How to create new habits

Make that shit obvious

The human brain is really good at picking up cues. In relationships to habits, do something enough and your brain can start to understand the cues that are the foundation of your habit. We touched on this in last week's blog so be sure to check it out if you landed on this one first. 

Your body is capable of doing many things without us telling it what to do.

Remember last week when we spoke about having habits in place will actually create more freedom in your day-to-day. Well, that's in part because we don't have to tell our habits what to do, your habit will begin without you even being aware of it. Conversely, this also makes habits a tricky little sucker because they become nonconscious, automatic decisions. 

That brings us to step one to creating a habit.

It all starts with awareness.

Being aware of yourself and your surroundings at any given moment will help bring light to this automatic habit that is either occurring or not occurring. 

In Atomic Habits, James mentions a quote from psychologist Carl Jung 

“ Until you make the unconscious conscious,

it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

 It isn't until we take a look at our current situation that we can begin to make changes. 

So, where do we begin??? How can we start to make the subconscious obvious??

We must become aware of what we are actually doing. 

Can’t stop late-night snacking?? 

Start to look at what you are actually doing, at the moment when you are snacking, at your grocery list when you go to the store, at the size of your meals leading up to “snack time” 

If you really want to instill change here is a great place to start:

I challenge you to make a list of your daily habits from when you wake up in the morning until you go to bed

Example : 

• Wake up

• Check my phone

• Put on a pot of coffee

• Drink a glass of water

• Open up my laptop and begin working 

• Get ready for work 

• Train my first 2 hours of clients

• Make breakfast 

• ETC….

Then go back through the list and mark them as effective (meaning they solve a problem), ineffective (not serving your bigger picture), or neutral. Think about how these habits will benefit you in the long run.

• Will they yield positive results or not?

• Does this behavior help bring me closer to the person I want to be?

• Or does this particular behavior go against the identity I long for? 

Maybe your list a little short and feel like you’re missing something? 

Try this:

Try pointing and calling out things throughout your day.

Use the snacking example from earlier, I am heading to the kitchen to grab a snack that I don't need and I know it will cause me to gain weight over time and take me further away from where I want to be, etc.

This will add weight to the situation and make it more real. It can also work on a positive note, saying out loud that you are going to work out at 3 pm is already increasing the odds of you actually doing it. 

Sooo let’s get loud and figure out what we are doing and remind ourselves of the things we would like to do more often. 

More on this topic next week where we will be discussing the ”Implementations Intentions”

Stay tuned and be sure to follow me on Instagram and hop on the newsletter list so you don’t miss anything.  

References:

Clear , James. Atomic Habits: an Easy &Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House LLC , 2018.

Not sure how or where to start?? Well, that’s why you have me =) I am here to support you on your journey. Apply Here