Habitual Practice
Small Habits Lead To Long Term Growth
I recently listened to a podcast all about habits and this got me to thinking about the habit of practicing Pilates. When we allow the practice to seep into our daily routine it becomes habitual.
According to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, there are 4 main rules to building a habit 1) make it obvious, 2) make it attractive, 3) make it easy, and 4) make it satisfying.
If we apply this to the practice of Pilates we can begin to build a routine that will allow our practice to become a habit, ergo alleviating the pressure we put upon ourselves to reach our fitness goals in short spaces of time and just allow our habits to take the lead in helping us to reach them.
1/ making it obvious could be that you book onto the same class each week at the same time. This means that you know on a Monday night you have Pilates at 6:30pm as standard, no need to think up when you will be adding in your practice that week.
2/ making it attractive could mean that you go with a friend or you could treat yourself to some of your favourite active wear that you only wear when you practice Pilates
3/ making it easy could be that you decide to do a shorter class each week to begin with, you make your goal as simple as possible. So you could even just make your goal that you will log onto the class or turn up at the studio, then everything after that is a bonus.
4/ making it satisfying could be to have a habit tracker that you can tick off how many sessions you did that month or week. You will of course feel great after the first session but to actually see results in your health and fitness will take time so its good to keep track and cheer yourself on by how often you stick to your new habit of practicing Pilates.
So when it comes to creating the habit of regular (if not daily) Pilates practice in order to reach your fitness goals give those 4 rules a try and see how you can begin to thread Pilates into your life and build a fantastic new habit.
Step by step is the best way to conquer the staircase.
“In 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 sessions you’ll see the difference and in 30 sessions you’ll have a new body”