What Can You Do MORE of for Changing Habits?

While yesterday may have been the start of the New Year, let’s face it. They should just call January 1 #StayInYourPJsAndSitOnTheCouchAllDay Day. The first of the year is the day that we get our final day of relaxation in, watch some college football on TV, reflect on the year that passed, think about what we want to do next year, and mentally psych ourselves up for the week and year ahead. Especially if you’re someone who’s had off of work for the past 1-1.5 weeks, that first day of the year is all about getting yourself back to reality. So now that January 2 is here and the real start of the new year, I have one big question for you, my readers:

What can you do more of when changing or creating new habits?

I was recently interviewed for several publications asking for my input as a dietitian on my personal resolutions for the year along with common trends. Across the board in publications like Reader’s Digest and Vitamin Shoppe, my answer was pretty much the same. I am not about resolutions. Instead, it’s about creating or changing habits. And that is why I am all about what you can be doing MORE of in your life.

Why is my focus on what we can do MORE of versus we can do less of? Well let’s talk about what it means when we hear the word MORE.

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MORE make us Happy!

When we hear the word MORE we look forward to it. Who doesn’t want MORE of something??? On the flipside, the common perception of entering the new year is that it’s all about giving something up.  This “New Year = Less” mentality just feels sad. Less gives the impression that we’re giving something up or depriving ourselves of something we enjoy. Less means we know there’s something more we could be doing, but for some reason we’re not allowing it. The word less is very restrictive.

Yesterday at my families New Year’s dinner I had to hear from several family members telling me how they were getting themselves psyched up for what they were going to be giving up this year. They were sad to no longer be able to eat cookies and holiday treats and I asked them why you have to stop. In exchange for those cookies, what else could you be doing MORE of so that you’re not feeling guilty. When I asked that, question you could see some realization coming into their eyes.

MORE is Motivating!

Doing MORE of something becomes a positive challenge to ourselves. Rather than feeling like you need to give something up to create a challenge for yourself, doing MORE feels less burdensome. By doing MORE of something we’re keeping ourselves motivated to maintain that momentum. Having a tracking system to see how much MORE you’re actually doing adds to that motivation.

Several years ago I started keeping a calendar to help me track the days I attended classes at local fitness studios so I knew how many classes I had used of my packages. When Mr. E saw me marking off my workouts, he got inspired to do the same. And then it kind of turned into a little competition between us. Who could get to their workouts the most days of that month? The funny thing is, there really was no prize other than bragging rights, but it was something that was very motivating when we looked at the calendar to see how many days had workouts marked. So use your MORE item to keep yourself motivated and moving forward.

MORE makes us forget we’re doing less!

You’re probably familiar with the term “a rising tide raises all ships”. When we do MORE of something or put our attention towards a certain positive action, there’s going to be a reaction where we put less focus and attention on negative habits. Focusing on positive habits means that you’re not as fixated on negative habits. Think about “resolutions” you’ve made in the past where the intention is to avoid or stop doing something. But then we feel sad, frustrated, and in turn a loss of control when we feel like we’ve “failed”. By putting our focus on the positive, the negative will work itself out on its own without ever putting focus, fixation, or frustration on it. Pretty cool huh?

What can you do MORE of?

So again I ask you what is it that you can be doing more of in your life? Perhaps it’s one of these eight healthy habits I’ve been talking about:

• Eating Lifestyle
• Fitness
• Health
• Hydration
• Motivation & Accountability
• Relationships
• Spirituality
• Sleep

Next, come up with your plan for how you will do MORE. Remember my PAVE the Way to Success: Planning, Accountability, Verbalization, Environment.

Planning is really the key to success. How do you plan to do MORE in your life? Don’t go into action without a plan, or you’ll get lost along the way. Next you need to make yourself accountable. That calendar I mentioned above was a great accountability tool to measure workouts along with Mr. E. He also became my accountability partner along with a competitor. Verbalization helps others know what you want to do MORE of. We often joke and say something is not official until it’s “Facebook Official”. So put on Facebook what it is you plan to do MORE of in 2018. Now we just have to look at your environment. How are you surrounding yourself to allow you to do MORE of something? If your goal is to eat one MORE vegetable with dinner, your first step to changing the environment is to make sure that you’re buying vegetables so they’re available at home to eat. And if you’re putting MORE vegetables on your plate, it means that you’re probably going to put less of something else. So how will you PAVE the way to success to do more when it comes too creating or changing habits?

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What I’m Going to Do MORE of:

1. Spend MORE time with Family. Life as an entrepreneur can get so busy that its often hard to separate work and life. Intentionally making more time to spend with my mom and Mr E this year is tops on my list.
2. Eat MORE Fruit. Yes, I’m a dietitian who tells people to eat fruits & veggies all the time. But the truth is that there can be many days where I completely forget to have some fruit. And I have plenty in my home, so it’s not an environment thing.
3. Delegate MORE Work. I can honestly say from my corporate days I am not good at delegation. I always had the mindset that I can do it faster versus taking the time to teach somebody else. But you know what? All those little tasks and big tasks add up to having no time to do anything else but tasks. I’ve recently discovered wonders like Fivvr and Upwork for outsourcing help. I hired a bookkeeper in 2017 (why did I wait so long???). And I plan to bring on some MORE helpers in the upcoming year to delegate tasks so I can focus on other factors. If you have tips for how you like to delegate your work, feel free to leave them below in the Comments.

MORE Mindfulness

I’m thrilled to see more people with such a fantastic mindset around mindfulness, getting rid of the diet culture, and learning to be more receptive listening to our bodies and ourselves. I truly believe if you use the time to think about what you can do MORE of you’ll be on a pathway to both success with your goals and overall happiness. I also believe that in one month, three months, six months, or year from now, you’re not gonna look back on today and think, “What was that resolution I tried to make?” Instead, you’re going to think about, “WOW! I’m really glad I made the effort to do MORE of _________ !”

What do you want to do more of in your life?

Share your “MORE” in the Comments below and let’s keep each other accountable!

Happy New Year Everyone!