Why is it that committing to goals and getting into the habit of doing the successful habits to achieve those goals is so illusive for so many people?

Question for you: What was the last goal you achieved?

If you are having a tough time remembering, you are not alone! Roughly 92% of Americans that set new year’s resolutions fail to achieve them.

In a recent study of human behavior, when college students in an art class creating ceramic pieces were divided into 2 groups, one group (the quantity group) was told they would be graded solely on the amount of work they produced, and the other group (the quality group) was told they would be graded solely on the excellence of their work, the results might surprise you.

Results- the quantity group produced a lot more ceramics, they were busy experimenting with different ideas, testing out various methods and learning from their mistakes. In that process they created hundreds of pieces and they honed their skills in the process.

The quality group sat around and speculated about what to do, they wanted to make sure they were doing it right, engaged in some perfectionism tendencies, and in the end, had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre ceramics piece.

Who produced the best work- the Quantity group. It is easy to get bogged down trying to:

·       find the best way to create a beautiful piece of art

·       learn how to eat right

·       find the best workout to lose weight

·       improve stats on the field/ playing court/ ice

·       find the best way to motivate your team

Many times, we are so focused on trying to find the best way, that we never actually take action or we procrastinate way too long to get started.

Instead, it is beneficial to get started and take ACTION, and engage in behaviors that will produce an outcome. We procrastinate for many reasons, however, a big one that we hear a lot in coaching conversations is, “What if I fail or it is not good enough?” Our advice is that many of us are masters at avoiding criticism, no one likes to fail publicly. If we continue to make excuses as to why we are delaying action toward a goal, at the root of that is fear of failure and criticism from self/others. (Adopted from story Atomic Habits)

Once you decide to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. You don’t need to plan for every eventuality as you try a new habit, however, you do need to get your reps in because there is learning in the DOING, not just the planning.

Creating habits is the process by which the behavior becomes more automatic through repetition. Next time we will explore how the brain changes to become more efficient at your chosen activity.

I’ll leave you with a few key questions- What habits are you intentionally and unintentionally building right now and what will their long term effects be on your health, happiness and success?