The other weekend I did a 4.5 mile trail run with one of my closest friends.
On the drive home he looked at his watch and stoically stated…
Look at that. Today is 3 years of no alcohol.
No celebration. No build up. Just a subtle realization in passing that what started as a 75 day challenge led to 3 years of no booze.
And let me be clear…that 4.5 mile trail run wouldn’t have happened with my buddy-of-3-years-ago.
This was the present state of a long and steady change.
Change can come about many ways.
For every cold turkey story out there, you can find another that includes a less dramatic shift.
But the one thing that’s required for any sort of change is pattern disruption.
By definition.
And pattern disruption is uncomfortable, because we’re either abstaining from something in our life or adding something to our life.
Addition or subtraction.
Both include discomfort because if there’s anything our bodies and minds want, it’s consistency. Homeostasis is always the anchor.
To successfully change something in our lives, we have to understand this reality of pattern disruption and plan for it.
In short, make it easy to succeed and difficult to fail.
If you don’t want to booze, get the booze out of the house and plan for what you’ll drink in lieu of the alcohol.
If you want to run in the morning, put your alarm clock in another room and set your clothes out the night before.
If you want to workout, block the time on your calendar and plan what you’re going to do.
If you want to be present with your kids, put your phone in another room.
If you don’t want to buy weed, take a different route home that doesn’t go past the dispensary. (Oddly specific suggestion there, Adam.)
Planning for pattern disruption seems logical. Obvious even.
But here’s the part you don’t often hear about…
The other side of pattern disruption is evidence to yourself that you can change.
And our identities are built on evidence.
Not who we proclaim to be. Not a mantra. Not our positive self-talk.
The only way our identities shift is when we give them evidence that we have changed.
Give. Yourself. Evidence.
The evidence begets momentum.
The momentum begets more evidence.
Enough evidence begets an identity shift.
And once you’ve shifted your identity?
That’s when it ceases to be behavior change, and instead is simply…you.
The you you’ve been seeking.
✌️ and ❤️,
Adam Griffin
High Performance Coach / Chasin’ Trail
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