The Power of Atomic Habits

You know how I feel about habits, I am HUGE on habits and how they are what is going to get you those sustainable results.  When any of my clients are like, “I am not getting results.”, I say let’s go back to the bare minimum, let’s go back to looking at your habits! 

I have always been a planner and grew up with a single mom who had to plan, and I learned from her to do this, not to mention I did this for a living, so it is in me to plan things and it works! I am also a reader and love reading and I read 3 books in my adult life that have changed and embodied things I do in my day-to-day life.

The first is Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t and this book is about what separates good companies from great companies and a lot of it came down to their systems. If a company has great systems to grow, it will be able to easily create new products, and create that culture, they are able to thrive.  If they are good and aren’t able overcome obstacles, their systems, don’t allow them to be nimble. The ones that went from good to great are still around!

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results. This was a game-changer for me.  What I took away from that was that I was chasing too many things.  Trying to be amazing at everything.  Instead, if I focused on that one domino that would knock everything down for me, I would hit my goals each and every time

Atomic Habits: has been out for a while and I continue to re-read it. Today I want to break this book down.

Let’s look at habits around summer what are some of the things that trip you up when summer comes, holidays, and vacations so you can start to get a clearer picture of where you can start.  The clearer you are about where you want to go, your feet are going to move in that direction.

“Success is a product of your daily habits, not a once-in-a-lifetime transaction.” This quote from Atomic Habits sticks out the most for me.

Healthy habits happen a little at a time. Slowly knocking it off like debt a little at a time. My goal in this is to help you create these atomic habits.  And James Clear breaks them down into 3 things.
1. What is the outcome that you want?
2. What is the process, how are you going to get to that outcome? Can you sustain that process? (Can you work this into our REPS?)
3. Can you make this your identity. This habit has to be a part of your identity.

Work on being 1% better every single day. Water boils at 212 degrees. And so many want to give up right before the water boils.  And that is the same with our goals. You want to give up right before you get to that goal.  Many of you wake up and want to look slimmer and 20 pounds down by the end of the week. But our bodies don’t work that way. So, you need to focus on that 1% every day… The small amount adds up over time. Check out this video learn more about what I mean by this!

As you start to think about these outcomes, the outcomes turn into goals, but those goals need a system.

“Bad habits repeat themselves again, again and again, not because we don’t want to change but because we have the wrong systems to change.” -James Clear 

You need to create systems so start by coming up with your 1-3 non-negotiables – If you do these 1-3 things every day I will stay on track.  At first, they will be challenging but they are doable.  For me, those 3 are to get enough sleep, have a big ass salad every day with protein, and work out a bare minimum of 3 days a week but most weeks it’s 5 days for 30 minutes. Your habits are the pathway to changing your identity.

In James’ book, he talks about the 4 ways to change your behavior and he calls it a habit loop. There needs to be a queue in order for you to be like, “hey this is when I need to do this.” There needs to be a craving for it.  There is then a response, and lastly, there has to be a reward. So, let’s dive into each of those.

Queue.
Make the queue obvious. This is something that I always do, so I will add this in, it’s called habit stacker.
When I have to stack, I put my new habit right next to something that I already know I am going to do.  Every morning I get up, brush my teeth and wash my face. So, I leave water in the bathroom for the morning to start drinking and I keep drinking until I get my cup of coffee.  Then I don’t have my first coffee until I am done with that water bottle.

That is a habit stack. Start to think about these things. The habit comes AFTER something you are already doing.  Think about what you are doing throughout the day to fit these habits in. Where can I drink more water in my day for example?  How do I create visual queues?

In the morning I lay out my workout clothes so all I have to do is get dressed in the morning. I don’t even have to think about it.  Start to think about what the queue is. It has to be blatantly obvious, so you want to do it!

Cravings.
You have to make it attractive.  I enjoy coffee so water went with the coffee!  Maybe you love Netflix, and you try to get yourself to exercise. Try downloading what you are bingeing and the only time you can watch it is when you are on a piece of cardio equipment!  Or only listen to your favorite podcast when you go for a walk or go to the gym.  The subtle bride is sometimes just to nudge that yu need.  Can we make a ritual out of it? Can you ritualize some of these habits?  Can you be around people who can hold you accountable for your goals? These are all things to think about and consider!

Response – Make it easy.
You can’t make this hard.  Like with my water bottle, I just need to bring it from the kitchen to the bathroom.  You need to make it so that it is not a huge challenge so that we can just do it! Make it challenging yet doable! Habits aren’t formed by time but by repetition.  How can you make this so you are repeating it, not to be perfect?  Mel Robbins has the 5-second rule. Countdown from 5 to get up and get it done.  But this habit should be really simple in the beginning, and it should feel effortless.  Become automatic. It’s what you do! You don’t have to wait for someone to do something.. You just do it, repeating it so much that it just happens auto magically!

Track your habits -Rewards.
Don’t break the queue, keep a list of when you do them or mark it on your calendar. Use a visual aid to show what you are doing or that you are checking that habit off your list for the day. If you see a month of checking off your habits. Reward yourself!  Now, I don’t recommend rewarding yourself with food, but take a day to just chill or have a date with yourself.  Or Netflix and chill!  Create a personal loyalty program for you to track your habits.

This is what helps you to create these atomic habits.  Your queue sets it off, you do this, you take the action, and you get the reward.  There’s a queue then a response and it all comes down to that!

What gets measured gets done. You can’t set squishy goals.  –  what is the goal of being toned. When I hear this, I think of a soap from the 80s and it smells good. What does that tone even mean?  That is a squishy goal!  How are you going to measure that you? Your outcome comes from a process. And that process is your system. If you don’t have a system, you will always be going back to the drawing board and you will never get to where you want to be.
Now, what about the bad habits you want to break?

Reduce your exposure to bad habits.  Make them invisible.  Just how you have to MAKE the good habits visible, make the bad habits invisible, and reduce your exposure to it.

If I know I am trying to break the habit and I go to a Mexican restaurant and want to have everything on the menu… then let’s not go to that restaurant!

I am not asking you to not be social, but can we just steer it away from the temptation? Build your REPS under your belt first – reduce the friction to build the habit.  Now let’s add friction – I only go to the Mexican restaurant on my birthday or Cinco de Mayo. Adding these little layers that make it a little more challenging for us to randomly swinging by the restaurant.  Then you start to create a contract with yourself. Are you a reward person or a punishment person? What are the contracts you are going to make with yourself?

The thing about habits is it takes time.  You don’t wake up on a Monday and say I NAILED IT.  It is going to be awkward.  When I started creating the non-negotiables, I was finally able to break out of the desperate dieter relationship. I was finally able to get FREE of my low-level anxiety about doing social events and not blowing it.

If you are sick of having those thoughts or feeling you are OFF TRACK here is how you get back on track and stop getting off. You can easily go back to your habits and get back to your systems.

You can create these little habits to give you a way to CHECK IN to your system.  A diet isn’t a system, that is do this or die.  But here are the systems you can create in your life to give you flexibility and give yourself structure.  At the end of the day, you stop the diet because it becomes too hard. It becomes so you can’t do the little things it wants you to do.  So, this is where you say how do I create these little simple habits and it starts by saying who it is that I want to be to get the outcome I want.  – To get that outcome it’s a series of processes that are systems and that is going to create the identity that I want to become.

There is no finish line in this, you don’t just stop, and you are good for the rest of your life. If you just stop, you lose your habits and then you are back to where you are.  Know that habits add up.  1% better every day.  Then you are doing a little at a time, so they STICK AROUND!  The habits STAY with you when you do this!

Consistency is boring…  I am boring as hell because I do the same shit every day!!  But this is what it looks like because I have built up that consistency. When I have great habits, I build a great routine. When I have a great routine, I have built consistency. When I have consistency, I have long-lasting results.

FIT GIRL MAGIC formula ladies!! BOOM!!! 💣

LINKS

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/kimbarnesjeffersoncoach

Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic/

Website:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/

Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fit-girl-magic-healthy-living-for-women-over-40/id1476883661

Perform Amino Acid Supplement:
https://aminoco.com/pages/FGM?rfsn=6974334.3325c5b

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results:
https://amzn.to/3kT0fAp

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t:
https://amzn.to/3l0uEg6

212 degrees-The Extra Degree-motivational video:
https://youtu.be/uRDNLTMaZqo

Atomic Habits:
https://a.co/d/iWC49l0