Breaking Up with Bad Habits

What needs shifting in your life?

What does your daily routine look like? What's something that you do often that you HATE or that you really try to avoid doing but end up doing it anyway?
 

It could be something like...

• Buying unnecessary things ($4 coffees erry damn day)

• Hitting snooze multiple times (me! ughhh) 

• Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol

• Watching Netflix for too long after work

• Getting distracted for 30 min. at a time on your phone

• Rushing every morning

• Going to sleep later than you planned

• Skipping workouts

• Making excuses that you know deep down are bullshit

• Not washing your dishes after you cook

• Letting the laundry pile up for way too long

• Not saving enough of your paycheck each month 

.... aaaand list goes on, but you get the idea.
 

As humans we are creatures of habit. Literally. 

Research says that human beings have between 60,000 and 120,000 thoughts per day, 98% of which are exactly the same as the day before. (& approximately 80% of them are negative). YIKES!

It sounds like we're just walking around hating on ourselves and the world a couple thousand times a day and then repeating the process day after day 🤣

But really, we function so much on autopilot that if we don't take time every so often to examine our subconscious thoughts and behaviours we could spend years thinking the same crappy thoughts and doing the same things day in and day out that aren't helping us get where we actually want to go... 

Take a look at your daily routine and look for behaviours that you're REPEATING quite often (aka establishing as a habit) that you'd like to break free from...

What is your thought process around this behaviour?

What is your internal dialogue like as you justify the behaviour to yourself each time? What story are you telling yourself? That you don't have time? You don't have energy? You don't have the money? You'll do it another day? You deserve a break? It's not that important?

Start to examine these bogus excuses you've created to justify a behaviour that you don't even want to be associated with. The mind will always reach for what's most comfortable so if it's something you've been doing on the reg or maybe even your entire life it WILL be hard to break the habit.

It will require you getting clear about HOW this behaviour is limiting you or preventing you from being the best version of yourself. Once you can identify how this behaviour is damaging or just generally non-beneficial then you can start to construct a new story about the type of person you are becoming and the way that type of person behaves.

For example, if you want to stop hitting snooze in the morning try changing your identity around that behaviour. Tell yourself, "I'm not the type of person who hits snooze in the morning." You could even tell yourself things like, "My best self is highly motivated and I wake up grateful and excited to start the day." 

Obviously at first these affirmations might feel like a lie but your mind doesn't really know the difference so over time it will come to accept that repeated thought and back it up with actions that support it.

The way you identify yourself and speak about yourself and your actions is highly influential in whether or not you will continue to repeat those actions. If you consistently tell yourself you're lazy and working out isn't for you then your brain will find ways to essentially 'give you what you're asking for' by prompting you to take actions that support that belief. 

Take some time to examine your daily routine and think about which behaviours really are not serving you that you'd like to change. Then ask yourself what story you've been telling yourself about that behaviour and how can you shift it to be something more positive & beneficial to your life.