Setting and maintaining good habits and breaking habits that aren’t serving you can be a difficult process. So many of us have made new year’s resolutions to change our habits and might already be struggling to keep them. If you’re already wavering or just need a little support, this episode on effectively changing your habits is for you!

 

LISTEN TO EPISODE 15 OF THE FED AND FEARLESS PODCAST

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how to change your habits

Before I start talking about how to change your habits, it’s important to understand what unconscious habits are. Habits like brushing your teeth, putting your shoes on, and turning the light on when you go in a room. What makes these habits so natural?

There are four different aspects that help us create lasting habits. From having a craving to the feeling the habit ultimately rewards us with, habits are intrinsically linked to a positive mental or bodily response. The fact is we need to have some sort of craving, either good or not so good, in order to develop a long-term habit.

Long-term habits start to form when you stick at something for a period of time, and the easier we can make it for ourselves the better. Think about ways you can positively reinforce the habit – is it leaving your running shoes beside the front door? Wearing a fitness tracker? Or even building an at-home gym? 

The same goes for habits you’re trying to break. I’m a firm believer in the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy to help remove habits that aren’t suiting you anymore. For me most recently it’s been Halloween candy, as I know that these treats over the long-term this won’t serve me in any positive ways. That’s why I don’t keep any Halloween candy in the house. This doesn’t mean I never indulge, I just consciously decide how to eat candy.

Finally, I go through some questions you can ask yourself if you’re struggling with your habits. Whether you’re trying to make or break them, getting deep into your reasoning for creating the change can help you stick it out long-term.

Did you set any new year’s resolutions or habit change goals for 2020? How are they going? Are there any habits you’re trying to break?  Let us know in the comments below! 

 

Got a question you’d love to hear me answer on the show? Leave me a voice message here!

 

IN THIS EPISODE

• What some of our unconscious habits are
• What feelings can lead to creating habits
• Why you need to have a craving in order to form a habit
• What happens when you create a new habit in a very obvious way
• How you can adopt the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy to help break bad habits
• What questions you should ask yourself if you’re struggling to make or break a habit

 

QUOTES

“Everything that we do is more or less a habit in some way, shape, or form. Of course, we can learn new habits and we can eliminate old habits but, at the end of the day, our behavior is largely driven by these habits, whether they’re conscious or not.” (8:58)

“In the future, the craving is going to continuously be strengthened because you have experienced a reward that created a positive change in your internal state, even if it’s short-lived.” (17:18)

“There are lots of different ways that you can make not good, or not desireable, habits more difficult to do, and that can make it start to be less likely that you’ll do the thing you’re trying to stop doing.” (39:19)

“Not all of your habits have to be fun in order to be valuable and worthwhile to you but it certainly helps if you can make them more fun.” (50:48)

 

 

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