Healthy habits will not land on our laps. If we want to build the body of our dreams and living healthy, we must be intentional. We look at marathon runners and professional bodybuilders with awe. At times we think we can never run or lift like that. This is not always the truth. The difference between amateurs and professionals is that professionals have mastered the progression of healthy habits.
The Progression of Healthy Habits
“Start by doing what’s NECESSARY; then do what’s POSSIBLE; and suddenly you are doing the IMPOSSIBLE.”
– Francis of Assisi
The word progression is defined, firslty, as a sequence of numbers in which each term is related to its predecessor by a uniform law. Secondly, it means the action or process of progressing. Finally, it could also mean a continuous and connected series. As an example, the progression principle in strength training says that the overload process should not be increased too slowly as improvement will not happen. The overload must not increase too rapidly also as it can result in injury or muscle damage. There needs to be a sequence of developing muscles.
Progression of Healthy Habits Levels.
The necessary.
When you start with new things, whether it be a job, relationship, or exercise routine, you start at the essential level. At the starting level, you choose one action that you would like to master and just show up. When I started with my health journey I focussed on eating healthy for three months. Results was not on my radar, I focused on the process. I wanted to make the necessary changes and make small healthy actions automatic. The more I ate healthily, the better it tasted, and I started losing weight. At times, doing the necessary may be boring but everyone needs to pass through this passage to master habits.
The possible.
After you show up consistently with eating healthy and working out, you start moving to phase two. This phase is called the possibility phase, where you start to improve and see changes in your job, body, or relationships. Seth Godin in his book “The Dip”, says everyone on the journey of mastery must go through the dip. He says the dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. The dip is where you experience the greatest resistance and the urge to quit.
The dip starts happening when ‘starting euphoria’ wears off. The honeymoon of every relationship does fade. The excitement of starting a new exercise routine will not last forever. In this phase, people need to start becoming deliberate about developing discipline. Discipline is what is left after motivation fades away. When you are disciplined, you focus on the process. While motivation focusses on the results. The art discipline relies on principle for taking actions and motivation relies on feelings to act.
Whether you feel like it or not, do the possible. Is it too cold, workout indoors? Does it get tough? you work on getting tougher. The possible stage is where many people give up new habits, relationships, and businesses. Push through the dip!
The impossible.
Once you make it out of phase two, phase three will become your promise land. In the impossible phase, you have mastered the habit and it has become a part of your lifestyle. The cheat code of discipline is consistent habits. People who wake up at 5 am or run crazy distances or gym daily are not superhuman. They have learned how to use selected discipline in developing habits.
When they began on their journey working out was not as easy. However, through repetition and consistency, they were able to move into the impossible realm. Eating healthy and working out used to be a chore and now it is their lifestyle. If you focus on the process and forget results soon you will start doing the impossible. Professionals are people who have made the necessary and the possible automatic. It is their second nature. This is the level we should all aspire to get to.
When I started my journey, I could barely run 5 kilometers. I began doing the necessary by showing up daily to wog (walking and running) 5 kilometers four times a week. I move it to 10 kilometers regularly. Within a couple of months, I ran my first marathon. That was my impossibility sign. I never imagined myself running and finishing a marathon. You may be wondering if you will ever get this healthy living thing right. Thoughts of quitting may be the norm. Do not quit. Keep doing the necessary and possible, very soon you will shock yourself when you start doing the impossible.