When you break the chain

When you fall off track you don’t need to jump back on right where you left off like nothing ever happened.

You don’t need to get back up to the same speed you were moving at immediately.

Sometimes when we break the chain of doing whatever it is we’ve been trying to do consistently, we convince ourselves that the only way to redeem ourselves is to do MORE than what we were doing before to make up for what we missed.

We focus on perfection.

But we already broke the streak so it’s not perfect anyway.

The way to get back on track with exercise or eating or keeping your house organized or whatever it is you are working on is to do something.

Anything!

You just need to get the ball rolling again.

You don’t need to get it rolling at 100 mph.

Just get it moving.

The more it moves, the more momentum and speed you pick up.

Eventually you will really be motoring down the road again.

If you were walking 30 minutes a day for a couple weeks and then the kids got sick and your car broke down and your walking momentum came to a screeching halt, you don’t have to jump right back in with 30 minutes of walking.

Walk for 5 minutes.

The next day, shoot for 6. Once you get going, you might want to walk for 10 minutes.

Now the ball is rolling and you are picking up a little speed.

And that’s all you have to do to get back into a groove.

You don’t have to “make up” for anything when you break the chain of consistency.

Just start a new chain.

Keep adding links to it every day.

And if the chain breaks?

Well, now you know how to start a new one.

And that’s how you keep moving forward.

Remind yourself that you are human and the human experience is not linear and predictable.

Learn from what distracted you.

And then start another chain.