The Power of Maybe Later

A wrench can get thrown into your habits. And that happened to me yesterday.

At the last minute, I ended up going on a field trip for the day. No lunch plan. 

There came a point at which I made a choice about food. A split second choice, one I had no time to think out. And I chose something with more calories/fat/sugar than I would have had I been carefully selecting.

Today, I'm back on my programming. Yes it is programming. Many cringe at the idea of programming themselves. But in fact, that's what habits are: programs. They can be either routines that give us more freedom or less. 

For instance, when I was a new teacher, and STRESSED out. I drove through what I called the gauntlet. Doughnut shops, burrito places, the best Mexican food in Los Angeles.  It was about a three mile boulevard (slow traffic) of one place after another. 

I went through a period where I stopped every day for a doughnut. And on my way out, ate a burrito or some other wonder. That's like putting down the welcome mat for Fat to come right on in, sit in the easy chair and put his feat up. And I ballooned up to 250 or 260 pounds. 

Then, I got control of my life, started eating sensibly and the weight came off. I was eating lots of greens and exercising almost every day (unicycling). My weight dropped down to 190. 

The programmed habits of the doughnut shops and burrito places made me feel like I was dealing with stress. But I wasn't thinking through what was best. I was just doing what I wanted in the moment. And I suffered for it.

I realized that I was going to keep gaining and getting fatter, lose my health, so I reprogrammed, changed out the doughnut routines, and replaced them with salad routines. Sometimes it was as easy as thinking, "Maybe later," to that doughnut. 

"Maybe later," are two powerful words. Say it to the less healthy choice. Say, "I'll try it," to the healthy choices.

These mental messages eventually become new routines that work when you need them the most.

What my experience yesterday revealed to me is this: my best mental messages aren't fully functional yet. I need to give them more gas, more focus. I know from experience that they will get better.

If you are trying to create new programs and subroutines in your mind here are some ideas that can work:

• Build easy mental messages that can help you stay with the plan. I like, "Maybe later," or "I can try that." 
• Say, write, rehearse those messages until they become second nature.
• After a food choice that didn't go well, reflect on how well you utilized the mental message. Figure out what you did well and what you could have done better. 
• After a food choice that went better, reflect. Examine what you did right so that you can figure out how to rinse and repeat.
• Write and refine your food, fitness, and health goals.

Creating new habits is absolutely doable. Start now.

And leave me comments to let me know how things are going for you.