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Whenever I used to adopt healthier habits, I would usually follow through with them for about a week or two, and then go back to my old ways. It wasn’t that I chose to go back to my old habits – it was more like a reflex – or a rubber band snapping back to its original form. Whatever it was, it felt beyond my control, as if I was predestined to be unhealthy and lazy. For a long time my lack of commitment frustrated me to no end.

As a kid I never grew up being very physically active. I did some little league sports, I liked gym class, but it wasn’t something that ever became a consistent part of my life. My free time was typically spend in front of computers, videogames, and eating fast food.

Meanwhile, other classmates were much more health conscious: they went to the gym everyday, participated on the high school football team, organized softball games over the summer, and lived in households that encouraged eating vegetables and drinking protein shakes.

These different lifestyles represent two different cultures. One where health awareness is a prevalent theme, and the other where it is largely absent. We all experience these cultures to different degrees.

But our culture is not chained to our childhood and family. We have the ability to change our routines even as adults. We start by becoming more aware of our habits, and then we begin to make small adjustments as we find healthier alternatives. At first we may just do 10 push-ups every morning, then we might add an evening walk after dinner. For breakfast, we begin to substitute bacon for a fruit salad, and at night we limit our TV snack to only one scoop of ice cream instead of two. Every change is a step in the right direction, and each one builds on the momentum from the last.

If you have a problem keeping commitments, just start by doing whatever is most convenient. Something is always better than nothing, and if you keep building little habits then it will add up over time. Remember, you are trying to make changes that will persist for a lifetime, not simply spend the 3 months before summer trying to pump up (and then losing those gains come next winter). If the culture isn’t there, if you aren’t planning for something permanent, any progress you make will be temporary at best.

The hardest part about changing your culture is making those first few steps. You need to get in the habit of changing habits, and once you have ingrained that into your mind you will be open to change when it presents itself. These things begin to have a snowball effect, and one day you will look back and wonder how you ever went from “couch potato” to “health guru.” It began with that first sit-up.

There are a lot of effective ways to build up your culture. You could make friends who encourage these new habits, find exercises you enjoy, or keep a diary to keep track of your progress. One of my most popular articles is Fifty Ways to Stay Committed, which suggests these techniques as well as many others that will help you instill change. It is probably worth skimming through.

I also recommend Routines vs. Rituals, which drives home the point that a ritual is an action with meaning and purpose, while a routine is heartless and treated like a chore. If your fitness regimen becomes a chore, you’ve already lost the battle. There is no culture there – no drive, no passion, and no commitment. Basically, it won’t last.

I encourage people to become engaged in their health, to be internally motivated to maintaining a healthy and fit body, and not reactive to the external and often superficial pressures placed on us by society. This is how you build authenticity that lasts.

While I haven’t recommended any particular exercises, diets, or work-out schedules, my point of this post was to stress the importance of building your own rituals and culture. If you are someone who has been a health nut for awhile, then you are probably already familiar with some ways you have developed these things unconsciously. If you are someone who is just beginning to develop a new culture of fitness, then I hope you have learned why they are so important.

I will touch on some more concrete examples and strategies in upcoming posts. For now, I just want others to get the attitude right.





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