Have you ever tried to establish a new habit or behavior – and things started off really well? But, then after a few days – or even a few weeks, you slip up and have a bad day?
I’m guessing the answer is yes.
So, how did you feel in that moment? How did you handle it?
If you’re anything like me, it’s super frustrating. All you can think about at that moment is the bad choice you made – or the fact that you haven’t been able to stick to something you said you were going to do.
You were doing so well, and then bam, you let yourself down and now you’re back to square one.
You probably felt disappointed, and perhaps even angry about it right?
Here’s where it starts to get even worse. This can often lead to a moment, where you say – to hell with everything. If I’ve failed, I might as well fail properly. I’m just going to let loose and do even more of the things that I wasn’t supposed to do. Just get it all out of my system.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that, and you tell yourself – ‘I’ll just start again on Monday’?
Here’s the kicker. You know exactly what you should do. You should just not let this mistake ruin everything, and get back on track right away. But, more often than not, you just end up going further off track.
This is a classic form of self sabotage. It’s happened to me probably a thousand times.
I want to dive into a few examples where I have found myself off track. And then afterwards we’ll look at how the power of the average helps with these situations.
Sticking to calories
I have a number of calories that I want to hit every day. At the moment, it’s 2,300.
Whilst I’m usually fairly close to that, sometimes I just completely fucking blow through it by over-indulging. I’m talking, well over 3000 calories. Not only do I blow my calorie number, but I also then put my macros (my protein, carbs and fat), completely out of whack.
In the past, when this would happen, I would feel disgusted with myself. I just got completely stuck on how weak a person I was to give in and over-indulge.
All of this happened despite how clear I am with myself that my calorie target for the day is 2300 – and the fact that I am very motivated to hit it. But, from time to time, life just gets in the way, or I have a moment of weakness. I just completely slip off track.
Walking 10,000 steps per day
I have a 10,000 per day step target. Most days I hit it. But now and again, I just lame out and find myself on 2,000 steps as I head into the evening. At that point, I know I’m done for. I’m never going to hit my step target for the day.
For the most part, this is avoidable. It’s not rocket science to plan for getting 10,000 steps in, and then simply doing it. It’s simple time management, and then actually walking. But, at the same time, sometimes I do just end up slipping up. Again, life just gets in the way, or I lose my focus.
That’s just two of many examples where I find myself getting off track with what I’m trying to do. I might have three, four, five – maybe even ten days of being consistent with something, and then wham, I find myself missing the mark.
Now, in the past I would have gone full self sabotage mode. I would have beat myself up, and I would tell myself all types of bad stuff about why I wasn’t capable. I would have got stuck ruminating on why this is going to stop me ever getting the results I want. And then, to punish myself even further – I would get even more off track and vow to start again at some point in the future.
This became a really vicious circle for me. And it happened a lot, because I was trying to be perfect – and of course, nobody is perfect. We all get off track with something we’re trying to do eventually.
And that’s EXACTLY where the power of the average comes in and helps.
Your results are very, very, very rarely ever dictated by a specific action, a bad day, or even a bad week. At least not when it comes to being fit, healthy – and looking and feeling your best.
What matters much more is your average over a longer time horizon. Consistently hitting a strong average over a long time horizon will absolutely get you the results you’re after. You do not need perfection. In fact, perfection is the enemy.
If you have a consistently high average over a long time horizon, you can weather most things and still achieve very impressive results. You can easily weather a bad day, even a bad week. In fact, in the most extreme example, you can even weather a couple of bad months, if you have a high average over the course of twelve to eighteen months.
That’s exactly why I chose a target of 80% consistency for the month when it comes to all of my foundational health habits. I think there’s some magic to being 80% consistent with foundational health habits.
To explain why I think that, the next thing I’m going to say is something in which I have absolute conviction in. But also I have absolutely no scientific data to back it up.
But hear me out.
- 80% consistency with foundational health habits gets you most of the results. Importantly, it also allows you to live a balanced and fun life. And 80% consistency is VERY realistic for anyone to achieve.
- 90% gets you only slightly more results, but it also starts to become disproportionately restrictive on life. That’s even if you could achieve it – because 90% consistency involves a very thin margin of error.
- 100% – it gets you even less, slightly more results. It’s also entirely unsustainable and leads to a very restrictive, and usually miserable life. You’ll be continually in that vicious cycle I mentioned earlier – of trying to be perfect, failing, self sabotaging, and repeating that cycle. And trust me, with very few exceptions, 100% is not fun, and it’s not necessary.
So, start to think, 80% consistency. That’s the average you want to be aiming for. I promise, you will be blown away with the results you get from being 80% consistent with foundational health habits.
I’ve been able to transform my body, health, confidence, anxiety – and have generally just become a way more disciplined and capable person by getting six foundational health habits to 80% consistency. And I’m working on taking that to seven as we speak.
I want to give you one very simple, practical tip – that is at the cornerstone of living the 80% philosophy.
You have to start documenting and tracking your progress
There’s a few reasons why you have to do this.
Firstly, how do you even know what your % consistency is over a longer time horizon, if you don’t track it? You have to know this. Otherwise you might be hitting 50%, 60% or 70% consistency without even knowing.
Secondly, when you start documenting and tracking your progress, you become more consistent. It’s motivating to be able to see your progress in front of you, and it helps to give you self awareness of where you’re at throughout the days and weeks.
Lastly, it’s the only way you can clearly see in front of you, the longer time horizon view. By documenting and tracking your progress, you’ll be able to see blips for what they are – simply blips. You’ll see five, six seven or so ticks, and then one cross for example. When you see it like that, the cross doesn’t matter. It just becomes part of the 20%. It’s really hard to get this perspective unless you can see it in front of you.
Here are a few examples of how I document and track some of my own habits and behaviors, and how the power of the average helps me stay on track with my foundation health habits.
Tracking calories
I track my calories using the myfitnesspal app. As I mentioned above, my goal is 2,300 calories. Any time I like, I can see my calories for each day of the week, and what the average is.
Check out last week:
I had a huge spike on Thursday – 3,193 calories. And then I followed that on Friday by also going over my target – 2,481 calories.
Now, that’s not good right? Sure, it’s not ideal. BUT, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I had 1,855, 2,104 and 1,762 calories. All below my target of 2,300 calories.
My average calories going into the weekend was 2,279. So, I was actually under my goal for the week at that point!
So, yeah, those two high days were unfortunate. And, yeah, sure, I wish they hadn’t happened. But, there were some specific reasons why they did, and that’s because I allowed myself to flex into the 20% and enjoyed life a little. And, crucially, my average over the 7 day period is really what counts – not a specific day.
So, by tracking my calories and being able to see it in front of me. I am on top of what my current average is, and I can see those two blips for exactly what they are – just two blips. It can still be (and was) a very successful week where I hit my average of 2,300. And actually, what’s important to note is that it helps me think ahead to ensure I have more chance of being successful with hitting my target of a 2,300 average on any given week.
Tracking my training
I track my training every day in the notes app on my iphone. Nothing complicated. I just have the days in there and I note down what got done.
My goal is five training sessions per week. Three weight training sessions and two sessions of zone 2 cardio. I also note down my steps each day – with my goal as 10,000 steps per day. And lastly, I jot down any mobility I do.
This was last week:
Again, super simple. It’s just a simple list with the things I do each day.
And whilst I do have a plan for what I will do each day for the week ahead – it rarely goes to plan. So, as I fill out each day, it’s sort of my way of building the week. This allows me to see what’s building, and I’m then able to rearrange things to make sure that I close the week and hit my goal of 5 sessions, 10,000 average steps and some mobility.
That view is crucial for me. If I intend to train on a given day, and for whatever reason, I skip it – it doesn’t become this epic fail. I trained plenty before it, and I will rearrange the days after it. It’s just a blip.
Tracking foundational health habits
OK, last example. And that’s of course, how I track my foundational health habits.
Let’s take June as an example. Across the six foundational health habits that I have an 80% consistency goal for, I have twelve misses so far.
Two misses for sleep. Three for protein. Three for caffeine. Two for water. And two for steps.
(this photo was taken a few days after I wrote this, so some of the numbers differ ever so slightly)
Each of the six habits is in front of me, and every tick and cross for the fourteen days of June so far.
And I can see those misses for what they are – twelve blips, among a sea of seventy-three wins.
There are thirty days in June. So, I can afford six misses for each habit and still hit 80%. So, as it stands, each of those six habits is on track to be at or above 80% consistency. There’s nothing to be worried about. I’m exactly where I need to be.
By documenting and tracking my foundational health habits in this way, I’m able to keep the right perspective on where I am with everything. When I have a miss, it’s not the end of the world. No getting bent out of shape. No self sabotage.
It’s just one of six misses that I can afford over the 30 day period. I can clearly see what’s happened so far in the month, and what’s left to run. And that allows me to navigate the month with no drama. And I usually come in at a solid 80% consistency for each of those foundational habits.
To wrap up, remember: aiming for 80% consistency is key. Let go of perfection. Document and track your progress to keep the right perspective.
Good luck with building your foundational health habits. If you need any help, hit me up!
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