Changing Habits
Do you want to change some of your habits?
Living a happier, healthier lifestyle is all about implementing happier, healthier habits. The crap part about this is that life doesn’t change overnight. To execute your happier, healthier habits – and TRUST ME: I cannot define these habits because they are DIFFERENT for everyone – you have to know yourself and what it is you want.
What do you want?
Who are you?
Where is your headspace?
Who do you want to become?
Are you living a life aligned with your values?
SAY WHAT?
Living a life aligned with your values?!
See … you have to get to know yourself.
Who you are.
What you enjoy.
What you don’t enjoy.
What you believe in.
What you don’t believe in.
What lifts you up.
What drags you down.
Who lifts you up.
Who drags you down.
Once that is under control – spoiler alert – it is always changing – you can take a look at your habits.
I mean you can take a look at your habits before, but change might take a little longer if you aren’t willing to look at the bigger picture.
Just saying.
It’s a big picture kind of thing.
HOWEVER, if you are happy in yourself, you will realise this change, and it can be pretty cruisey.
What’s a habit?
A habit is essentially a settled or regular practice. Habits are usually quite hard to give up or change.
What else can you call a habit, you ask? Well, there are many different terms like ritual, quirk, custom, pattern, routine, tendency, tradition or the norm. These are just some, but I’m sure you get the jest.
A habit is something that you can purposely plan and work at or it can be something that has just formed in your life.
I have said it once and I’ll say it again - the more mindful you are about what you do, the happier and healthier you will be. Sometimes you (ok, me, yes, me too) can shocked at some habits that form when you aren’t being mindful of your actions.
How does a habit form?
You form a habit through regular or consistent repetition of a specific behaviour.
A habit can start from a goal that you are trying to reach. The goal may become less crucial, and the habit becomes an automatic response.
Sometimes the goal is a happier, healthier means to an end like setting an alarm in the morning to get a work out in first thing to reach a goal of getting fit. Then after you do this, you realise how amazing a morning workout is and how much better you feel so it is part of your morning routine. The other side of the coin setting an alarm with the hopes of getting up early to be productive but you press snooze every morning. The habit becomes the snooze button because the goal is not specified so you go for the short term reward of more sleep even though you can regret this later on in the day. Then if you really want to change this habit, you have to work twice as hard because changing a habit is a challenge.
Ahh, change.
That word: change.
Are you scared of it?
Let’s try and embrace it.
Changing Habits
When you have happier, healthier goals on your mind, you usually have to start by changing an existing habit.
Let’s start with my favourite work example (and personal habit I’ve overcome). I’ll set the scene – you are at work. You work a desk job. You have a meeting – start example now: You exit a meeting room, you go to the vending machine, and you get a bag of chips to eat at your desk to relieve your stress. The chips are your stress relief after meetings.
The habit is that you go for the chips to relieve the stress, and this has become a habit that takes place after most meetings. Sound familiar?
I like to think there is a cue, the routine and a reward when it comes to a habit. In the example above, the meeting is the cue, the bag of chips is the routine, and the stress relief is the reward.
Cue, Routine, Reward
Ok, going back to the beginning…. Who are you and what it is that you genuinely want? From this, what is your goal? What habits do you need to try out to reach this goal? What are your current habits like? What do you want to change? What habits do you feel will be the best and the simplest change?
Think of this through the cue, routine and reward pattern that you are currently in now. Are you eating the chips or pressing the snooze? These are routine. The focus needs to be changing up the routine so that the cue and the reward is still the same.
Get it now?
Simple?
But how you ask? Read 3 Habit Building Hacks that I have previously written to help with changing up the routine.
Are keen for a change and ready to take action now? Not quite sure where to start? Don’t let your self-doubt get in the way. Click the button below and fill out an application to work with me so we can chat. The chat is about seeing if we would be a good match, seeing if I can help you reach your goal and for you to understand more about my practice. The outcome will be about you being on your way to knowing who you are, knowing what change you want and starting the change with the right motivation and accountability to kick any self-doubt to the curb.
