No matter what stage of life you’re in, days get busy and it’s easy to let things slide. It might be your workout, preparing a healthy meal, meditating, or any other self-care activity you might engage in during the course of your day.

Once we get off track with a habit, it’s often challenging to get back to it. Many of us like to take the path of least resistance and this often means less healthy options.

I have several clients who struggle with sleep issues and most know what they need to do to get a better night of sleep but it’s hard to do those things in the moment.

What we need most, we often resist most intensely. So how do we shift gears and get ourselves back on track?

The short answer is that we have to get started, but I have found that this only happens when our discomfort exceeds our comfort

This can be either physical or emotional discomfort and can impact just about anything in life, e.g. weight loss, sleep hygiene, cleaning the basement, blogging, etc.

I took the month of August off from blogging because my work schedule had gotten very busy and I wasn’t willing to work on weekends to get it done. As each week went by however, I felt a certain level of guilt at not sticking to my commitment, so here we are!

When people are struggling with insomnia, everything in life is harder. When they become uncomfortable enough, presumably they will get back on track with the habits that increase the likelihood of a better night of sleep.

If we eat too much and gain enough weight to make us uncomfortable or put us at significant health risk, we then have motivation to eat better. The same is true of exercise.

The basement (or garage) example was thrown in there because they are often the “dumping grounds” for stuff and when they become so disorganized that one can’t find things (discomfort), there’s often motivation to do something about it.

There are two ways that people get themselves back on track and it tends to be related to personality types.

You can start small or go all in. I’m often one to start small and do a little bit at a time when I’m trying to get back on track with something while my wife will often immerse herself fully into whatever she’s trying to get done.

There’s no right or wrong way to get yourself back on track as long as it works for you and you can maintain the consistency.

I hope that if my client(s) who struggle with sleep are reading this that they’ll do what they know works and will allow themselves to get more healing sleep.

I’m committing to staying on track with my blog and practicing moderations in the other areas of my life.

What would make your life work better?

Action Steps:

• Consider the last question and anything that you might want to do to get back on track with something you’ve been neglecting lately.

  It can be anything at all and have nothing to do with health or fitness.

• Do something today (or this week if today’s not possible) to get back on track with what’s important to you.