Hello Lovely Readers!
If you haven’t already check out the first blog post that I made for 2021, go check it out because this post will make a lot more sense when you check that one out.
My January 2021 Goal – Forming The Habit of going on walks for 30 days.
I want to make it a habit to come back here and check in with y’all at the end of the thirty days to keep myself accountable, and also as a source of inspiration for your guys to keep on moving forward with your habits.
This year my goal was to focus on just one habit for 30 days and FOCUS on achieving that goal.
I had always been a big fan of Matt D’avellas videos and how he made videos focusing on forming a habit for 30 days.
This year I wanted to test it out for myself and see if forming one habit each much makes a change in my life, and how that is.
So I did. I went on a walk for 30 days, I only missed 3 days out of the 30 days, but Instead of focusing on being perfect all of the time I focused on giving myself a break when I needed it and learning to listen to my body.
There were a couple of days when I would only go for a mile and a half and other times that I would have the energy to go up to three miles.
I always tried to push myself to make it to the two miles, but I also learned how to give myself grace when I needed it and being okay with “messing up” by missing a day or two.
Usually, for the New Year people can be like, I want to lose weight and be healthy.
But like the quote that I put out on Pinterest that seems to resonate with a lot of people, that says, that when the clock strikes midnight things will not magically change and things won’t be 100 percent the way that you want them to.
Therefore, you have to take it day by day to chip away at the goal.
It’s not about perfection, it is about showing up for the goal and showing up for yourself by creating time for that goal.
By creating the small step of walking daily, I’m not going to be ready for a marathon and I won’t be super fit, but it’s about the motivation of sticking through something and seeing results such as feeling better physically and mentally and then taking another step towards achieving any goal.
HOW I DID IT
For starters, I simplified my goal. My goal was just to go on a daily walk. It was a great way for me to spend time with my dog Hazel, I got to get out of the house and also listen to a podcast or music or nothing If that is what I felt like. I wrote it in my agenda that I would go on a walk @ 4:00 p.m.
I become specific about it and when I was going to achieve it, but I also allowed myself to adjust if I needed like there were days when I had a lot of errands to do and I end up going at 4:30 instead of 4:00.
I didn’t just give up when It wasn’t at the perfect time and said, I’ll try again tomorrow AND I also listen to my body when I knew that I needed to rest and the next day I would be motivated to try again.
I gave myself a reward that I would earn after completing that goal. I wrote down what my reward (s) would be if I achieved this goal.
I would love to work my way into buying a membership for a yoga studio at one point (They can be quite pricy) but I said that I would reward myself with a brand new workout outfit, new workout shoes, and weights.
Of course, you can always promise your self one thing by the end of the month and then try to achieve a new goal to get the next thing
For Example:
- Go on a daily walk @ 4:00 p.m. for 30 days ——-> Reward: New Workout Clothes
- Stretch & do a home workout for 30 days @ 5:00 p.m. ——> Reward: Air pods or Apple Watch etc,
You can always make it that you will place money every single day on an envelope for that item.
For Instance, if a pair of workout leggings are $50 you can always say that you will put $2 away on the envelope before working out, and then you will get to spend that money on the workout leggings when you achieve your goal.
HOW I FELT
I felt great. I still have a week left, but especially because I spend most of my day inside whether that is studying for my Real Estate Exam, Cleaning around the house, watching Youtube videos, or working on my blog taking that time to go on a walk has been great both for my physical health and also for my mental health.
After going out on a walk I come back to refresh and ready to keep on working and filled with motivation.
Taking breaks is important and being active is important for overall well being so why not take both into baby steps and focus on creating that habit
NEXT MONTH
Next month, I will be focusing on a new challenge to improve my life. I’ll be talking more about that goal in the next blog post which should go live on Friday (I have been consistently posting 1 a week, which has made me really happy!).
Like I mentioned before, I want to create habits that are ingrained in my life and not just for 30 days.
This is why I want to continue moving over that habit for next month and the rest of the year for the matter the important part is building a habit for the first thirty days and finding ways to make it stick and since I found that I prefer to go on walks before dinner I will try to do that and write it in my schedule so that I can make a real habit out of it.
Challenge Yourself
If you would also like to form a healthy 30-day challenge, download and print the calendar that I create and place it somewhere where you will see it every day. Mark off every day your goal and also write on the side the rewards that you want afterward.
Candidly Yadi – 30 day habit tracker
