How 80% Can Be Enough

Our health and wellness industry has brainwashed us to think that 100% perfection is required to reach your health and wellness goals. Most of us can vividly picture a celebrity trainer insisting that make-you-puke workouts and tasteless food is a requirement for success.

However, we are here to let you in on a little secret: 80% can be enough.

“Consistency is key.”

I feel most of us were blessed upon this speech when going through youth sports. I can vividly remember my softball coach constantly reminding me that consistency is what breeds success. I am not sure how much I actually took that to heart at the time, considering my nickname was ‘wild thing’ due to my pitching accuracy… Regardless of my lack of listening skills when I was young, they were on to something. Consistency is absolutely the key.

80% consistency comes from commitment. Commitment to your health and wellness goals, having the confidence and self-control to be committed and act accordingly, most of the time. Most of the time means that almost all of your decisions go to support your health and wellness goals, but that it is okay when you miss a work out or have a meal that doesn’t perfectly match your plan.

You see, there are very legitimate reasons to have balance in your habits. From vacation to family emergencies, sometimes a work out needs to be missed. What is most important is that you must be okay with missing a workout, meal, snack, or self-care time. Understanding that balance is going to happen, and you can keep going after one missed opportunity, instead of beating yourself up for not being perfect.

100% perfection is not realistic and allows for no flexibility. Plus, it just doesn’t work. How many times have we all tried the latest diet fad and it failed in the first 3 hours, when you had one slip up? With the mindset of perfectionism, we tell ourselves we’ve failed when we’ve only missed one workout or eaten one thing deemed ‘wrong’. What kind of life is that to live?

In comparison, the mindset of 80% consistency helps you establish habits, be accountable, be committed, and see results. The 80% mindset allows you to tell yourself that it is okay to have balance, making your thoughts more positive and your habits more likely to continue. Being okay with this balance and knowing it is helping you in the long run is important.

But is not just the flexibility that 80% brings, but the results are usually actually BETTER. 100% is normally not sustained for very long (remember the 3-hour diet we discussed..?)  In comparison, 80% is more realistic, actually doable, and something that can last.

Plus, we rarely expect 100% perfection in other aspects of our lives. Why should our health and wellness be any different?

My question to you is… you’ve tried 100% before, haven’t you? (Having expectations of perfection in your fitness, nutrition, sleep, etc.) How did that workout for you..? I am going to assume not very well, otherwise you’d be perfect and not need information from health and wellness blog. So why not give something else a try? (And trust me… 80% is a lot more fun than killing yourself expecting 100%.)

So how the heck does 80% work?

Basically, setting your health and wellness goals is the first step. Knowing WHERE you want to be get to and HOW you want to get there. (WHY is also very important, but that is a discussion for another post.) Setting these goals and developing the habits that will support your goal is a must. From there, strive to reach these habits at least 80% of the time. This will bring commitment, accountability, sustainability, and success.

Remember that 80% can be enough and this consistency is the key to success.

If you are interested in learning more about what your 80% looks like and how to reach your goals, let us know.

-Kensie Haden M.S. Pn1