Recently on my podcast I talked with nutritionist Amy White (full episode here). She brought up a common experience that so many of us have with habits.
You start and are fully motivated!
You even employ the 3 Success Keys to Habits:
Yes! You are going to make this habit thing work!
And then—you see no results!
You stay consistent for a few days—no results.
You stay consistent for a week or so—no real results.
What do you do now?
The analogy that Amy taught us is that this is just like when we take an ice cube out of the freezer.
You take the cube out and put in on the counter.
You do not immediately see a change. It doesn’t immediately become a small puddle of water.
It takes a bit of time.
But the time is only to see visible change.
When you take an ice cube out of the freezer the thawing process starts immediately.
The warmer air around the cube starts to immediately impact the frozen water molecules and as they get warmer, they start to move more freely and change from their solid state to a liquid state.
That all starts to happen the second you take the cube out, you just don’t see any of that right away. It takes a bit of time for that process to become visible.
The same is true with habits!
That is why the first habit outcome is NOT to see results. The first habit outcome is to get consistent!
The alternative is to look at the ice cube, get frustrated and throw it back in the freezer.
It’s really not melting now!
And all the progress that was started with the warm air starting to change the state of the molecules is lost!
We now have gone backwards to the same results that we had before.
That’s what happens when we quit habits.
The same thing happens in our lives. It’s like we have thrown ourselves back in the freezer. A change in your life happened, you just hadn’t seen the results you wanted yet.
But the only change you need is a change to consistency with the habit!
Changes are happening, even if you can’t see it.
The critical question is: “Did I do it?”
NOT “What did I get out of it?”
The air is moving around you and things are changing. Don’t throw the ice cube of your habits back in the freezer.
Stay consistent.
Celebrate every day you complete the habit.
Feel the air moving around you.
Eventually that will turn into the results you want!
Want some help getting started? Check out my free Happily Ever Habits guide to get you started on your habit journey.