Sparking an Old Habit

This Sunday was my birthday. I always find them odd. Aside from ones where the state recognizes something special about you (16, 18, 21) or where you enter a new decade (30,40,50…) the day in and of itself never seems special to me. I’m 1/365 older today then I was yesterday. And still it always serves as a point of reflection.

I’ve been lazy the past three weeks or so. My workout routine was interrupted for a few days as my crossfit gym got banned from doing activity indoors. This was followed by the fact that it rained torrentially for the better part of four days. Once my routine was interrupted I settled for poor habits rather than replacing them with good. I’m far from perfect and I admit that I stifled my progress. I am back though into the swing of things so I wanted to share my method for getting back on track:

1) Go Back to the Start

My goal board helped me tremendously in the early going to achieve a level of routine. To restart my routine I restarted my goal board by listing out daily tasks I would complete to have a successful day.

2) Identify bad routines and eliminate

One of the things I would habitually do is come home and eat and then veg out for the rest of the night. I wanted to go running instead so I picked up Jenks and took my companion for a jog. This was outside my routine and I replaced my lazyness by doing something out of the ordinary (picking up the dog).

3) Don’t Overdo It

In the past I would have gone and ran 6 or 7 miles. That would have been good for one day, but kept me from working out today. Instead I ran about 2 miles and I will lift or run about the same distance today. I simply need to reestablish my habit and then work on pushing myself.

It’s not easy to start. It’s the hardest part of achieving a great lifestyle. Once you can develop a routine the process gets a lot easier. Focus on the repetition and then tweak the activity until you maximize the effectiveness. Soon I’ll be back on the crossfit wagon, but it starts with a jog.