I’m going to start a new workout. Starting on Monday, of course on Monday, why not New Year’s Day? Or the first of the month?
We’re actually talking today about why people start workouts on particular days. Any habits? Not just workouts, but any diet. Diet and exercise are the big ones. Hey, I’ll start fresh on Monday or we’re gonna start on the first of the month. It is never on a Wednesday, never on a Friday, maybe a Saturday, but never Sunday. So why do you think that it is most frequently Monday?
I have to imagine there are a couple of reasons. One of them would be I think, by nature, we like trends, and we want to start on a trend-worthy, clean slate. I think the other you were actually talking about earlier. It’s the “last hurrah.” A license to cheat all weekend.
Yep, you’re out in a blaze of glory. But I think that tends to set you up for failure. I don’t care if you’re starting intermittent fasting, or you’re starting a diet. I can’t really think of a good analogy, but why do you want to start with extreme failure? It’s like before I clean my house, I’m gonna really mess it up. Why do we do this?
I’m not just calling blame, because I do it myself. I do long fasting. When I do a 72-hour water fast all weekend, Mondays come and I carb load and I’m eating sugars, maybe have a beer too, that I shouldn’t have. And you feel justified. Monday is miserable and you’re less likely to succeed. I guess that’s the biggest thing, you’re kind of creating these mountains. You artificially inflate the task at hand to be so much bigger rather than alright, Monday I’m starting my workout fresh. And you know, I’m going to do 10 minutes. I’m gonna just get started on a mild amount or not even Monday, like, let’s say that Monday was my intent but instead of starting on Monday, why don’t I start with 10 minutes on Friday? Does that make sense?
Yes. But I think it goes against our natural inclinations. Again, starting on a Friday, there’s no trend there. Studies have shown that it takes 21 days to create a habit.
Right 21 days. So why not start the habit? I’m not arguing that it doesn’t make sense. It’s about understanding the psychology of it like in James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits says. It’s a really good book. There’s another habit-forming book called The Power of Habit.
In James Clears’s book, he outlines a story about a guy that came to him for advice and said: “For the next 30 days, I want you to wake up, I want you to put your shoes on, put your shorts on, get in the car, drive to the gym, then go inside and not work out. Get back in your car after five minutes and drive home” Kind of like establishing the habit of being prepared, having his clothes ready, etc. He made him do that for 30 days and after two years, I believe the guy had lost 80 pounds and was continuing that habit religiously.
He set the slate right. So that’s where I would go with why don’t we do this if we are planning on it? Number one, don’t go out with a blaze of glory. Bring your mountain down to the molehill in certain tasks that are accomplishable. So realistically, bite-size like this podcast. Bite-size, make it manageable until the habit is set in. Don’t judge yourself on failure, just get back to it. How many people start a workout or a diet plan and look at it in seven days and go, it’s not working?
More than you can count. I don’t know the numbers behind that but off the charts, I imagine it’s a lot. If I have some advice, it would be to bring them into small tasks that you can accomplish and get started today.
Maybe we’ll do another podcast on some basic tips to form good habits. Yep. We’ll do that another day. We’re out of time. That’s it. So any ideas, send them to snapcast@yes.fit. Make sure to keep moving. We appreciate you watching.