Here’s one we may not have spoken about before. The “Secret Success Sauce” , one could say, to achieving our habits....is our friendships.
Yep, the buddies at our side all the time. We’ve sort of borrowed the terminology from the book that inspired this post: The Daniel Plan – 40 days to a healthier life. In this book the authors speak of how friends are the secret sauce to success.
The key is to start your lifestyle changes, goals, new hobbies or habits, with a bandwagon of friends.
Why we are more successful with friends by our side:
- Birds of a feather flock together – it is mostly subconscious. But our ways, habits, the language we use, our fashion, our eating habits, sports and recreational activities are persuaded by what our close knit friends do.
- There's power in numbers - There is research that has proven that positive changes are more likely to be consistent and successful when groups of people are joined in doing it together.
- It's good for your health - Research also proves that groups or communities, help to improve your physical, mental and spiritual health. You’ve got others on your side, and you have each other’s back. Once again in The Daniel Plan it is mentioned that a large portion of the books success was owed to the people that decided to form small groups, where they journeyed in their lifestyle and eating changes together.
7 Easy Steps To Starting A Goal With Your Friends
1) Start with just one habit or hobby you want to tackle. Think about it and the benefits, effects and aftereffects it will have on your and others lives. Make sure it is fully positive in this regard.
2) Tap into your trust circle. The trust circle friends are the ones that always have your back, and your best interest at heart. For this very reason , They’re perfect friends to get on board with you. Have a think about whom within that circle, and how many people you want to approach with your idea. It might be all of them, it might be one or two. The more to start with, the better.
If you’re feeling unsure about who these friends might be, check out our podcast on How Kind Are My Friends, to help you out.
3) Prepare how you’d like to propose this “challenge” to your friends. As much as possible make it:
– Fun
– Easily tracked
– Easy to be accountable to each other with
– Available to do together
4) Then gather your friends and brainstorm. Let them mention what would make it fun for them, and how it could become a really fun challenge. Maybe you even want to get real arty-farty and do a vision board together!
5) Set a deadline, and small target achievements to reach along the way for motivation. If you aren’t too sure how to do this, check out our podcast on implementation intentions.
6) Create ways you can all get together to do it, or to revise the challenge at the least.
Then, just have fun! The power of our secret sauce here will work it’s flavours into your life naturally. You’ll see that it is easier to be accountable, to be consistent, and to have fun – and the by product of this is that it will be easier to see results.
The best thing about doing things this way is that it’s 100 times more fun. And 100 times more motivational, too.
Just remember not to take yourself too seriously, so that you don’t sweat the small stuff, and make sure you keep it consistent. Tick these boxes and you’ll be well on your way to winning with your friends.