Why Habits?
Recently, I posted this on the ‘gram:
@thebettercoach
One thing I’ve always pondered is why some people have to hit a rock bottom before they start to take care of themselves?
Some of those rock bottoms include breaking bones, repetitive injuries adding up to a lot of missed playing time, having a heart attack, panic attacks, can’t sleep or eat, or doing so excessively, and maybe ruining important relationships along the way. I’ve been guilty of hitting bottoms before I started to change. You can read more about them here and here, on the Recovery Warriors blog.
There is a saying that goes:
A smart woman learns from her own mistakes.
A wise woman learns from other peoples’ mistakes.
An insane woman tries the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
…something like that.
What if we started to develop healthy habits right now? Would we stop ourselves from hitting those rock bottoms?And by doing so would we become, “strong enough to go to the club, or the corner pub, and lift the whole liquor counter up? Because [we’re] raising the bar,” as the great philosopher Eminem raps in Not Afraid. Or is there value in hitting those bottoms because they force us to build character on the way back up, and the best learning we can do is from experience?
While teaching full-time and building The Better Coach, I have also been trying to build the flux capacitor. I want to show wise girls what their future may or may not look like if they start to develop good habits now versus if they do not.
Since I have yet to figure out the flux capacitor, we will have to suffice with tapping into our wise minds and trusting the process.
image source: @thebettercoach
Here are some important areas to start building healthy habits in now so they do not negatively impact your future self:
Evening routine
Sleep
Morning routine
Strength training
Speed training
Nutrition
Hydration
Playing
Mindset
Gratitude / giving back
It’s a long list, and there’s even more. You do not have to do all of them at once. In fact, you shouldn’t. I will discuss that in my next post, about the importance of starting small when it comes to building habits. That post will get into why oftentimes we know what to do, but feel like we just can’t get ourselves to do it.
For now, just remember…
“you can do anything you set your mind to, man.” - Eminem
Thanks for the motivation B-Rabbit. Stay tuned for part 2 on how to build habits.
In the meantime, like always, there are books for this…
Tiny Habits by BG Fogg
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Slight Edge by James Olson
Happy Habits!
If you live in Central New Jersey and are ready to start building good habits on and off the field, please use the form below to get in touch with me.
If you do not live in Central New Jersey, but are still ready to start building good habits on and off the field, please use the form below to ask me about my remote training services.
