Welcome to 2024!

Every new year, many of us make resolutions… changes we plan (or hope) to make in our life.

Eating better. Drinking less. Exercising more. Reducing stress. Working smarter. In short, we want to make improvements.

New year. New you.

For resolutions to stick, we have to change our behavior in some way, and that isn’t easy. Even if we have the right intent and are motivated, change is hard.

Results take time and perseverance. To make change, the key is often to form new habits.

At the end of 2020, I decided I needed to make a change for the benefit of my health. So, in 2021, I made a commitment to exercise more. I didn’t set a weight loss target. I didn’t set any strength or speed goals. I decided to trust the process of doing the work. If I moved more, I would eventually get stronger, leaner, and more fit.

So that’s what I did. I focused on process and forming better habits.

I committed to working out every weekday. That’s it. My aim was to combine strength training and cardio. I took weekends off and didn’t change my diet. I thought this would be achievable.

And it was.

In 2021, I walked, lifted weights, played tennis or otherwise exercised 300 days. I became fanatical about ‘checking the box’ on my calendar. I also lost over 25 lbs. And I’ve kept it off. A result of having adopted new habits, doing the work, and trusting my process. Today, my routine still involves walking and playing more tennis. I do something 5 days/week.

Focusing on habits also works for making change happen in the workplace. Too often, we set goals for adopting new ways of working that aren’t achievable, let alone sustainable.

Starting is important. And sustaining is important. The space in between is where the change actually happens.

Establishing new habits can provide the support your change needs to move through transition while creating positive momentum. When you anchor new habits, you’ll start to create some of the value that drove the change in the first place.

Going into the new year, as you tackle new initiatives, give extra thought to the habits you need your team to adopt, and carve out specific effort to help them get there.

Have a great week and year!