The skill required for the development of all other skills and achievements.
One of the most powerful habits we can develop as high-achieving humans (in athletics or otherwise), is the ability to readily change habits.
Whether we’re making a New Year’s Resolution, choosing to eliminate alcohol from the diet, committing to spend more time with family, or beginning a disciplined and performance-oriented training cycle following the off-season, the biggest changes to how we live and what we achieve depends on our ability to change the habits we go through each day with.
Like all goals we commit to, changing habits is trainable. Over the course of experiences– successes and failures in forming new habits– we level up our ability to take on smaller changes more easily, as well as our ability to make larger changes to our behaviors without breaking stride.
The key to success is always to start smaller than we think. When an athlete comes to me who has never consistently done strength training alongside their running, and who wants to set the goal of strength training every day, my first response is: what if we aim for just five sessions per week instead, and even 3 sets of 10 of a single exercise counts towards that goal?
Especially when we are developing a completely new habit from scratch, we need to build momentum. Momentum comes from confidence, and confidence comes from small victories en route to our end goal.
If we can master the art of changing ourselves, the world becomes a place of infinite possibility and infinite opportunity.
What’s one small step you can take today towards a change you’ve been wanting to make?
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