KEY INSIGHT: The difference between people who successfully transform their lives and people who repeatedly start and quit isn’t that successful people never slip – it’s that they respond to slips differently. Most people use a single mistake as evidence that they’ve “ruined everything,” triggering the abstinence violation effect that leads to complete abandonment of goals. But slips are inevitable in any behavior change process. They’re not failures; they’re information. The critical skill is learning to handle imperfection without spiraling, to get back on track immediately rather than waiting for the “perfect” restart moment, and to treat setbacks as temporary detours rather than permanent derailments.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Think about past attempts to change your health. When you “fell off the wagon,” what story did you tell yourself? Did you see it as proof that you “can’t do this” or “always fail”? Did one bad meal become a bad week? Did you tell yourself you’d “start fresh Monday” and then never did? These patterns reveal how you’ve been programmed to respond to imperfection. The good news: these are learned responses, which means they can be unlearned and replaced.
TODAY’S EXERCISE:
Prepare for slips before they happen by creating your recovery protocol:
Write down your answers to these questions:
Keep this written recovery protocol somewhere accessible. When (not if) you slip, you’ll have a pre-planned response that prevents the spiral. You’re not trying to prevent all mistakes – you’re becoming someone who handles mistakes skillfully.