“This was an important and cautionary lesson: Not everyone benefits from a fresh start. When you’re on a roll, any disruption can be a setback. We see this at home and at work, and though the disruption itself might seem like no big deal, even trivial, the consequences can weigh you down. Think about how it feels to be in the flow at work, only to be interrupted by an unwanted call or a chatty coworker.”
— How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman
Currently in there middle of a two week trip to the east coast and (non French) Montana. Had a good amount of momentum leading into the trip—eating high protein + salads and lifting (somewhat) heavy every other day.
I want to get right back into that mode when we’re back from the trip, but I know there will be some post vacation inertia:
- don’t give in to the “what the hell” mindset: it’ll be easy to say hey I ate bad so I can just keep this up for a few more days before starting my diet. It should be back to salads right away.
- do an easy workout to ease back into things: if I plan some devastating workout to shock my system it could create a bunch of resistance to actually doing it. Then the soreness might make it painful to do a second workout, especially after the “get back on the wagon” motivation is gone.
- use it as a fresh start checkpoint: these checkpoints can be good if you want to do a bit of a phase transition. (They can backfire if you’re on a roll and want to keep a positive routine going.) I’ll reset the week count with a new 8-week goal to try and create as much motivation as possible.
First, get going.