What’s your Plan B?
Do you have a Plan B? I’m not referring to a Plan B for your next travel destination, finances or even work. I’m referring to the little Plan B’s that add up throughout your day.
What most people don’t realise is that our daily habits are our go-to plan. So what happens if you want to shake things up a bit and create new habits in order to become a better version of yourself?
At Free2Be Wellness, the most common goals we hear include wanting to lose a few pounds (been there), or begin working out in the morning (Every. Single. Morning.), start going out for an evening stroll or….leave work early so that you can spend time with your family (yes!).
Those are the Plan B’s that play the most important role in our daily lives. Without them, it’s easy to revert back to our habits, get lost in our day, and in turn, lose sight of where we wanted to go in the first place.
Plan B for a Nutrition-Focused Wellness Journey
Let’s take eating well as an example. You decide you want to make better food choices and you want to start Monday. All Sunday, you’re thinking about the ‘diet’ you’re about to go on. Do any of these thoughts cross your mind? : ““Ugh, what am I going to make for dinner that the kids will also eat?,” or “Sh&t, I can’t eat those?!,” or “I should go grocery shopping, but I’m too tired to go grocery shopping right now. “
Or, perhaps you went to the grocery store, stocked up on veggies and protein, mapped out what you’re going to eat on Monday and set to work.
Monday morning hits. Did you do it? Did you stick to your intentions? Or did your new habits last until 3pm when you gave in to an afternoon snack?
Enter Plan B. The Plan B Super Hero no one talks about. The best kept secret to changing your daily routine. According to James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, “the first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It’s the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows.”
Using the example above, let’s say you ate the perfectly planned breakfast. Good protein, carbs and fat combination. Lunch, on track! Looking good so far. It’s 3pm and you're feeling peckish. You go into the kitchen and notice a bowl of chips. Open the fridge and there’s left over cake. You eat it…that won’t hurt right? Dinner comes and you are starving. Add a few extra spoonfuls of your favourite mashed potatoes onto your plate, heck you ate cake, what’s extra potatoes going to do?! It’s a slippery slope.
Plan B for an Exercise-Focused Wellness Journey
Now, consider the early risers, up before dawn and workout done before 7am. You want to be that person! So you plan for the early workout. But you snooze your alarm….and snooze it again. It’s okay. You can workout in the evening right?. Evening comes. Dinner made, eaten, kitchens tidied up, kids need help with homework, you want to finish the final episode of that Netflix series you've been bingeing. Next thing you know, it’s 11pm and no workout was done. Feelings of guilt and failure follow. As someone who has struggled and continues to struggle making these simple changes, I can honestly say - it’s hard. Really hard. But change isn’t easy. So Plan B is crucial.
Here’s the key behind Plan B: Never miss twice.
“Having a good plan for when your new habits slide off track” will help build new behaviours, Clear explains “One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behaviour is the normal behaviour.” At Free2Be Wellness, we recognize that we’re each at different points in our own unique wellness journey. Let’s make acceptance, kindness, and support the norm!
Let’s build better habits together by finding the power that is within you.