You are a product of every decision you make. Who you want to become starts with each thought, action, and habit you create. What you do today eventually becomes who you are tomorrow.
Watch your thoughts, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny
-Lao Tzu
This article will teach you how to create lasting positive habits while eliminating the negative ones that hinder your success based on scientific principles.
Usually, people want to make massive changes all at once to seek improvement, only to look back months or years later and find they are in the exact same place they started.
Meanwhile, the difference over an extended time is exceptionally significant when people focus on making minor, incremental daily improvements (so small that it may not be noticeable in the short term).
“If you focus on improving by just 1% each day for an entire year, you will end up thirty-seven times better by the end of the twelve months. Meanwhile, if you get 1% worse each day for a year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or setback accumulates into something much more” - James Clear
Regarding habits, your environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. Below is the four-step process for performing any habit, positive or negative.
Cue: A piece of information that suggests a reward can be found. Think of this as the smell of a fresh cookie or a dark room about to light up.
Craving: The motivation to change something to get the reward, like tasting the cookie or being able to see.
Response: The thought or action needed to get the reward, like grabbing the cookies or flipping the light switch.
Reward: The satisfying feeling you get from the change and the lesson of whether or not to do it again.
Habits are essential because they create time efficiencies in every action. Whether the action is beneficial for our well-being or not, the purpose is to solve a problem. If you can’t see, you turn on the light. If your teeth feel dirty, you brush them. If you are hungry, you eat.
The following four-step pattern is necessary to form a new habit.
Make it obvious:
Instead of putting all your fresh vegetables in the bottom drawer of your fridge, only to find them weeks later because you completely forgot you had them in the first place, keep them out in the open—so obvious that you won't possibly forget to cook them!
Instead of getting home after work and crashing on the couch as usual, set your tennis shoes and workout clothes on the sofa as an instant reminder that it’s time to go the gym. Once you sit on the couch, it’s game over, so don’t give your mind the option of convincing you otherwise. Immediately change from your business suit into your workout clothes and head to the car!
Make it attractive:
Start with buying the vegetables you like the most so you’ll want to eat them.
Purchase a new pair of workout shoes and an outfit that will excite you about working out in style.
Make it easy:
Eliminate as many roadblocks as possible to ensure success. If you are trying to increase your vegetable consumption, start with easier vegetables to cook and consume. If time is your roadblock, utilize a weekly meal delivery service and avoid any vegetables you may need help with preparing.
If you are trying to begin a new workout routine, instead of driving across town to the local gym, start by going for a short walk after work each day. Once you have become more disciplined, you can find a gym nearby to attend a few times a week. A great rule of thumb is the two-minute rule. Every new habit must begin with an action that requires at most two minutes to complete. This makes the process simple and manageable.
When trying to start a new workout routine, your intention should be to change into your workout clothes immediately after work and getting into your car. Don’t stop to think about the drive, your workout, or how tired you are— just change your clothes and keep moving forward. Once you’re in the car, the rest will follow. If your goal is to start meditating, start by ONLY meditating for two minutes. Once that habit becomes routine, you can add time as you see fit.
Make it satisfying:
If you enjoy the vegetables you consume, you will love the process, feeling healthier after each meal. Eating healthier foods doesn’t need to be time-consuming or bland; find vegetables that taste good so the process becomes satisfying. As for your new workout routine, listening to your favorite podcast, book, or music during your time at the gym or embracing the energized feeling you get afterward will be just enough to keep the routine engaging.
The inverse is true for eliminating bad habits such as texting while driving, eating a pint of ice cream after dinner, or endlessly scrolling through social media at the end of the night. Make these negative habits invisible, unattractive, challenging, and unsatisfying.
Adopting positive habits while eliminating poor habits is not easy, but following the simple steps above makes it possible. It is also extremely important to understand that successful individuals do not have more willpower than those who are unsuccessful. They have simply created an environment that supports the behaviors they want to achieve, and in doing so, they have become more disciplined.
It is assumed that those who eat healthier, exercise more often, meditate, and journal regularly are always motivated and thus continue to make positive decisions that support successful outcomes. This is false! No matter who you are, motivation and inspiration will ALWAYS come and go, just like the changing seasons. The missing link for those unable to adhere to the plan to achieve their goals is simply a lack of discipline that interferes with compliance. The fanciest training plans and personalized nutritional prescriptions from the greatest coaches in the world will get you nowhere without adherence. So, lastly and most importantly, I want to explain a multi-stage model necessary for creating adherence to any plan.
Inspiration is the ah-ha moment that gets you started. It’s whatever gives you the jolt of energy to make a change but will fizzle away in a few minutes or days. You can be inspired to lose weight because your jeans no longer fit as comfortably as before or become inspired to eat more vegetables to increase your energy levels throughout the day.
Motivation is the next phase of this multi-step model and is improved by your success. But, similar to inspiration, motivation oscillates and will not always be present. You’ll get home from work too exhausted to want to go to the gym, or you’ll wake up after a poor night's sleep craving a bagel over your regular spinach and egg scramble. It is crucial to know that when motivation is low, we need a commitment to do what it takes to reach our specific goal.
Intention is the plan of action and where Central Athlete offers a layer of support. The intention must be clear and concise so that when motivation dips, you will focus on what needs to be done. When motivation is low, intention must be extremely high!
Discipline is the fuel and willpower to follow through with the plan. This is where you tell yourself, “Hey, I know this is tough, but there’s a reason I committed to the plan, and I’m going to grit my teeth and buckle down.”
Habits are formulated when you commit to honor your intentions without the desperate need for intention and discipline. This occurs when you become so automated that your oscillation of motivation becomes more level, meaning it no longer fluctuates to the degree it was at the beginning of your journey. Additionally, it no longer takes much willpower to stick to the plan when things get tough. You just do it. Therefore, habits can only be created after you have been consistent for an extended period, and in doing so, the amount of discipline needed is reduced. The great thing about habits is that the individual is eventually habituated to the routine and will crave it, even on their “off” days.
Passion is the final frontier of behavior change and exists on a spectrum—ranging from the lowest degree, where action is driven by obligation or habit, to the highest degree, where it becomes a transformative force that can alter a person's entire life trajectory. Not everyone will reach the peak of this spectrum, and that's okay; what matters is fostering an environment that allows passion to grow organically. This can start with showing people that a task, skill, or pursuit can be enjoyable, even fun. Building a supportive community further elevates passion as shared experiences and encouragement create momentum. Finally, patience is essential. Passion often deepens over time, fueled by small successes and consistent engagement. By embracing these principles, we can guide individuals through the stages of behavior change, helping them unlock new levels of commitment and joy in their pursuits.
Who you are is an extension of the decisions you make daily. In other words, your habits dictate who you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. Who is it you want to become? Identify with that person TODAY and create a plan of action that supports small change that multiplies over the weeks and months. Make it obvious, attractive, easy, and rewarding. When things get tough and your motivation dissipates, hold firm to your intentions.
Still trying to figure out where to begin? Schedule a strategy session with a professional Central Athlete coach to learn how we can support you in this journey. Ultimately, the decision is yours, and your consistent actions will dictate your success. If you are ready to commit, we will provide a personalized strategy to guide you forward: one day, month, and year at a time!
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