Like the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, long-lasting changes to your body are not going to occur in a week! It takes more than a 21-day crash diet to build the body you desire. And despite what you may hear some “fitness gurus” say, you don’t have to kill yourself for hours every single day running on a treadmill to see staggering results. The key to great long-term fitness success is in incremental change.
Long-term success in anything—from business to beauty—starts with a decision you make to change your habits. You’ve already made that decision! Now, it’s time to focus on making those small daily improvements in the form of your habits. Instead of noshing on a drive-thru breakfast bagel this morning, why not opt for a Greek yogurt and an apple? A week of that breakfast change could take a pound off your goal weight. Imagine what could happen if you made those small changes at every meal, every day? Your long-term results would be extraordinary.
It’s easy to get caught up in chasing the big picture goal to have a particular frame by next Wednesday but consistency will always trump intensity. You want to hit your goal weight? You want that wedding dress of class reunion suit to fit like a glove? Sometimes we can get so laser-focused on the end result that we start to hate what we see right now. We don’t see the journey to our long-term result; we just see a huge gap.
Start making small, daily improvements toward your goal. Choose bottled water over soda. Choose the stairs over the escalator. Choose that “bad” parking spot far from the front doors. Do that for two weeks and look back at the “easy” changes you have made. Let the small daily habits and changes add up and watch your long-term success come to life!
