant gratification, and if not instant……we expected to achieve miraculous results in too short of a time frame. Starting off with that mindset will set you up for failure from the onset.

3. Lack of Objectivity.

We are such subjective beings. We are quick to go with how we feel about something as though we are psychic or have some mysterious power. If that was the case, we’d be billionaires, and never have an issue in our lives! Boy that would be great wouldn’t it? But no, we become clouded by what I call the Future-Present Spectrum. We are presently thinking and feeling all bubbly about what we desire in the present, but when the going gets tough or we feel like we are not reaching our outcome fast enough, our present actions screw up our future results. We give up. We mentally vacillate on this spectrum of time. You have to get out of your own heads for a bit. Set some milestones. If you are not measuring, with objective data, then you will fail.

There are many more ways that we set ourselves up for failing with implementing new habits into our lives; however, these by far are the my top three. If you find yourself doing these, then start by finding and connecting with your purpose, making sure your time frames are realistic, and setting up measurable milestones.

I hope this gets you started thinking about failed habits and possibly even revisit some old habits that can get you where you want to be.

As always, let me know if this was useful to you! You can email me here.