Making something a habit is the best way to achieve and maintain your goals because you are making it as much a part of you as your right arm. Making something a habit doesn’t have to be difficult.. in fact I will show you the four simple steps to instilling a habit so you can achieve and maintain your personal fitness goals.
But first, let’s talk about some of the benefits of creating habits to get you amped up and ready to make things happen..
The benefits of creating habits:
A. They help you reach your goals. Your goals aren’t going to come automatically or happen quickly, so you need habits to help you get past the initial motivation stage, because it WILL fade.
B. Habits help you become the person you want to be. When you alter your identity along with your goals, you are more likely to achieve it. If you want to be a fit person you can ask yourself what a fit person would do? They’d workout everyday, so doing daily workouts becomes the habit of the new identity you have created. (For more on identity listen to my podcast on identity here.)
C. Other facets of your life will likely benefit. For example, if you create the habit of doing yoga every morning, you won’t just feel more mobile, you will likely be more calm, more present and in a better mood the rest of the day.
D. You free up your cognitive load. I want you to think of the very first time you went to your best friend’s house. You had to GPS the directions, follow an app on your phone, you probably turned the music off and maybe even made a wrong turn. Then after a few visits you knew where to go and now it’s muscle memory. Habits work the same way. If you find it a challenge to make a healthy breakfast every morning right now, give it about two weeks and it will just become part of your routine and you barely have to think of it. You can whip up a little something while replying to a couple emails at the same time.
Now that you’re pumped to set a goal let’s talk about how to do it in the four simple steps to instilling a habit.
1. You need to define an obvious cue- this triggers your brain to initiate a behavior.
Begin by becoming conscious of what you are doing. Perhaps take note of your morning routine and write out your actions, and qualify them as good, bad or neutral. That can help you recognize what you want to add in/ take away but you’ll never really know til you’re fully conscious of it.
Give yourself specific instructions for what you’re going to do and when. Saying you want to workout isn’t enough. Saying you are going to run for 20 minutes on a treadmill after work MWF is more likely to happen.
“No behavior happens in isolation. Each action becomes a cue that triggers the next behavior.” Tie your desired behavior to one you already do, aka, habit stacking. For example, make your coffee, then meditate. Sit down for dinner then express your daily gratitude. But consider when this will actually be successful. Don’t throw meditation into the middle of your day when you know you’re going to be distracted.
Change your environment. What you visibly see day in and day out can influence your habits. So don’t leave cigarettes in the cup holder in your car if you want to quit smoking. Leave your sneakers out by the door if you want to walk more. And recognize what activity you do in each location you are in. If you ALWAYS get an indulgent coffee and baked good at a particular cafe when you work, perhaps try a new cafe where you sip green tea while you work and establish a new relationship with the new location.
Don’t rely on willpower, it doesn’t last. Changing your environment changes your triggers.
2. Get to know your why.
There is a motivational force behind every habit. Something from the outside that is interpreted by the individual through thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Our brains are wired to make us crave habits that boost our dopamine like eating sugar, checking social media; if we use that craving to our advantage by stacking habits, those habits become easier (example, when I watch TV, I stretch; when I sunbathe I read)
We imitate those close to us. One of the most effective things you can to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is their normal behavior.
We are more apt to behave in ways that get us praise, approval or respect
By nature we have an innate desire to find love/ reproduce, connect with others, be accepted, remove uncertainty, achieve certain statuses, have some variety, contribute and a few others. Every action we take is to fulfill one of these needs. When we take an action and we feel it affected us positively we want to do it again, which becomes habit forming. If it doesn’t help us fulfill those needs, it is not habit forming.
Shift your mindset. If you HAVE to get up and go to work it seems crappy. If you GET to wake up and go to work it means you are healthy and you’ll make money which gives you the ability to buy stuff you want!
3. Now define the actual habit you want to perform.
The sheer volume of tries/ reps/ attempts at something will in the end, make you better at the thing you are doing. Don’t worry about making it perfect from the get-go.
The Principle of Least Action states that the path followed between any two points will always be the path that requires the least energy. So make things simple and you’ll be more likely to do them.
Make things easy by preparing your belongings for future use/ the habit you want. Chop your veggies to eat each week. Set out your gym clothes the day prior.
Make the things you want to get OUT of the habit difficult to use. Put your scale at the top of your closet. Have your roommate hide the PB.
Make it super simple. Make your goal to do something for TWO minutes. Exercise for two minutes. Journal for two minutes. Read ONE page. Write one sentence. Don’t do it to the point where it feels like work.
Make a bad habit near impossible. Ask your waiter to hold the fries. Hire a trainer that you don’t want to bail on. Put money in a savings account unlinked to your bank account.
4. Determine your reward- the end goal of every habit.
Obviously fitting into your size 6’s again, being able to take selfies with your family without cringing or being able to squat your bodyweight are going to be rewarding, but you need to give yourself little treats along the way because this stuff takes time.
The human brain is wired to crave instant gratification. What’s immediately rewarded is repeated. What’s immediately punished is avoided. You can add a little bit of pleasure to your long term habits that make you happy while you’re doing them.
If you’re avoiding a behavior like spending money or eating out, that’s kinda boring and may feel like punishment so you need to make that rewarding, so take the mo eye you’d spend and put it into a travel account.
Track your habits. Mark the days you workout on a calendar. Subtract how much money you need in your savings each day. Habit tracking is very gratifying and obvious.
Make there be a punishment for your bad behavior with an accountability partner or contract of sorts.
Now that you know the four simple steps to instilling a habit, what is one habit you want to create? How can I help you with it? Comment below!
Your Coach,
Kyra