When you’re wanting to change your behaviour for a desired outcome, it’s helpful to think in terms of Soft Limits and Hard Limits.
A hard limit is something you can’t compromise on. It’s a binary outcome where if you stay within the limit, you’re all good, but as soon as you go beyond the limit you won’t get the outcome you want.
A soft limit is something you can compromise on. It’s giving yourself a buffer that allows more discretion with your actions, while still achieving the outcome you want.
Defining soft and hard limits can help you decide how to behave in different situations. Let’s take losing weight as an example.
If you want to lose weight, you need to maintain a caloric deficit. That means you need to burn more calories than you consume.
The hard limit is the point where you start consuming more calories than you burn. As soon as you go beyond this limit, you’re going to put on weight. There’s no way around it. So when you find yourself at the end of dinner and you know you’re at your hard caloric limit, it’s easier to say no to a little dessert.
The soft limit is the calorie deficit you set which is easiest for you to sustain (let’s say 200 calories). Any day you can go above or below this soft limit and you’ll still be losing weight – provided you don’t go beyond the hard limit. If you’re at the end of dinner and your caloric deficit is around 400 calories, you can then indulge a little and really enjoy it!
So if you are trying to make a change in your life, can you identify the soft and hard limits that will help you get the outcome you want?