100% Is Easier Than 98%

Maintaining a habit is easy and gets easier.

Stopping and starting is hard and gets harder.

If you do these things every day, they just become part of you. But if you skip a day, then every future day becomes optional. That means it becomes hard, because you go from "no decision" (just doing what you do) to making a decision every time.

We all have decision fatigue: we make decisions all day long and it gets harder and harder to choose the decision that will help us in the long-term over the choice that will feel good in the short-term. When you're tired from making decisions, you're more likely to make bad decisions. This is why you're more likely to stop at the drive-through after a crazy busy day at work: you're not more hungry, and you're not always even short on time. You feel mentally tired from making decisoins all day. Your guard is down, so you are more susceptible to making a bad short-term decision.

Instead of "it's 5:30am and time to write" you now say "it's 5:30am. Do I get up and journal, or not?"

Think about how hard you have to fight to get up and write at 5:30 when your bed is warm and you're tired and you don't know what to write about and you don't really want to. You probably had that experience on your first day of the challenge. Well, if you skip a day today, you're not just going to have that experience again tomorrow...it will actually be worse, because you've just missed today, so you have permission to miss another day. You might think, "well, I broke the streak yesterday...might as well not start the streak again until tomorrow. I've already failed. It's done. I'll start again when conditions are perfect.'

But conditions are never perfect on the first day. You go from simple habits to hard reps again. And the longer you leave it, the harder it will be to start.

Maintaining the habit is always more important than being a perfect eater or doing a perfect workout. Because there will always be imperfect conditions or reasons to break the habit.

Your fitness doesn't rise to the level of your inspiration or your energy on your best day. It falls to the level of your habits: what gets done, no matter what, even on your worst day?

That's what we're really building here.

100% is easier than 98%. Keep going.

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This week: Reps > Habits > Skills

And our weekly programming!

In the next 30 days, we’re going to clean up your lifestyle, fix your metabolism and clear your head.

If you really want to change your life, you have to start by changing your habits. You become the things that you do. We want you to improve your life by doing the RIGHT things without thinking about them.

And we’re going to do it together. Because change is hard, we’re going to support you with coaching and a peer group like only Catalyst can.

This is the Golden Habits Challenge:

0 Sweet Treats

0 Alcohol

60 minutes of movement daily.

250 words of journaling daily

None of these habits are easy. The first few days without extra sugar are going to be a challenge. And that’s why we’re going through it together. We can leverage the power of the group for accountability.

The biggest barrier to success will be in your own head. To help, we’ve added a price and a prize.

First, the challenge costs $99. Register here. The price is there to get you coaching, but mostly to hold you accountable. It’s just barely costly enough for you to take it seriously. But you can do it: bet on yourself.

Second, tracking. You’re going to record your success every day on a simple pen-and-ink tracking sheet. You’ll post this on your refrigerator or somewhere else in your home.

Third, the prize: the golden Catalyst t-shirt. You can’t buy these: you have to earn them. You earn one by hitting 90% compliance (or 108 checked boxes) on your tracking sheet.

Fourth, the future: at the end of the challenge, you’ll sit down with your coach, look at your Habits tracking, and get your next steps.

FAQ

When does this run?

November 1-30, 2024.

What results should I see by the end?

You’re probably going to lose a couple of pounds. You’ll definitely feel sharper. And you’ll gain resilience: you’ll have made it through something tough.

But more importantly, you’ll have a running start at a habit that you might keep forever. When I gave up alcohol to improve my performance on the bike, it felt like a big sacrifice to say “no” to beer all summer. But that was over a year ago. Now I’m 14lbs lighter, far fitter and I don’t really care about beer after all.

You don’t have to commit to giving up alcohol and treats forever. But if you do it for 30 days, you’ll be through the worst part, and then you can decide what to do next. Diets aren’t sustainable; that’s why they don’t work. Habits are sustainable forever.

What support will we get?

You’ll get daily tips and knowledge through a private Facebook group. You’ll also get support from Coach Jess, as well as the other challenge participants.

Other questions? Please email chris@catalystgym.com and we’ll answer them!

In the meantime, sign up here: GOLDEN HABITS CHALLENGE

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