I don’t know about you, but I’ve started many self improvement phases with the intention of improving health, but first thing in the morning when I’m doing my best to talk myself out of exercising (for example), it’s not the goal of improved health that wins the internal conflict. It’s usually something simple and conceptually alluring…

The Lure

Sure exercising will make me feel better. This I know and have proved to myself countless times. But when I’m still half asleep and finding excuses easier to come by than action, I go ahead and let the first good sounding argument for exercising be the energy that guides me.

If I have the thought “I really would like to be able to go for long hikes on vacation without feeling tired”, I’ll get up and start exercising while the idea’s still hot. And so what if sometimes it’s “I really want to be able to fit into that new black top”? If it gets me motivated, I’ll willingly work with what I’ve got.

Several times I’ve questioned whether the more mundane ways of reinforcing behavior I want to adopt was really a ‘pure’ or truly progressive move to make. Along this line of introspection I discovered that the lacking stick-to-it-ness that happens from time to time has much more to do with my ideas of temporary versus permanent changes.

Temporary v. Permanent Changes

One thing I’ve noticed is that the quickest way to discontinue a new habit I’m trying to establish, is deciding that my intention is to create a lifelong change. It’s difficult enough to break habits and get over that inertia hump, without adding this invisible, but huge pressure that once you get the habit to stick, you’re stuck with it!

I Can Do Anything for 30 Days

Is there a new lifestyle, habit or behavior you’d like to give a test run? Try doing it for 30 days, at which point you’re free to stop or continue, depending on the results you’ve experienced and whether or not you’d like to continue. Maybe 30 days of learning a new word each day was loads of fun, but you’re ready to try something else on.

Let’s say you want to start a yoga plan with the goal of practicing yoga 4 times / week for the rest of your life. Which sounds more manageable, 30 days or forever? Of course once you’ve practiced yoga for 30 days in a row you’ll find it much easier to maintain because you’ve grown accustomed to it. Great! But while you’re trying to set that new pattern, you’ll probably have much better luck with setting a trial period that sounds reasonable to you.

Tamasik, Rajasik and Sattvik

Materialism is not necessarily a negative thing. In fact, this type of ‘luring’ can be a very powerful tool on the road to continuing self growth. In yoga there are three states called Tamasik (inactivity) , Rajasik (activity) and Sattvik (purity).

By taking action, sometimes regardless of the motivation, we are moving closer to a blissful way of living. Motivation is a necessary tool for overcoming Tamas (inactivity). The problem with unchecked Rajas is that overextending our mental or physical abilities through action causes ripples on their own.

If we are constantly setting ourselves up with elaborate motivational images or try to make too many changes at once, our mind notices these extensions of self. Over time, this sort of turbo self-improvement tends to have an emotional health price. Using the case of adopting a physical exercise regimen, the emotional benefits of being more fit may begin to diminish, regardless of the physical results.

More Bang For Your Buck

So it’s a balancing act. It’s great to push yourself toward new experiences and changing habits to suit the things you’d like to try, but we all need a core with which to compare and add our new experiences to. So how much change and discipline are good and where does the negative return creep in?

This is why I love the 30 Day Trial idea. It can be used for anything imaginable that you’d like to try out or adopt into your own lifestyle. If you don’t like it after 30 days, you’re not married to it. The 30-day mark is your reminder to take stock of things.

Maybe you’ve gotten completely used to eating only raw foods for 30 days, but when you sit down on day 31 and look over things you see that the slightly increased sense of wellbeing wasn’t really worth the extra effort.

Giving 30 days lets you ride out the inertia curve so you can actually experience if the new activity/perspective/behavior is something that made your life better.