I often talk about being patient with yourself and not expecting perfection. I often talk about not worrying if life occasionally gets in the way and you “slip up.” I often talk about how you need to indulge and recharge every once in a while.

But there is also a flip side to all that.

While achieving your goals isn’t about being perfect day in and day out, you do have to be CONSISTENT.

The more consistently you work toward your goals day in and day out, the quicker you are going to reach them.

Often clients will get frustrated when they feel like they’ve been “good” yet they aren’t seeing great results.

Most of the time when they break things down though, they realize that “yes…they have been good, but not good for a long enough stretch in a row.”

Not “good” consistently.

I’ve often mentioned the 80/20 rule…80 percent of the time you do the things you should while 20 percent of the time you indulge in those not so healthy treats.

Eighty percent of the time is pretty darn consistent. Honestly, it’s more consistent than most people are . Twenty percent adds up very quickly.

80/20 doesn’t mean you can be good one week and then the next week slip back into old habits. It doesn’t mean you can be basically good during the week and then do whatever you please on the weekend. It doesn’t mean you can just excuse every little slip up!

80/20 really means consistently doing the right thing. It means creating habits that lead to change. And habits honestly take about 21 days to create.

That means for 21 days you have to follow the lifestyle that you truly want if you want it to create results and ingrain habits. It means you have to be consistent to adhering to the lifestyle you want.

I mentioned a bit ago that there are points where you will find you NEED to adhere more strictly to a diet and exercise program. That you shouldn’t feel like you are restricting yourself all of the time, but that there are times where it is ok to be super clean.

And one of those times is when you are trying to ingrain the habits.

I tell clients all the time that the hardest part is reaching their goal, not maintaining it.

Because once the habits are truly instilled, you won’t have to think twice about living the lifestyle you want. You won’t constantly be draining your self-control tank to eat clean and workout consistently.

So I would like to present a challenge….

Set aside 3 weeks right now. Don’t wait for the New Year to lose weight or have to worry about dieting over the holidays.

Take three weeks right now and be consistent in your healthy lifestyle. Take 3 weeks to do the right thing day in and day out.

Be strict for three weeks, ingrain those habits and realize just how much easier it is to get results when you are CONSISTENT!

Dedicating 21 days is really all it takes. Just three weeks to make a HUGE change.

Start next year off right….Create those habits NOW!