Fit Jerk Fridays: How To Implement A Life-Long Habit

Dear Readers: I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to stick with healthy eating this week, and have lost two pounds! Yay for me!

But I know the weekend is coming, and along with it many tempting situations. Here without further ado is our pep talk from Fit Jerk:

FJ:

So here I am, standing in my kitchen, with the laptop stationed besides three empty egg shells, the screaming kettle and my chicken omelet sizzling on a hot pan… all the while I pound away at this keyboard.

Why? Because of habit.

When the clock strikes 12 tonight, I’ll probably find myself under an iron bar… with some heavy ass weights attached to it, ready for me to lift the shit outta it.

Why? Because of habit.

When I hit up the pub with the guys later on in the week and decide to get the spiciest, most tongue scorching chicken wings they have, I’ll be telling the waitress to swap out the side order of fries for a large garden salad.

Why? Because of habit.

I don’t think about these things, I don’t have to TRY, every morning I make myself a hearty, protein rich breakfast along with some green tea. For four nights a week when midnight dawns upon me, I go workout since I’m a night person. My eating choices aren’t healthy because I have to TRY and MAKE them healthy… they just are. I’ve been doing this shit for years.

Creating a habit is SO important, yet the only way to do so is by simple, pure and raw repetition of action. That’s it. There is no other faster, better or more efficient way that I know to build a habit then pure numbers.

Wait… actually yes there is. And I am going to show you my fool proof habit creation method. I used to save this for my E-Training clients who fell off the wagon more than 3 times, but I shall be revealing it to the world. This little method will program a short term habit into you… and then you can take it from there and by virtue of sheer repetition, make it a long term habit. Or maybe, just maybe, a life long habit. So here we go:

FitJerk’s Habit Creation Method Extraordinaire:

Go to your bank and take out a hundred bucks in $5 bills. Don’t give me bullshit reasons like it’s the recession, or that you’re poor or that you can’t. This is for the quality of your life, YOU CAN – and if you do what I say, you’ll get all hundred of your dollars back, guaranteed. I’ll put my name on it.

Now that you have the cash on hand, name one person that you trust more than anyone in the entire world. ONE PERSON. This person has to be geographically close to you so you can see them face to face. For most it will either be their spouse, one of their parents or a family member like a sibling or whatever.

Now, tell them that you are going to give them a hundred bucks in $5 bills and that you commit to workout (in the gym or at home… I don’t give a shit where) 3x a week, and after EVERY workout session that you complete, you’ll drop by and retrieve one $5bill from them.

If you miss a workout, they get to keep one bill that night, so you’ll be down five bucks. This process is exactly 20 days long and if you were true, honest and dedicated to yourself, you will have all one hundred of your dollars back. If you fell off the boat a few times, then you may have lost some cash here and there… don’t fret. The lesson learnt and pain of losing that money is worth more than the value of the cash itself.

A Few Things To Keep In Mind:

1. Like I said, find a person you TRUST completely. They have to hold on to the $100 without blowing it on a bottle of Jack one night just because it was lying around – If this happens, punch them in the face, retrieve the rest of your money, then punch yourself in the face for trusting them and go find someone else.

2. Be honest with yourself. If you missed a workout, you missed it, and you are down $5. Call them up that day (or get them to follow up) and say it “keep the $5 for today… I couldn’t make it happen”

I honestly can’t even recall if there was ever a time where this method has failed. EVER. As long as you do it right, it is virtually fool proof, and by the end of 20 days you’ll have implemented a workout habit that goes on for 3 days a week. If you felt that the 20 days wasn’t enough, re-invest that $100 and start the whole process over again.

I once had a client who felt the need to do this process four times. The first time she lost $20 and felt terrible. The second time, she lost $10. The third time she lost $5… and the fourth time? You guessed it – she nailed that shit to the floor.

Failure doesn’t have to be an option. Just buckle down, implement a habit and you will never have to think about it again.

– FitJerk

Want more fitness tips? Visit Fit Jerk’s Fitness Blog.

And for today’s recipe, I’m going to remind you of the Ethiopian Lentil Bowl that I posted on Wednesday. If you are looking for a low calorie yet filling and protein rich meal, this is it!

Please post YOUR healthy recipes and fitness tips below. And if you’d like some encouragement, let us know how you’re doing in the comments section.

When participating, please use common blog etiquette and courtesy by linking your participating posts back to this one, and visiting the other participants.