Habits

If you’ve been following my updates, you’ll know that things started to slip in June and July. There were reasons for that (getting a puppy, being sick etc.), but at some point I need to man up and stop the slide and bounce back.

So, my goals for August were to improve sleep, steps and intermittent fasting as close to 80% as I can – whilst maintaining all other habits at 80% +.

Let’s see how that went…..

Well, that didn’t work out very well did it?

Sleep went down. Steps and intermittent fasting stayed about the same. And, protein dipped below 80% for the first time this year! 🤦‍♂️

OK, OK, let’s back up a second before we get too bent out of shape about it. I have some more reasons. 🤔

On reflection, I should have seen this coming. I was still in the last stages of getting better from being sick, so that hit my steps pretty hard. Also, August (along with December) is a month that’s typically very hard to hold onto a routine. I should have adjusted my expectations. We had school holidays, so there was a lot of unusual stuff happening – not to mention I went on three trips for a total of nine days. I was out of my environment for at least a third of the month.

One more reason (it’s the last, I promise!). I’ve changed my fitness goals and am now focused on strength and building muscle. As a result, I’ve started to become more flexible with my intermittent fasting. If I want to get the most out of my weight sessions, they are better done with some food (fuel) in my body. What that means is that I’m choosing not to fast on weight training days (3 days per week), so that’s naturally bringing my average down. That’s fine. There’s no point in being dogmatic on consistency if it doesn’t serve me. For the foreseeable, that means my consistency for intermittent fasting will naturally drop to 55% ish. I’ll find a way of re-thinking this metric in September to better track against my new plan.

So, where does that leave me?

September truly is a month to start the bounce back. It doesn’t need to be green across the board, but I do need to start seeing things shift towards that direction.

So far, I’m tracking towards that!

See you next month!

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In June, my 6.5 hours sleep and 10K steps habits slipped below 80% (blame it on the puppy!).

I was hoping to tighten these up in July, getting all eight habits back to 80% or over.

Drum roll….

(Click here for the full 18 month journey)

Not only did getting 6.5 hours of sleep and walking 10K steps drop further, but I also fell under 80% for intermittent fasting. On top of that, I also saw a lot more consecutive misses.

I’m not about to panic. As I commented in last month’s update, I can’t expect a perfect run each month. July had a very unusual amount of curve balls, that can help explain why a few oranges are creeping in.

• Toby the new puppy is still impacting my sleep. He’s waking up very early (although this is slowly getting better) – so my sleeping window is compressed on some days. Also, I haven’t done a great job of getting to bed early when I know I’m on the early shift.
• I’ve been on-off sick for the last two weeks of July. This made 10K steps more challenging, particularly towards the end of the month (I was pretty much in bed). I also made a conscious decision to give my body more calories and to eat breakfast towards the end of the month. I think that’s what my body needed to recover. The consequence of that was I skipped fasting for five days in a row.

So, yeah, July wasn’t great.

I’ve had to reframe some of my expectations over the last couple of months. When I hit a three month 80%+ streak on all habits in May, I constructed an expectation that anything less than 80% for any habit would be unacceptable going forward. On reflection, that’s not realistic. There will be months where some habits may take a dip. And you know – that’s OK. It doesn’t mean I’ve lost the habit. It just means I’m going through a challenging period that makes 80% consistency difficult for some habits.

Now, that doesn’t mean I can get soft. When I see challenging periods around the corner, I still need to think about sensible ways to mitigate them. And when I’m in the middle of them, I need to try my best to limit the damage. If I happen to fall below 80% in a given month for a habit, I also need to think about what it takes to regroup and build it back to 80% when possible. That’s what real life is about.

And that’s what I will do now. Yes, I’ve taken a step back. But, with the right conditions, I know I can easily build back to 80% across the board very soon.

So, let’s talk about August. My goal is to get 6.5 hours of sleep, walking 10K steps and intermittent fasting upwards, and as close to 80% as I can – whilst maintaining all other habits at 80% +.

I think fasting will be easy. Steps will be difficult because they will continue to take a hit for the first few days of the month as I recover from being sick. Sleep, whilst easier than steps, will still have the whole new puppy thing going on. I also have a few trips planned in August, which may test the consistency here or there (although I am generally pretty good at mitigating against these nowadays).

A fantastic month would be all eight habits at 80%+. But, even if I get intermittent fasting back up to 80% and sleep and steps closer to 80%, that would be a good step forward. If that happened, I could then use September to get back to 80% across the board – as long as I had a clear run at it.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll take it a month at a time. August is for making some ground up, and taking a step forward.

As usual, see you next month.

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I absolutely smashed May – 80%+ across the board for all eight habits. The goal for June was exactly the same, as it will be for the rest of the year.

You may have already guessed from the title of this post, I might have got into trouble in June.

Let’s see how I did:

(click here for full size image)

OK, I have some explaining to do. Let’s talk positives to start with:

• I rarely achieve 100% consistency on anything outside of no alcohol. So, it felt good to drink three litres of water every day in May. I find this very easy now.
• I only missed eating 150+ grams of protein one day, hitting 97% consistency. At the end of last year, I found 120+ grams a day hard. Only eight months later, I have an average of 175 grams. Something very unusual has to happen for me to miss 150 grams. That’s a massive improvement.
• Fasting, supplements and caffeine were all safely above 80%.

Now for the slip ups.

• Sleep and 10K steps took a bit of a beating (67% and 73% respectively).
• Some consecutive misses started to creep in

And that’s because of this:

Yep, we got a puppy (Toby). And well, he’s being a puppy!

We knew it would be hard work, but I under-estimated the impact it would have on my sleep and steps. He likes to wake very early, and doesn’t like to be left alone for too long!

On one hand, it’s a tough pill to swallow. I’ve worked so hard to build eight habits to 80% consistency. I hate to see some yellows creep in. But, if I take a step back, I realise that these habits are too strong to unravel because of a temporary life event. Life is not perfect. I can’t expect a stable and predictable environment every month.

What’s important is that I take the hit, and now focus on how to temporarily mitigate the changes in my situation. I need to hold my head above water as much as I can. And soon enough, Toby won’t rise so early and will be able to be left for longer (this is already happening).

So, what can I do?

I’m going to focus on two things:

1. Go to sleep earlier. If I’m going to be woken up at 5AM, I have to mitigate that by going to bed earlier. I’ve resisted this so far as I like to have a full evening to myself. But, that’s just not viable right now, and sleep is absolutely a higher priority. It’s the base of the pyramid for me. At least for a while, I need to be hitting the sack around 9PM.
2. Time block when I’m going to get my steps in. I tend to have a rough plan and then be opportunistic and flexible throughout the day. That usually works. But, with less flexibility, it falls apart. I need to block time out in the day, and then be more disciplined about walking at that time.

Bring on July. I have a real challenge in front of me. But, the goal remains the same – all eight habits at 80%+.

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My goal for May was 80% across the board for all eight habits.

This was very ambitious for two reasons. I took a lot of April off, so I was definitely feeling a bit rusty with my discipline and routines. Also, 10K steps is a new habit I’m building, and I only had one month at 68% under my belt (March).

So, let’s see how I did:

(click here for full size image)

Now, that’s what you call a SMASH.

I’m so happy with hitting 80% across the board and seeing a full column of green. Sure, things came in a little hot (a few 81% ‘s) – but, I got it done. And I have to keep remembering that I took most of April off, as well having some bank holidays and a half term in May. That makes this an even a more impressive result.

As I type this, I’m taking a step back. I’m able to hold down EIGHT foundational health habits at 80%+ consistency.

I’ll say that once more.

I’m able to hold down EIGHT foundational health habits at 80%+ consistency.

That’s insane for me to think about. Two years ago I couldn’t do one. Just over one year ago, I had two (and it was for only one month, so not a properly established habit).

I struggled for literally over ten years trying to build these types of health habits. So, what helped me finally do it? Three things.

1. A change in mentality. There have been a handful of things I’ve had to think differently about (a good example is, 80% is good enough).
2. My habit tracking systems (the notepad and spreadsheet) have kept me on track every day, and every month. That mix of zooming in on the day, but also seeing the bigger picture has been super important.
3. Accountability. Having friends who are on the same wavelength that I can talk to regularly has been a game changer. We share strategies and help keep each other accountable.

One day, I’ll wrap all of this into some type of course that can help others make similar changes. If this sounds like it would be useful, let me know (I’ll be looking for some guinea pigs!)

Lastly, my goal for June? Exactly the same as May, and exactly the same for the rest of the year. All eight habits at 80%+. I’m not interested in layering on anything new. Instead, I just want to strengthen my consistency on these eight habits for the rest of the year.

See you in a month!

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April was a very unusual month for habits, because I was on holiday for most of it. I therefore decided to let go of any goals or expectations for the month.

That said, I still focused on, and tracked three of my habits (3L water, 6.5 hours sleep and 10K steps) whilst I was on holiday. And then when I got back from holiday, I resumed daily tracking of all habits.

Here’s how it looked:

I won’t go into detail for the period whilst I was on holiday – except to say that I was about 50% consistent with 3L water, 6.5 hours sleep and 10K steps. Not bad, given the trip was packed with lots of activities and travelling (pics at the bottom of the post!).

You’ll notice my consistency was pretty sketchy whilst I was recovering from some jet lag – but once I recovered, things picked up nicely (close to normal consistency).

So, what did I learn, if anything?

• Sleep is EVERYTHING. I really wanted to bounce back hard as soon as I got back from holiday. Instead, the jet lag made for a very rough adjustment trying to get back to normal consistency. When you’re under-slept and tired, it’s MUCH harder to be consistent with good habits.
• Assuming you’ve built habits properly, they won’t disappear if you take a bit of time off. Sure, the adjustment back to them is a bit rough and took longer than I expected – but, I have a baseline of discipline, routines and determination that helped me get close to back on track fairly quickly.

So, what are my goals and focuses for May? It’s simple – all eight habits at 80%. My goal will be exactly the same for June and July. I want to see at least another three months of green across the board before I think about anything else.

This won’t be easy. Whilst I’m back on track (ish) now, I’m still feeling a slight effect from having the 20 days off in April. My appetite is a bit all over the place and I’m definitely feeling a bit rusty with my focus and getting back to my routines. Also, my new eighth habit (10K steps) was only tracked as a baseline last month (68%). I’ll need to see a decent improvement to hit 80% for the first time.

So, whilst a bit punchy, I want to go for it. I want 80% across the board for all eight habits, and then the same again for the next two months (and forever).

I’ll wrap up with an overview of my journey since Feb 2022:

It’s been a slow and successful build towards 80% consistency of seven core health habits:

• Feb 2022 > Aug 2022 (7 months) – early stages of figuring things out, lots of reds and oranges
• Sep 2022 > Dec 2022 (4 months) – figuring things out, and getting to 80% consistency on quite a few habits
• Jan 2023 > Mar 2023 (3 months) – reaching my goal of 80% consistency for all seven core health habits.

Now, I have to move into the next phase – proving to myself these seven core health habits are built for life, along with adding 10K steps as an eighth. That’s what May, June and July is for.

I’m ready and more determined than ever. Let’s go!

P.S. As usual. If you’re struggling to establish some discipline and health habits in your life, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to help.

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My goal for March was to keep all seven habits at 80% consistency. This would be the third consecutive month with all habits in the green – an important milestone, because it feels like a sensible benchmark for establishing a habit.

I also added a 10K steps habit in March. As with the other habits I’ve built, I’m starting slow. I don’t have a consistency goal. Instead, I want to establish a baseline percentage I can improve upon.

Here’s how I did:

I couldn’t have asked for more. Everything at 80% or over – and with a fair amount of comfort for most of them. They are all easy to keep up now. Most of the misses are a rare slip of attention, with a few intentionally planned.

I’m also really pleased with the 68% consistency for 10K steps – a strong baseline. As I expected, I didn’t find it easy. I struggled to fit them in for the first week or so. But, after a while I started to organise myself better and the second half of the month was much stronger than the first half. I didn’t appreciate my biggest challenge would be the weather. March has been miserable in the UK – lots of wind and rain!

Here is a picture of my last 3 months:

And here is my progress since Feb, 2022:

It’s an amazing place to be. Seven foundational health habits that I find easy to achieve over 80% of the time. Going forward, anything less is unacceptable. These are habits I will track and maintain at 80% consistency for life.

So, what does April bring?

I’m on holiday for the first three weeks of April (West Coast, US!). So, I’ll repeat what I did on holiday in August last year – no goals or expectations for any habits. That said, I will focus and track three habits that I want to do my best to keep at a good level – 3L water, 6.5 hours sleep and 10K steps. It shouldn’t take much to keep these at a good level whilst on holiday. They will also help me stay connected to healthy habits and feeling good.

When I get back from holiday, I’ll resume tracking all habits again for the last ten or so days of April. The aim will be to get back on track with a good level of consistency for all seven habits – even if I have no consistency goal for the month. And then, May is when it all starts again. My goals will be the same as March – all seven habits at 80% and an improvement on 10K steps (closer to 80%, perhaps even get into the green).

See you next month! 🙂

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My goals for February were the same as January – all habits over 80%. This is because, whilst I am confident I have these habits locked down, I want to see three consecutive months to validate that.

Drum roll….

Green across the board – that’ll do. 😉

A few things I’m particularly proud of:

• I hit my protein and water goals easily – despite increasing them significantly for February
• My average sleep was strong at 7:21 (second strongest month ever)
• In many cases, the misses were intentional and planned (vs. struggling to hit them in the past). Remember, I’m not trying to be perfect. The goal is not necessarily to hit 100% consistency (with the exception of alcohol)

Now, onto that new habit.

I asked Jamie (my Personal Trainer) if he had any recommendations for new habits to add in the future. He gave me some really solid advice – don’t add any. Instead, continue to nail the foundational habits I have. Avoid the risk of overwhelming myself by adding in new, non foundational habits.

As any good client will tend to do, I’m going to ignore his advice and add another habit for March. 😂

I don’t do this lightly (because often when I do, I pay for it). However, having a steps goal has been on my mind for a while. You might have noticed that I’ve never had a goal for activity. This is because Jamie programmes all of my workouts, and I’ve never had a problem with following his plan. I’m active 5-6 times a week – it’s just who I am. And in any case, it’s kinda hard to set a goal for it because the programming changes to reflect where I am, at any one point.

That said, I’ve slowly become convinced that I need to be consistent with walking. I was going to write an article about why walking is so good, but Thomas Delauer just completely nails it with this short video:

Being consistent with a 10K steps habit will be complementary to the other activity I’m doing and will uniquely help me get leaner. I also like the fact that it will force me to get out in fresh air more often and better use my mornings.

10K steps is not going to be a walk in the park (I literally did not see that pun coming – sorry!). It’s going to take quite a bit of intentional effort to hit.

In true habit building style, I will not set myself a consistency goal to start with. I will just track my baseline in March, and build towards 80% over time. This approach has worked for every other habit I’ve built. That said, I’m really hoping my baseline will be over 50%, but let’s see.

March, here we come!

P.S. I go on holiday on March 29th, so it’s going to be critical to build an early lead to counter balance this.

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My goals for January were straight forward – all habits over 80%. This is the first step towards a larger goal of all habits over 80% for three consecutive months. I want to prove to myself that I have these seven habits completely nailed before I move onto anything new.

Here’s how I got on:

Now, that’s what you call knocking it out of the park!

I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m confident I now have all of these habits in the bank. It feels amazing to say that because less than a year ago, I only had two in the green (and one of them was by the skin of my teeth!). And now, through being focused and patient, I have seven habits that feel easy to do. I can’t explain how much better I feel, and how much healthier I am for building these habits. I feel like a different person, on a different level!

So, February. Whilst I’m going to stick to my word and not try anything new, I am going to make a couple of tweaks. I’m going to increase my water goal from 2 litres to 3 litres, and my protein goal from 120 grams to 150 grams. I suspect my hit rate is close to 80% for these higher targets anyway. That said, it’s going to shift things from very comfortable, to having to think a bit harder to ensure I hit those new higher targets. These feel like appropriate tweaks to make, whilst still feel that building three consecutive months of 80%+ is realistic.

Onto to building that second part of the green wave!

P.S. I now have a handful of people who have got in touch and are starting to track their own habits visually. It’s pretty awesome to be inspiring others to build discipline and good habits in their life. I have a few ideas for how to teach this properly to anyone who wants to give it a go. Watch this space. But, in the mean time, if you want any help, just get in touch!

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