Have you ever tried doing a challenge to get back on track or constantly seem to be waiting until Monday to try something new? And if it doesn’t go exactly as planned, you fall off, feel like a failure, question all your life choices and start the cycle over again looking online for the next best thing that’s going to be different this time?
Been there, done that. It’s an exhausting cycle to keep going through when in reality you have just a few things that you want to work on or be better at.
I found myself, one year, after a simple challenge realizing that I accomplished nothing in that dedicated time. So I decided to try something new, a simple “what if” thought.
And for the first time, the what if brought a positive change.
Why 59 Days?
This blog post is based off of my journal, 59 Days to Habit Change. And it all started with a silly little challenge I created for myself.
You see, I’m a gym bro of the early 2010s, and a sweaty one at that. Which means I usually pit out my tshirts, and working out consistently means those turn into pit stains you can’t get out. And instead of needing to find new workout shirts, I just started cutting the sleeves off.
I did this so often with so many shirts that I kept cycling through the same 10. Until one day I got all of my cutoff shirts out and decided to count how many I had.
59.
I had 59 shirts that I rarely ever wore. And this was when I basically LIVED in the gym teaching fitness classes, helping at a rec center and trying to do this online coaching thing.
So I challenged myself to wear one shirt a day and post about it online, as an accountability thing.
And guess what? For the first time in my life, I actually stuck with it! And this wasn’t because it was something I had created or challenged myself to. I’d written countless programs for myself and set numerous goals that always fell flat. Even if I paid for programs from others, I never followed through. But this time I did.
However, at the end of the challenge, nothing else had really happened. I had high expectations to set goals, stick with a plan and see results by the end of this challenge. But my only accomplishment was posting a picture each day.
Still, a great accomplishment for me!
I still wanted to challenge myself again though. So, quietly, without anyone seeing, I stuck to 59 days to see what would happen if I tried to actually stick with and form new habits.
And thus, 59 Days to Habit Change was born.
Prove You Can Stick With Something
In order for this to work, you don’t need more motivation, rules or guidelines. You really should ditch them all in order to prove to yourself that you can actually stick with something.
And all those posts about needing to challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone or doing something hard just because it’s hard, don’t apply to you.
You’ve actually been doing this for too long.
You’ve been challenging yourself, putting yourself on never-ending diets, jumping from workout program to workout program because you’re burnt out and wondering why you can’t just stick with something.
The truth is, you have been. But there’s a time for work and a time for rest. You just keep denying yourself rest because you never get to the end goal. And even if you do, it’s always moving. You never allow yourself to celebrate!
You lose the 5 pound goal, and then instantly up it to 10.
You go the whole week with your strict diet and then feel guilty about your cheat meal.
You go to the gym 6 days in a row, but one day you were so exhausted it wasn’t “good enough” so you go again on your rest day to make up for it.
You accomplish goals but not perfectly like everyone else or as aesthetically so it doesn’t count.
Continuing on like this is the reason you can’t stay consistent and feel like a failure.
And if you’re tired of feeling this way and want to know where to start with changing things, definitely book a 1:1 coaching call with me and we can figure that out together!
How To Not Fail Another Challenge
If you’re worried about this being too hard and failing at another challenge, check out Why Most People Fail Challenges, but I’ll break it down quickly here.
People fail challenges because it forces you to live in a perfect little bubble in order to complete everything needed. Whether it’s a laundry list like 75 Hard or any variation of it, or even a specific workout routine. If and when life happens and things come up, you’re no longer able to keep up or have a Plan B.
This forces you to stop, wait for life to settle down (which it never fully does) or just ditch the whole plan to begin with.
So what you need to focus on instead is small steps daily and creating flexibility. Again, the reason people fail at challenges is because it forces you to be in this perfect bubble and doesn’t allow a lot of room for life to happen. So one small slip up or difficult situation is going to send you spiraling and falling off feeling like “what’s the point” if it’s not done perfectly.
But looking at your goals daily, having small things to focus on and little action steps allows you to actually see how this can work.
The goal isn’t perfection, it’s small consistent steps, backup plans, other options and bare minimum or allowing yourself grace for a time.
Sometimes you lose a job, run out of money, family dies, you go through a bad breakup, your mental health is tanking or you’re dealing with an injury. If you only know perfection and rigid routines, then you’re completely stuck.
But, if you have options, flexibility and grace, you’re more likely to come back to health and fitness as a support rather than another negative to show you just how much you suck at life.
Check out What to Do If You’re Tired of Counting Calories and What Counts as Exercise? A Better Way To Think About Movement if you want specific things to focus on with changing your relationship to food and fitness
Take The Experimental Approach
This is going to be the biggest thing to change things for you moving forward. It’s what I focus on with all my clients, and that’s with taking the Experimental Approach with this challenge.
Because with an experiment, there is no success or failure, there’s just an outcome. And with that outcome, YOU get to decide what it is you want to do with it.
Do you want to keep it, do you want to toss it, do you want to try something new?
But ultimately it puts YOU back in control of your life. You get the final say.
Most people stuck in burnout are constantly trying to fix things before they understand what’s actually happening. They jump from diet to diet, workout to workout, and plan to plan without understanding why.
With the Experimental Approach, the goal is to stop that for good.
Once you finally ditch the rules and perfection, you’re left with the basics; what works for YOU?
And over 59 days, when you’re taking small steps and are more intentional with it, you’re able to see that the rules don’t matter and you get to decide.
So every positive step is good, every missed day that you come back from is progress, and every adjustment means you’re growing in the way you want to.
Progress is made with consistent flexibility. That means days could be skipped, goals could change, plans fall through but you always decide to keep going. Even if keeping going means taking a day off or mourning a life chapter change.
The choice is always yours.
Creating a baseline and new mindset for when life happens
My hope is that after you do this challenge, whether it’s actually going through the 59 Days to Habit Change journal or doing your own challenge for 59 days, that you’ll have realized all that you’re capable of.
The only thing holding you back is other people’s rules.
I know you love information and learning, but you’ve gone too far. You’re in an information overload that you can’t even decide for yourself anymore.
So after this challenge of what if, experimenting and just seeing what happens, you should realize all that you can accomplish once you learn to trust yourself again.
However, if you’re tired of second guessing yourself, wondering if you’re doing this right or what to ACTUALLY focus on right now, I’d love to chat!
By booking a 30 minute call with me, I’ll listen carefully, help you untangle what’s keeping you stuck, and help you leave with a plan you actually feel confident following. I’ll answer any questions you have and also help you find the few things you need to focus on rather than starting your life over again.
Because you know what to do. You actually know TOO much, and that’s what’s keeping you stuck.
So stick with the simple goals, give it 59 days, and look over the results.
I’m sure you’ll be surprised with what happens if you just give things a try.
Remember, it’s not the perfect plan that brings results. It’s the one you keep coming back to and trying at, that sets the foundation for your life.
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