How Flexible is Your Habit Change?

Life is not always consistent and those shifts, no matter the size, can throw our habit practices for a loop. It’s up to us to have flexibility and the way we can do that is to create back-up scenarios.

In my 100-Day Gong effort of adding daily sunlight, grounding, movement, eating greens, and drinking electrolyte water to my routine, I found a need to be flexible within the first week. Turns out the sun doesn’t always shine in the summer. So when the first stormy day came, I acted quickly to come up with a backup plan to avoid breaking my streak.

Since conducting my daily meditation practice (already an existing habit) outside so that it stacks with sunlight and grounding (bare feet on the earth) doesn’t work out so great when it’s storming I created some IF, THEN statements.

IF, THEN statements are great when your plan can’t be executed. They keep you from throwing in the towel by creating a contingency in the event your changes are impacted. Here are mine:

• IF there’s no sunlight to help set my circadian rhythm, THEN I will use my red light panel to supercharge my cells.

• IF I cannot go outside barefoot to discharge the positive electrons I build up in my system, THEN I will use my PEMF mat to mimic the earth’s magnetic field.

Luckily I can use the red light panel while on the PEMF mat during my daily meditation so the shift is simple. Eating greens and drinking water remain the same. The only other shift is to head to the gym if I cannot make it outside to walk or ride my bike but I also have the option to do body-weight exercises at home. So far so good, I actually enjoy the variety with guardrails.

How are you flexible in your habit-building? Do you need to create an IF, THEN statement or two to support you?

My 100-Day Gong

According to Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, “Forty percent of the time we're not thinking about what we're doing."

We automatically repeat behaviors that were frequently rewarded in the past in a given context. This repetition becomes an unconscious habit or series of habits. This makes sense will existing habits but how do you introduce new behaviors?

There are many approaches but two things that stand out to add new daily actions are to make them conscious and to reduce the friction to make them happen.

Adding new habits begins with creating an environment that supports them. Research shows that leveraging the cues that trigger habits in the first place can be incredibly effective.

This Summer, I decided to use a 100-day Gong, combined with habit stacking (with my already established meditation practice) to integrate the following habits daily:

• Sunlight viewing

• Grounding

• Movement of any kind

• Drinking water with a goal of 60 ounces

• Eating 3-cups of greens

The conscious for me is to make it visual but I have also used reminders on my phone in the past. Reducing friction is about making all items as easy as possible.

I have made it conscious by posting a tracker on the kitchen cabinet that I can see daily. I have reduced friction by making it easy to engage in, i.e. leaving my yoga mat and headphones by the sliding door to outside (one of the first things I see in the AM); getting my measured greens out in the AM to place on “my spot” at the table (and sometimes munching them plain like a snack); and drinking the first third of my water as soon as I wake up, refilling my bottle once empty.

I’ll admit I normally would not focus on adding 5 things at once. I chose this approach because I could add sunlight, grounding, and sometimes movement to my existing habit of meditation via habit stacking by moving it outside.

What are working on this Summer? How can you make it conscious? How can you reduce friction and make it easy? Click here to download a tracker to make your progress visual.

Resolutions Are "Shoulds" in Disguise: Don't Fall for It

We have all been there.

The calendar flips to a new year, and you engage in an overhaul of some sort.

• Rid yourself of a vice because you are going to “eat healthy.”

• Shell out money for a gym membership/exercise equipment/latest gadget because you are going to “get in shape.”

• Skip the coffee shop and make your brew at home because you will “save money.” And the list goes on.

You are ready to change your life. Fed up by the lack of progress you have seen from the previous year. You force yourself into some sort of box that you won’t be able to stay in for long. Pressured by the clock striking midnight, you start this or stop that because you “should.”

Not to be a downer, but I say don’t fall for it, whatever you are overhauling will not last. Not because you don’t want it to/wish it would and not because you lack the willpower to make it happen. Making resolutions are simply “shoulds” in disguise.

They are often accompanied by unrealistic expectations, too many things to do, a lack of plan on how to pursue the end result, and the pressure of “should.” Your body will eventually resist whatever you’re trying to change or implement because it doesn’t feel safe.

If resolutions aren’t the answer, how do you actually change your life?

First, identify where in your life you are ready for a change. This Life Assessment can help.

Next, be sure you pick ONE change and nail these foundations of habit change for it BEFORE you move on to the next. Click on each foundation for more info.

1. Know your why for wanting this change.
   What’s the real reason you want this? It helps to go deep here, often the surface reason is just the tip of the iceberg.
   

2. Identify your baseline or starting point.
   If you want to train for a marathon but only “run” out to the mailbox, your starting point will be different than if you run 5 miles a day.
   

3. Take small conscious action.
   Biting off more than we can chew is the kiss of death when it comes to making change. Starting crazy small can feel silly, but the point is to make it so easy you can’t fail. Also, instead of waiting until the end goal is reached, it’s vital to celebrate the small wins along the way. This rewards your body and brain for doing work and reinforces the action you are taking as safe.
   

4. Have self-awareness about your change.
   Are you being honest with yourself about your efforts and results? Taking a pause to notice can help you go farther, faster.
   

5. Put accountability in place.
   Your potential success rate skyrockets when you involve others who want to see you win.

What change are you trying to make? Schedule your complimentary mini session to flesh out your plan here.