A Beginners Guide to Building Healthy Habits
‘‘Healthy habits.. Hmm I’m sure I’ve heard that term before. Aren’t those things that are only meant for the successful and elite people of this world? You know the ones that have 10K+ followers on Instagram, or the elite athletes you see on TV?’’ Ok ok, I’m exaggerating. Of course you know what habits are, I’m not here trying to insult your intelligence. But the real question I have for you is, why do you find it so hard to stick to them? And what makes it easier for some people to succeed in building the habits they want, compared to others? That is exactly what we are going to uncover in this article.
Let me add a quick disclaimer to this blog post. All of the information on this page has been gathered from several sources together with forming my own opinions and conclusions throughout this article. The information in this article should not be used as a substitute for any medical advice.
Good vs. Bad Habits - The Spectrum
I recently recorded an Instagram Live with a fellow coach and very good friend on the topic of Habits which led me to write this blogpost for my website. I always love discussing subjects that have a connection to overall health and wellbeing with fellow professionals. It does 2 things for me, it allows me to learn from someone else’s perspective and knowledge to add to mine, and it allows me to let my ideas free flow in real-time which often leads to new discoveries in my thinking or those ‘Ah!’ moments! One of the realisations I had when on the Live, was my opinion on the concept of a good and a bad. I started to realise how often I come across that black and white mindset in my day to day dealings with people. So this idea started to develop in my mind whilst speaking to my friend about a spectrum of habits. What does that even mean? Aren’t there inherently both good and bad habits? Well, that all depends on the context of the situation. A habit could be placed anywhere on a spectrum from wanted to unwanted, (or from good to bad, but like I said I’m not a fan) and it could (and should!) look different for one person than it does for the next.
Let’s try an example situation. If Amelia wanted to build a habit of exercising more often, that would be a great habit to build. In scenario 1, Amelia starts to exercise 4 days a week, for an hour and a half, along with other habits that support the exercise (drinking more water, fuelling her body with food before and after). In scenario 2, Amelia starts exercising rigidly 7 days a week, she skips a meal to make time for the training and she decides not to eat after exercise in an attempt to lose weight faster. Can you see how the same habit can be used in both a positive and negative way? You can do this thought provoking exercise with any habit, give it a try and see what you come up with!
As a personal rule, I like to stay away from absolutes as much as possible. Everybody wants to know the answer to the age old question ‘How long until (insert lifelong desire here)’ and I’ve lost count of the amount of times a complete stranger has asked me what the number 1 exercise is to burn belly fat?! If we put that train of thought and apply it to building habits, it is no different. You see, if I was faced with a question like ‘How long does it take to build a healthy eating habit?’, the answer will be it depends. You see, the question isn’t solely built around the length of time, it is also built around what that person perceives as ‘healthy’. We are then also posed with the question of that persons lifestyle, and their current habits (more on Habit Stacking later). Rome wasn’t build in a day, and neither are your habits.
My advice? Stop thinking of things as either all-good or all-bad. This creates the dynamic of either success or failure, and none of us can ‘succeed’ all of the time. Why would you set yourself up to fail by utilising a mindset like that? Instead let’s build a better system. An adaptive flexible way of thinking. A Growth Mindset.
Growth Mindset
The idea of a growth mindset has been widely used in books such as ‘Mindset’ by Dr Carol Dweck, How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day, and one of my personal favourites; ’12 Rules for Life’ by Jordan Peterson. The concept of the Growth Mindset has recently popped back on my radar in the Precision Nutrition Course that I am currently enrolled in.
So, what is a Growth Mindset exactly?
A Growth Mindset is a set of beliefs that one takes on, and applies to swing any situation towards a positive direction or a learning experience. People with a Growth Mindset:
Learn from the situation
Take responsibility over their own actions
Continue to take the next step forward (yes especially after another perceived ‘failure’)
Are not afraid of failure, they welcome it. Failure is necessary for success
There are many more aspects to a Growth Mindset, however the above are my personal favourites and the ones I find imperative to make the mindset work for you.
Click here for a great article based on building the Growth Mindset.
Emotional Attachment AKA The Glue
Once you have started to grasp the concept that your mindset dictates your internal environment for habit building, you can start to figure out ‘Why’ you want to build certain habits, or get rid of not so productive ones in your life.
An exercise that can help you uncover your why, is the ‘5 Whys Exercise’ where you try to uncover the root of the reason by digging past several layers (answers) to uncover the deeper meaning. This does not always give you an absolute clear single answer, but it allows you to think about the answers you come up with. Another less riding version of the exercise above, is simply sitting down with a pen and piece of paper and journalling your thoughts about your current habits, your future ideal habits, and everything in between.
If you find it hard to sit down and interrogate yourself, you can always ask a friend to do it for you. Sometimes all you need is to hear your thoughts out loud and what better way to do this than with a trusted friend (who may also be honest enough with you to shine some light on what barriers or excuses you may naturally come up with!).
What the exercises above will do, is not only uncover the deeper reasons behind your intentions, it will also help to create or uncover the emotional attachment to the perceived goal. Whether we like to accept it or not, emotions usually dictate our actions, understanding instead of avoiding them, will help you move forward faster.
Here is a link to a Youtube video explaining ‘The 5 Whys’ step by step.
Choosing Your Habits
Before we get in to the nitty gritty of building our habits, it helps to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve (we can use the 5 whys exercise for this). Once you know where you want to be, you can start to develop a map of how you are going to become the person that achieves that goal. Internalising the goal and thinking of the ‘type of person you need to be’ to achieve it, will put the responsibility of the tasks in your hands. With great reward comes great responsibility (a spin on the spider-man quote there, enjoy) and realising that you are more than capable to put actions into place is arguably the first big step in achieving them.
Here are some examples to help you on your way:
‘‘I want to be stronger’’. I can start by visualising myself as a stronger me. ‘‘What would I look like?’’ ‘‘What would I act like?’’ ‘‘What daily practises would the stronger me participate in?’’ Are questions that get you closer to choosing the habits you want to build.
I may come up with answers such as: ‘‘I will look more toned and have a great shape on my upper body’’, ‘‘I will walk into a room full of confidence’’, ‘‘I will eat protein with every meal to build my muscle’’. The answers I gave there gave me some clues into the habits that would help me get there. Doing upper body exercises for example, will help me gain the look and strength that I want to achieve.
Now that you have some ideas in mind you can start to build your list of desirable habits.
Give the above exercise a try and see what you come up with!
Applying Habit Building Practises
Now that you’ve gained some understanding on developing your Growth Mindset, and learning ways to uncovering the deeper meaning behind ‘Your Why', you are well on your way to learning how to develop some new habits. There are 2 main methods of building habits that I would like to share with you. The first method will show you how to remain realistic and flexible when choosing your tasks that build the habit, as well as allowing yourself to exceed your expectations and push the task further. The second method will teach you how to build upon your newfound healthy habits.
Habit Practise #1: Adjust The Dial
‘Adjusting the dial’ is a concept I recently discovered through my Precision Nutrition Course. The concept itself is quite an instinctive measure to put in place especially once you take on the Growth Mindset. Instead of a task being a win or a fail, you think of it as a flexible dial where you include tasks scored from 1-10 depending on your own perceived difficulty of the task. If you have a particularly difficult day ahead of you, or you are pressed for time, would it not serve you better to adjust your task to maybe a 6 or 7 on the dial instead of sabotaging it all together? See an example of an exercise related dial diagram below.
As you can see from the example above, there are 10 ways of getting movement into your day. If your goal is to be stronger, having an intense heavy workout may be at number 10 on your dial. Number 1 may be a short walk, which is far away from the task you would like to perform, but does that mean it’s a waste of time to perform? No, quite the contrary. You see the art of building habits is built on momentum. Small tasks done over and over again make it easier for the brain to say ‘yes’ to an action, you are essentially building discipline by not giving up on your tasks all together.
So the next time you feel you are at risk of failing your habit practise, why don’t you design your own exercise/nutrition/wellness dial?
(Source: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/pause-button-mentality)
Habit Practise #2: Habit Stacking
What can we do to keep the momentum of habit building going? That’s right, we can continue to build more.
So Habit Stacking, what is it? Habit stacking is the process of adding a habit to an already pre-existing one. You often see people habit stack naturally when they start to exercise for example. You exercise therefore you may see the worth in eating healthy afterwards, or you may decide to start tracking your steps as well. The continuation of those ‘multiple habit stacks’ lead to larger results over time. Once we start to see results, we learn that we have the capability to make real change happen by doing the small tasks over and over again that build those habits!
Read more about Habit Stacking here.
Once you start to make some progress with this, you’ll start to realise how relatively simple the process of habit building is. You select a task, and you make the active choice to do it regularly and consistently. The hardest bit is controlling the less productive habits of getting in the way (this usually shows up as your ‘default’ or what you tend to fall back on). In times like those, remembering your growth mindset and contingency plan of getting back to ‘adjusting your dial’ is key.
Summary
Now that you’ve learnt about what habits are, how habits are formed and how to practise and build upon those habits, you are fully equipped to take on the challenge of levelling up your habit game! Whenever you need to, you can refer back to this article for help. I believe that everyone is capable of achieving what they set out to achieve, the key is to start where you are. Delaying your habit building by allowing obstacles in the form of excuses to get in the way is only practising the habit of procrastination and diminishing your self belief. You are resilient beyond what you think you are, remember that.
If you would like some help in building healthy habits, I am currently open to taking on a select few new Online Coaching Clients. My aim is to help educate my clients so they learn the life skills and tools to help themselves for life! You can contact me by clicking here!
Resources
Below you will find some books that will help you gain more knowledge and understanding on the subject of building habits. Knowledge is power, and the more you can equip yourself with different methods and levels of understanding, the more likely you are to succeed in the long run!
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (2013) - The Power of Habit provides a great introduction to the fundamentals of habits. The main idea in this book is the habit loop. A habit loop consists of the cue, the routine, and the reward.
Atomic Habits - James Clear (2018) - Atomic Habits provides a practical and proven framework for creating good habits and shedding bad ones. Drawing on scientific research and real-life examples, it shows how tiny changes in behaviour can result in the formation of new habits and help you achieve big things.
Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.
The Four Laws of Behaviour Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are (1) make it obvious, (2) make it attractive, (3) make it easy, and (4) make it satisfying
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (2016) - The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, will give you a better idea of the mental side of habits. In addition, it will give you an idea of how to categorise different types of habits.
The main idea is to develop ourselves from dependence to independence. And from independence to interdependence.
(Source: https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/3-books-that-you-should-read-for-building-new-habits-16400d303955)
Thank you for reading!
If you enjoyed this blog post article, do let me know by leaving a comment!
-Coach Kim