What I Learned from a 365 Day Habit

In 2021, I committed to walking one mile per day. When I told people I was doing a mile a day they always looked at me funny because they knew that I had a moderate level of fitness and could run much longer distances. But I knew I couldn't commit to running or even walking those longer distances consistently every single day for an entire year. 

A one-mile walk may seem laughable to most “fit” people. However, committing to doing something every single day for an entire year, now that is a different story, and most people will hesitate to take that on. There are going to be days that get too busy, the weather is bad, you’re tired, or don’t have time. The act of sticking with something even when you don’t want to do it is important. By focusing on a much smaller, more manageable task, I was able to increase my consistency and bring about some really significant changes both physically and mentally this past year. Self-discipline is like a muscle and we need to exercise it just like we do all our physical muscles. 

WHY IT WORKED FOR ME

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear says, “Outcomes are about what you get, processes are about what you do, identity is about what you believe.” When I started my year of miles, the only goal or outcome I was aiming for was consistency and building up a “streak.” I didn’t set any specific transformation goals like “run a marathon” or “lose 10lbs.” 

Instead, I found a group of like-minded friends to try and complete the year of miles with me, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I wanted to identify as a person who could complete the challenge for the entire year. I wanted that label for myself. So I started with identity, then moved to process, and the outcomes were the positive byproduct of the whole thing. As the year went on, I actually had a feedback loop between identity and process. With each day, and mile, that passed, I proved to myself more and more with these small daily wins that I could do it. By the end of the year, I don’t think you could find a single person in my life that I had not told about our mile challenge. I was living and breathing it all the time—every single day—because it just became part of who I was and my daily routine—I successfully built a habit that felt automatic and, dare I say, “easy.”

Most people start with outcomes (hello New Year resolutions!) and don’t even get past that stage. But if you instead focus on taking it just one step, one day, and one mile at a time, rather than thinking about all 365 miles at once—i.e. process before outcomes—things can feel more manageable. Try to focus on the simple task in front of you that will propel you towards the outcomes you seek rather than the final goal.

HOW THIS RELATES TO NUTRITION

Say you set a goal for yourself to exercise more. The first three days after setting this goal you run 3 miles per day but then you start to feel tired, it takes too long, you are getting a little beat up, etc. and then you stop. Ok, you’ve accumulated a total of 9 miles. However, if you scaled that daily 3 miles back to just one single mile and maybe you walked it instead of running it. You’d probably be able to keep doing it every day because it wasn’t particularly hard. Then, at the end of the year, you’ll have accumulated a total of 365 miles. Which of these methods accomplished more miles when we look at final outcomes? But in practice, which method actually committed to the smaller, slower, more manageable process? The mile challenge is a really concrete example of being able to go further and accomplish more when you scale your goals back and focus on much smaller, more manageable changes. 

You can do the same thing with nutrition as well. I know at the start of the year everyone is all gung-ho about setting resolutions and wanting to change everything all at the same time. We want to clean out the pantry, slash calories, never eat sugar again, and commit to going to the gym every single day. Is all of that truly sustainable? I don’t know about you, but not for me. What if instead you just picked one thing to focus on? And what if you set a goal for yourself that was really reasonable and that you absolutely knew you could achieve each day?

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

For instance, I just had a client start who was new to me but had worked with a coach before and she ended up giving up after a few weeks. She felt overwhelmed with tracking macros and couldn’t do it consistently. So, instead of focusing on tracking macros, we scaled it way back and just picked two habits to start with that we knew she could achieve: food prep once per week and adding a serving of veggies to two meals per day. Each week she focuses only on these two things, she gets the feedback loop of positive reinforcement by checking in with me and the validation that she was successful. She achieves small wins. This in turn helps her to stay motivated to keep going because she knows she can do it. She has proven it to herself.

Once she proves that she can handle these smaller tasks, we slowly build up to more challenging nutrition tasks—like tracking and hitting a daily protein target or consuming a specific number of calories. Don’t underestimate the power of small, consistent efforts. You can be successful when you take some of the pressure off of yourself and just focus your efforts on manageable tasks that you know you can successfully complete rather than on larger goals and outcomes. 

WHAT’S NEXT?

Think about the person you want to be. Pick one behavior that type of person does. Then, scale whatever you picked way back (maybe by like 50% or more) and see if you can commit to doing consistently.

A support system helps! Find other people who identify the way you want to identify. If you want to eat healthy, talk to the other person at work who packs their own lunch every day and brings it with them. If you want to work out consistently, make friends with other people who work out.

Focus on your process and identity. Focus a little less on outcomes. I promise the outcomes will come with time and consistency if you do.

Written By: Diana Toole, Nutrition Coach