I was the kid that hated summer reading growing up.

Sparknotes was my jam.

Sparknotes or cliff notes gave me the exact summary I needed to get by on my book reports.

When I graduated college, started listening to podcasts, and watching personal development videos, everyone was talking about the importance of reading.

I thought, you’ve got to be kidding me.

I guess I have to give it a try.

This was the first real habit that I tried to establish after graduating college.

Pshh…

I think I read for 1-hour that first time and wanted to rip my face off I was so bored.

It was one of those hours where each minute was at least 90 seconds each!

The next day when reading came up on my to do list, I conveniently found other stuff I "needed" to do.

And the trend continued.

But luckily, I was persistent.

I really wanted to get the reading habit established. Everyone is saying how important it is, and if I want to be like them, then I need to form their habits.

So instead of doing 1-hour a day, 5 days a week, I switched it to 20-minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Was I perfect?

No.

Was I much better?

Ohhhh ya.

Why? Because 20 minutes was 100x more "workable" than 1 hour.

When I set that goal of reading 1-hour a day, it was probably after I saw a motivational YouTube video that got me hyped up. It probably got me fired up and making me think I could run through a wall.

And because I was hyped up in the moment, because I had this wave of crazy motivation, I placed the unrealistic expectation on myself that I would be willing and able to read for an hour.

And what was I willing to read in the past?

All I was willing to do in the past was take the short cut.

This happens with so many people and their health and fitness goals.

They get waves of motivation and set unrealistic goals. They say they’re going to start working out every day; or they’re going to cut out all sugar; or stop eating meat (bad move); or completely stop drinking alcohol.

But the problem is that the extremes don’t last. They bring intensity but not consistency.

And intensity can be great in the moment because it will bring short term results.

But those short-term results are never sustained.

And what we all really want is results now AND results later.

We don't want to lose the weight just to put it back on.

We want the weight to come off and stay off. We want consistent results.

And to get consistent results you need consistent behaviors - you need habits that stick.

And to form habits that stick you need to be realistic with yourself.

And to be realistic with yourself you can't leverage one massive wave of motivation and expect that same level of motivation to exist when you get in the thick of it.

So, when you’re looking for form habits, make sure they are workable.

My definition of workable is:

"Workable" – it’s an activity and/or an amount of that activity that you’re willing and able to do based on what you’ve been willing and able to do in the past.

Because the best predictor of what you're willing and able to do tomorrow is what you were willing and able to do today.

Don't jump from A to Z.

Don't go from 0 to 100.

It's sexy in the moment, but won't be sexy long term.

Set workable goals that are realistic. 15-minutes a day, 5 days a week was workable for me.

Back then...

And the beautiful thing is what's workable for you will grow over time.

Now I read 45 minutes 6 days a week – sometimes 7 - that's workable now.

While the jump from 0 to 100 is sexy now, you won't be able to sustain 100 until you consistently hit 1, 5, 15, 25, etc. along the way.

Is this you?

Are you the person who wants to do 75 hard just to get to a particular finish line?

Are you an all or nothing person?

If you struggle with setting goals that are too big, then I’d love to help.

Our next 10-Week Transformation is starting May 29th and spots are already going quickly.

We can help you set realistic goals, form habits that stick, and bring you results now and results later.

We can help you stay patient with the process and get you looking in the mirror proud of what you see because you've been able to eat well and exercise for a long period of time!

Join the next 10-WT today.

To reading for 15 minutes, rather than 1 hour,