Find a Little Victory Each Day

If you want to lose weight, here’s a simple concept: eat less, exercise more.  Like with most simple things, though, the breakdown occurs in the application.  In other words, go do it.

That’s the hard part, right?  Applying the concepts, going out and doing it, day after day, until the goal has been met, the new habit has been formed, the old you has changed into the new you.

Sometimes we fail because we fail to set realistic goals.  “I’m going to eat boiled chicken and lettuce every day and go to the gym five days a week.”  No, you’re not.  You’re probably going to last about three days and then pig out on pizza.

Sometimes we fail because we fail to see progress.  Whether you’re trying to make changes in your physical health or your mental health or your relationship health, the key to change seems to be consistency.  You gotta put in the repetitions.  One way to keep yourself motivated to put in the reps is to find a little victory every day.

As our default setting, we tend to see more negatives than positives. There’s something in us as humans that focuses more on the things we failed to do or failed to do right and we tend to bother ourselves about those things.

Instead: work on finding a little victory every day.  What did you do right today?  What did you accomplish?  How does that feel—focusing on the success you had, however small?  I think you’ll find that it feels a lot better than beating yourself for your failures.

I did the dishes today.  I got one report done.  I took the steps instead of the elevator.  I said “no” today to one thing.  I chose oil and vinegar instead of ranch.  No success is so small that you can’t accept it for today and build on it for tomorrow.