Your habits say everything about you. Think I’m being dramatic?! Nope, think again. What you’re doing everyday says to someone “THIS IS WHO I WANT TO BE. THIS IS WHAT I’M WORKING TOWARDS.” You might say one thing, but are you doing another? I’m going to look at your actions and you should be doing the same. Are your actions lining up with what you’re saying? Are they lining up with who you strive to be?
We finished week 3 of #NEXT90CHALLENGE and guys, Dave threw some straight-up wisdom at us in his lesson about habits! Also – it’s not too late to get in on this action. You can sign up here for free and get access to all the lessons that have already happened.
Did you know 40-50% (on a considerate basis, otherwise 40-90%) of the things you do on an everyday basis are living inside of your unconscious. This means we need to have our habits in place. Which leads me to ask – are your habits leading your life? Or is your life leading your habits?
Believe it or not there’s actually a science behind habits. It’s not merely deciding to do something and that’s it. Armed with the right knowledge, you can take control of that 40-90% to engineer your life in the direction you want. I’m sure we’ve all been at a place in our lives where what we’re doing with our time isn’t lining up with what we say our priorities to be. I have definitely been there and in a bit, I’m going to talk about what that toxic habit was and how I changed it. First though, I had to begin by identifying my personal values. I thought through all areas of my life, from my spiritual health to my mental, physical and even sexual health.
Then I really honed in on the science of habits. What the heck is a habit and how does it work? In the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he defines a habit as “made up of three things: a trigger/queue, which provokes the unconscious behavior, the routine, which is what we do after we’re triggered and finally, the reward.”
Something to acknowledge: we cannot eliminate triggers. Triggers always exist. That’s a fact of life. We can tweak the reward and we can always change the routine; but, since triggers will forever be there, we need to check in with ourselves about when we get triggered. Is the way you are processing your triggers actually creating the kind of outcome you’re hoping for? Sit in this you guys. For me, when I felt anxious, I used to drink as a way to feel better. It made me feel good. But, I realized that this wasn’t who I wanted to be. I can’t ever change the triggers that make me feel anxious or stressed, but it’s in my control about what I do next.
There were other, better and healthier, ways to deal with these more negative emotions. I recognized my trigger and set out to insert a new routine to get the same reward. I wanted to feel great, which is how I feel after running. By changing this and turning it into a positive habit of moving my body when I feel those emotions, I’ve seen a waterfall of other positive habits follow.
I’ve talked about it plenty, but the habits that I’ve implemented are literally on auto-pilot for me. I do these five habits every single day. They are just who I am and how my mornings are scheduled . I’m bananas crazy OBSESSED with my morning routine (if you want to know more about morning routine just check out my video below). My mornings will never not have these five things:
1. Gratitude
2. Moving my body for 30 minutes
3. Water water water
4. Nutrition
5. An hour for myself
Here’s one more good exercise to put into practice…
It’s really helped with self-awareness for both me and Dave. When I am triggered by ______ (queue), currently I ______ (routine) because it provides me _______ (reward).
Do not give up – you are capable of creating the life you want. If you fall, get back up again and again and again. Join us next week during the #NEXT90CHALLENGE as we talk about leadership during uncertain times!
