If at first...

... you don't succeed try, try again. Or I suppose it could be "start, start again". Any plan requires reinforcement or reaffirmation from time to time. Often it is that you do 'fail' so you simply 'start' again, and this is fine - to a point. Keep trying whilst the plan makes sense, and then know that if it keeps failing it needs to be changed. The key is to make the plan a habit, I gave up caffeine (more about that another time) and so I had the simplest plan I suppose "I won't drink caffeine". It was changing the habits that I had around drinks that made it stick (and it is nearly 6months since I have drunk a caffeine containing drink).



Image: Sayan Samana / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  Habits are those things we simply 'do', and if you change the habits needed within any plan then the plan stands a good chance of 'sticking'. The easier plans are the simple ones (sorry to state the obvious) that require only a few habit shifts, the harder ones are those that require a raft of habits to change rapidly.  That is where the try try (or start start) again can work. If each time a few more habits change then the plan might come around. If the habits don't follow then its time to think about a new plan that perhaps tackles habits in a different way?

I happen to fall into both camps, often I can make the simple plans really stick, but like many I often over do the grand plan and need to keep starting over. Trying to overhaul my fueling (eating) is just one of those big plans that I need to keep trying at, but I recognise the problem so give myself a break each time I need to start again. Starting over, or changing habits little by little, isn't a problem after all - never starting or never trying is.