Day 10: 4 new habits in 28 days - What gets measured gets done

The very act of blogging to update on progress has certainly meant I'm still here 10 days later having achieved 95% consistency of doing the 4 new habits that I believe will support my knees. The new habits are:

1. I will consistently eat gluten (and nightshade) free everyday 8/10
2. I will do my hip mobilisation every day 10/10
3. I will drink at least 2 litres of water every day 10/10
4. I will do at least one thing differently every day 10/10 - walked back a different way to what we walked to another new cafe!

Would I have been so vigilant if I'd just said I'd do them, and not measured and kept a track of them - perhaps not. In fact - certainly not.

Measuring that I've done what I said is of course only one way of keeping me motivated. Inspiration will also come from observing the positive outcome from doing these activities. That is, these habits have been chosen because I believe they will help improve the flexibility, stamina and pain in my knees. My personal trainer and I have therefore identified a number of ways of tracking progress - not just for the 28 days but beyond.

One means of measuring progress is the time it takes to walk around a 1.35 mile circuit here in Burntisland. Since the summer, when my knees were really bad, we've taken nearly 30% off the time! I'm hopeful that sustained application of the 4 new habits will deliver further improvement.

The other positive aspect off focusing on doing these activities to support my knees is that I'm much more aware of other negative habits that hinder me, and I am slowly letting go of those too. Or at least listing them as future habits to release and replace.

How can you measure what you need to do daily to move towards your goal, and how will you measure the outcome?

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change - Inside and Out

Blog posts of the journey to embed the 4 new habits have so far included - finding the inspiration, vision and goal setting, setting targets, doing things differently, wavering, finding support, commitment, the danger of making assumptions and slaying the old habits and thoughts.

Hypertext links in the text above link to previous blogs written on the subject.

#28daychallenge