Doing Things Differently to Get What We Want

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”

James Clear

As we move slowly down a new path of authentic living, new choices produce a new daily reality. Awareness is needed in order to dissolve bad habits or start new ones (equally difficult), and no matter how much we want or wish or plead for it to happen overnight, habits don’t work that way.

Now, instead of feeling discouraged or pessimistic, the bright side is we can use the automatic nature of habits to our advantage once we have some tools to influence them.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

James Clear

Let’s peel back the layers on habits with the go-to guy for all-things habits, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. James Clear has made it his mission to offer some tips for success and stresses the importance not solely on the habits but on the habit system we put in place to avoid becoming overwhelmed with failure from a poorly laid plan. Here are some pearls I’ve gathered (including links to his site) from the habits guru:

Clarity: having an strong internal “why” is an important motivator. Your essence, what makes you uniquely you, is independent of external people or things and keeps you committed, constant, consistent.

Good Cues: ideally, ones that are already there. Actions that we do every single day. Like brushing our teeth, workplace tasks and commute, working out or sports and recreation.

Keystone habit: discussed by Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit, is a cornerstone habit at the center of our behavior foundation and doing it will enhance and promote other good habits. Imagine a domino effect.

Habit Stacking:  After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]. Created by BJ Fogg as part of his Tiny Habits program, it works by utilizing your current habits which are already built into your brain. You have patterns and behaviors that have been strengthened over years. By linking your new habits to a cycle that is already built into your brain, you make it more likely that you’ll stick to the new behavior.

Once you have mastered this basic structure, you can begin to create larger stacks by chaining small habits together. This allows you to take advantage of the natural momentum that comes from one behavior leading into the next.

Habit Tracking: use a habit tracker or simply journal new habits for accountability to measure your progress for encouragement or determine if you need to make adjustments. Seeing is believing 🙂

“When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.”

James Clear

These are some tools I use when setting goals for new habits. The cardinal rule that I believe is the most pivotal to success is clarity on “why” we want our new habit and it’s value must be paramount in helping us feel satisfied with our life. Oh, and if it’s a high priority to you, reassess, and adjust, but never, ever quit! 😉

Keep it Simple,

Just Teri

❤ ❤ ❤

Feel free to share epic wins or losses with habit formation and what you learned from them. Someone else may be in the same shoes as you were and your shared experience could make a difference 😉

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