Still Feel Like You Suck At Creating Better Habits? I Bet You Are Better Than You Think!

Tyler Lafleur

healthy habits 

I hear this all of the time: "Tyler, health would be so much easier if I just had better habits."

Yet, while I do agree, these types of people miss a very important point just by stating this sentence. They are realizing that habits actually do make things easier.

That's a win in my book.

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But the take home point that everyone should really understand is this: Are the actions that you are labelling "bad habits" even habits at all? Or are they simply poor choices made at moments that you are at your weakest?

You see, most people don't wake up first thing in the morning and say to themselves, "Ya know, I am so stressed just rolling out of bed that I think I am going to pour a glass of wine and dive into my kids' cupcakes!"

That usually only happens at night. When you are finally able to relax from your stress-filled, decision-fatigued day.

Let's hammer home another common misconception in regards to daily habits, shall we?

How many people struggle to remember to brush your teeth everyday?

You know, you brush them for a few days then some kind of crisis happens at work, or your kids are stressing you to the gills and you have to choose between either bringing them to soccer practice or brushing your teeth.

So being the good mom or dad that you are, you of course choose the kids and their overstimulating soccer practice.

And who wouldn't?

Then once things calm down, you realize that you haven't brushed your teeth in a few days, so you better get back on that routine before you have no more friends or even an inkling of romance in your marriage...

Does that ever happen to any of you? Of course not!

Yet, now some of my DEEP south Louisiana readers are now like:

 

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But seriously, most people do not struggle to remember to brush their teeth or shower once per day. It is just part of their routine.

That is a true habit.

Looking at your watch when you aren't even wearing it, is a habit.

Pulling for the steering wheel shift on a car that has a center console shift is a deeply ingrained habit.

Getting urges and cravings to snack on salty or sweet delicacies isn't habit. It's part of our survival mechanism.

Similar with alcohol. It isn't habit to drink beer at family gatherings or pour a glass of wine each night. That is a form of sedation and escape. Most people drink to either escape the stressors of every day life or because others around them are partaking.

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Those aren't considered habits. You have to make a conscious decision to perform them.

Angry outbursts could even be considered a habit. Cursing included.

But calling poor daily decisions "habits" is sort of a weak play.

So, what CAN you do to get you moving in the right direction?

Don't concern yourself with constantly trying to overcome your bad "habits", and instead just take two minutes before you eat the cookies to note how you are feeling and why.

Then just jot down how you expect these cookies to make you feel during and after.

Once you have done that, then just make the decision to eat them or not. Either way, you will learn something about yourself and your habitual decision making.

Of course there is a caveat to this process. You actually have to have a goal in mind. Then, of course, the question about the decision becomes an easy one:

Are the consequences of this decision conducive to my goal, or not?

See, the question is simple, but unfortunately, coming up with the answer to it, in the moment, is rather uncomfortable.

That's where the growth happens though. Right, smack in the middle of the discomfort.

I can promise that if you attempt this method before partaking in moments of weakness, you will learn loads about yourself and your thinking patterns in the process.

Remember:

Think...Be...Do...Achieve!

Embrace the process!

And if you choose to go through this process and learning with a coach, you decrease your learning curve while speeding up your results, exponentially.

Don't believe us? Give us a go for 30-days and see what we mean.

Health Coaching: Learn More

 

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