Use Your Momentum to Break Through the Ceiling

Back to the first article of the series. There we talked about turning change-goals into daily routines. Moving forward in time, the second article, we talked about developing the actual routines. Now in the present, the third and final article of the series we will talk about using the momentum built through daily tracking to break through the ceiling when we seem to stall.

The great thing about having a consistent routine is that you will have momentum when you need it the most: the first time you hit the proverbial ceiling!

There will come a point in time when you won’t be able to run faster, or you will stop losing weight, or your writing skills won’t get any better. Whatever your change-goals are, the time will come when it will seem you have reached a plateau That’s when you can take advantage of all the energy you’ve built up and use it to burst through that ceiling – even if it means cheating a bit.

I once read a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger (his accent is rolling around in my head now). When he hit weight lifting limits, he would lean back a bit in order to use more muscle groups, brace for support, and then add five or six reps to his sets. You could call that a 'cheat' but in reality, it is simply repositioning, refocusing, and pushing through.

Let's say you have plateaued on losing weight, you could have water for dinner for two or three days (yes, the 'water' reference from the last article). What if you feel you've walked as far as you can walk? Choose a route that’s less steep or even downhill and walk just a little further. What if you find you have writer's block? Write an extra page that’s about a different subject, even something silly. This will get your writing juices flowing again.

Finding small tweaks like these to cause your momentum to work for you will allow you to push past your limits, break through the ceiling, creating even more momentum and making the routine-to-habit change-goal all the more attainable.

Have you made a list of change-goals you'd like to reach?

Have you broken them down into manageable steps to use in creating daily routines?

The only thing left to do is...START.

Happy goal-reaching.