As Autumn approaches and the season changes, it serves as a reminder for us to see the beauty in change. Are you feeling ready to make some changes? Perhaps you have become aware of certain habits that no longer serve you well that you want to address and replace with healthier habits.
Over the summer I decided I was ready to implement some new fitness and exercise habits that included strength and resistance training alongside the walking I do daily and the yoga I do a few times a week. As a Health Coach I know how hard behaviour and habit change can be so I walked myself through the process of identifying what I wanted to change, why I wanted to change it and how I was going to implement change to achieve my goals. Then I signed myself up with my own coach with a group community of ‘Strong Girls’ as I knew the extra knowledge and accountability would be invaluable and help me progress quicker than going it alone.
So with a compassionate coach who listened to my goals and understood my current situation, including how I was wary of lifting weights since breaking my back in 2020, I was all set to start the strength workouts personally tailored and set for me. I knew this was a habit I wanted to begin building slowly and steadily with a view to sustaining it for a lifetime in order to reap the many benefits it can provide with consistency. I knew building muscle would act as a protective armour for my body and my bones, it would act like a sponge for glucose further improving my blood glucose control and I had been reading about the positive impact it can have on ladies of a certain age to buffer the symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause. So, I had the knowledge and knew what I should be doing but how was I actually going to make incorporating resistance training into my life an attractive and easy enough habit to stick to?!
With the book ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear to hand, I firstly went about identifying my current daily habits and this simply involved listing them all in order from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed with the intention of simply NOTICING what was currently going on. I refrained from judgement and criticism as I was on the look out for any bad habits that had potentially snuck in and just reminded myself that it was a necessary first step because the process of behaviour change always starts with awareness.
After completing my list I looked through and assigned each daily habit with a positive (+), negative (-) or neutral (=) symbol, identifying this helped me get clear on which habits I wanted to break and where I could insert and build some better habits and was an extremely helpful action. I realised that I could potentially set my alarm to get up earlier in the morning and, if I left out opening up my laptop to do anything work related or glancing through social media, I would allow more time for a workout at this time of the day. If I made packed lunches and laid out clothes etc the night before, this would also free up some more time in the morning to insert a strength workout about 30 minutes in duration.
All habits serve us in some way, even the bad ones which is why we repeat them (like opening my laptop to get a work related task ticked off early) but, with a longer term vision in mind, I asked myself “Does this behaviour help me become the type of person I wish to be?” “Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?” James Clear states ‘habits that reinforce your desired identity are usually good, whereas habits that conflict with your desired identity are bad.’ Personally I want to be able to identify as a strong, capable woman who is protecting my body as I age, therefore I chose to include some habits that, each time I performed them, would reinforce and cast a vote for this desired identity and future outcome. It’s a very powerful way to reflect on your behaviours and actions by considering if they will help you become the type of person you wish to be and that you wish other people to see you as.
With my new exercise habit in mind I needed to find a strategy to help me actually get started. Gaining clarity on my desired identity increased my motivation but I knew I needed to make my new habit really OBVIOUS. I needed a specific plan outlining WHEN and WHERE this new habit was going to take place. I needed cues that would trigger the new habit, the two most common being TIME and LOCATION. We must have these basic details figured out in advance rather than just leaving our new habits to chance, hoping we will remember to do them or that we will feel motivated at the right time. When I work with clients, we always establish a clear plan together upfront for when and where they will perform a new habit, making them much more likely to follow through.
My plan consisted of the following implementation intention:
- I will complete the 3 set strength workouts at 5.30am on a Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday morning in my front room.
So often with new habits we are not clear enough and make vague comments like “I’m going to go to the gym” “I’m going to eat healthier” “I’m going to get more sleep” “I’m going to reduce screen time” “I’m going to work less and relax more…” Knowing specifically when we will do it and where we will do it makes these new behaviours much more likely to happen and our goals achievable. Even writing them into your diary and putting them visibly on your calendar is a useful strategy.
Another strategy that has helped me as I have been creating these exercise habits is called ‘Habit Stacking.’ Again my list of current daily habits came in handy here as I realised that I could decide what to do next in my day based on what I had just finished doing. With the knowledge that behaviours do not happen in isolation and that each action becomes a cue that triggers the next behaviour, I set about stacking my habits using this connectedness of behaviour to my advantage. To build my new habit, I identified a current habit I already do each day and then aimed to stack my new behaviour on top. So my morning routine began to look a bit like this:
5am wake up and get up
+habit stack a new habit (dress in sportswear laid out ready the night before)
5.10am Drink hot water (current habit)
+ habit stack (add Creatine powder to my water to aid my new strength workouts, muscle mass and energy levels)
5.15am 5-10 minute meditation/gratitude practice on Insight Timer (current habit)
+ habit stack my new habit (after meditation, begin strength workout OR yoga)
6.10am Morning cuppa (current habit)
+habit stack my new intended habit (journalling)
After I pour my morning cuppa (a current habit that I NEVER forget or miss) this cue acts as a trigger for me to now pick up my pen and my nice new notebook and follow my journalling prompts. These prompts include what I am grateful for, what I am winning at, what I want to let go of and how I want my ideal day to go. By pairing my new habits with a current habit, I am designing an obvious cue that will create a natural momentum that comes from one behaviour leading into the next.
A 5am get up and early workout works well for me, getting it out of the way before anyone else in the house is up, needing my attention, dragging me away from what I had intended to do for myself. I am free from distractions and excuses at that time in the day! We need to search for the best time and place to layer a new habit into our lifestyle.
I do this later in my day too. After eating my evening meal, I wash up, feed the cat and this is my cue to pick up the dog lead and go for a walk round the block to incorporate 10 minutes of movement post meal, which improves the action of my insulin and curbs any spike in blood glucose I may get after eating. It works a treat as well as casting a vote to reinforce and support my desired identity of being the type of person who thrives with Diabetes.
If you are looking to break bad habits and implement good ones that create better longterm health then these are tried and tested strategies that have worked for me and that work for my clients. Almost 8 weeks into my new strength exercise regime I’m feeling fitter and stronger and with these habits now so well planned and obvious I’ve definitely been sticking to them, enjoying them and noticing that they are gradually becoming more automatic. I’m making it easier for myself and, in the words of my coach, I am making ‘undeniable progress’ and that is music to my ears, boosting my motivation to continue building and stacking these habits with a specific plan going forwards. Simplicity is key. It doesn’t need to be over complicated but you do need a clear purpose and plan for success.
I’ll also be ready to adapt this plan and be flexible when circumstances crop up that prevent me reaching my bigger goals. We all have good days and weeks where things run smoothly and we are smashing our goals but we all know how life has a tendency of throwing unexpected obstacles and hurdles our way too. It is inevitable and sometimes makes our goals hard to reach, resulting in us feeling like we are failing. At this stage it can start to feel too hard and overwhelming and we might want to give up. This is where some ‘non-negotiables’ come in handy – some lower bar targets that we can set ourselves so that we feel like we are still consistently making progress towards our goals just at a slower, gentler rate when we have a lot on our plate. These ‘non-negotiables’ have been a game changer for me and are the topic of my next blog post.
Until then…happy habit stacking!