All or Nothing

Have you heard of an all or nothing attitude?

I first heard of it when listening to Jody Moore’s podcast Better than Happy (super great podcast by the way! Go give it a listen!). When she explained this type of attitude it hit me so hard! This is me 100%!

What is an all or nothing attitude? It is when someone sets a goal and if they mess up once, they quit all together. For example, let’s say I set a goal to make my bed every morning. If I miss just one time, then I give up on that goal altogether. It’s either 100% or 0%. Nothing in between.

I wish I understood why I feel like I have to give up altogether if I make a small mistake. If someone came to me about a goal they were working on and said they messed up today I would encourage them to keep going, so why don’t I do the same for myself?

A way to manage or take control of an all or nothing attitude is to give yourself room for error in your goal setting. Here is an example:

Instead of “Make my bed every morning.” set the goal of “Make my bed 3/7 times a week.” That way if you miss one day, you still have more days to make up for it.

For me I have some areas in my life that it is easier to have all or nothing. I have PCOS so I try to keep a low carb, high protein diet. For me it is easier to cut out 100% of ‘junk’ food than to say I can have a little every day because then I find myself justifying what a ‘little bit’ is. Of course there are special occasions that I have a treat! I can’t say no to a delicious birthday cake!

Anyway, this was just a quick thought I wanted to share. If you have an all or nothing attitude, try giving yourself goals with some wiggle room.

Life changes, enjoy the journey!