Just 10 Pages A Day
Three great tips to help make a change for life.
Do you find it difficult to make a change and keep it going for more than just a few days or weeks?
For example, have you ever tried to be more prepared with your food choices, by simply trying to cram more preparation into your already busy lifestyle, only to find that it’s really hard and you give up?
Or perhaps you decide to start going for a daily walk, only to find that a few days of bad weather have left you derailed and already out of the habit.
Often, even the smallest of lifestyle / habit changes require far more time and adjustment than we anticipate or plan for. The result is that this new change requires a lot of effort, which is ok in the short term but unsustainable over a longer period – leaving us right back where we started.
Sound familiar?
Reading is always something that I have tried to incorporate into my daily practices for years due to its numerous benefits; however in the past my best efforts resulted in just a few days or weeks of bedtime reading before falling away from the habit and ending up back at square one.
However, this all changed recently when I made the decision to ‘coach myself’ to read as I would to a client when working on fitness, lifestyle and nutritional changes. Here are the three practices I applied which allowed me to achieve my goal…
Practice #1: BREAK IT DOWN TO MAKE IT SO EASY THAT YOU ARE 90% CONFIDENT YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to introduce a new habit or lifestyle change is making the goal too challenging. Often, people start with the end goal. For example, “I would like to walk 10,000 steps per day,” so they start off with – you guessed it, 10,000 steps per day. They manage this for a short period of time, with a lot of conscious effort, before falling back to square one.
In terms of reading, I always tried to read one chapter at a time. On some days this was achievable. However, on others, this goal would prevent me from even starting as I knew it would take me a long time and was therefore unachievable. I would also try to achieve the goal all at once, i.e. in one reading.
This changed when my husband, Robbie (who loves reading), said, “Just read 10 pages a day.” I thought that sounded 90% achievable so decided to give it a go. I could read the 10 pages all in one go, or a couple of pages here and there throughout the day (great when you have children!), and before I knew it, I was smashing my goal!
Even better, most of the time I would get through more than 10 pages; however even on my busy days I knew that I could still achieve my goal.
Practice #2: SET UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT TO SUPPORT YOUR GOALS, BEFORE YOU START!
I spend a lot of time working with clients on setting up their environment to support their goals when making nutrition and lifestyle changes. So, I applied this same concept to my reading.
In the past, I hadn’t changed anything about my environment. I went to bed at the same time as I would have previously when not reading, and was somehow surprised when my body wanted to sleep at this time rather than read.
So, I changed WHEN I read; trying different times to see when suited me best. In doing so, I was prioritising my reading in a way that I hadn’t previously. Rather than leaving it until the last thing in the day and hoping it would get done, I was prioritising it to make sure that it would get done.
One of the best places I found to read – in the bath! No phones. No TV, children or other distractions. Not too late, and it’s always hard to get out of a nice, warm bath – giving me lots of time to get my 10 pages in!
Change #3: LAYER YOUR HABITS
This is one of my favourite tricks for introducing a new habit - choose a habit that you already do regularly, on a daily or weekly basis (and if possible one that you enjoy / look forward to!), and add your new habit / change in BEFORE your current habit.
For example, if you would like to drink more throughout the day – add in a glass of water before your morning coffee. Or a drink a glass with each meal. Or if that’s too hard – add the drink with just one meal to begin.
So what did I do? I decided to commit to reading my 10 pages right BEFORE my weekly swim. I love the coffee in the café where I swim, so I knew that I could definitely get through 10 pages of my book whilst enjoying a nice cappuccino before my swim. Yes, it’s only one day per week, but I knew even if that was all I managed to achieve that week – it would still be much better than I was managing before!
The bottom line - changes take time, and a lot of groundwork before you begin.
You wouldn’t build a house without laying foundations, and lifestyle changes are no different.
If you want the changes to last, you need to spend time laying good foundations upon which they are built.
The Take Home Points:
1. Break it down to make it so easy that you are at least 90% confident you can consistently achieve your goal.
2. Set up your environment to support your goals before you begin.
3. Layer your habits.
If you would like to make a change but are unsure where to begin or how to build some strong foundations, BOOK A FREE INTRO CHAT with a member of our team today to find out how we can help.