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Sarah Linton
Professional & Personal Coach

Habits: 7 Tips on Habit Change
How To Revitalise Your Life.

 

Habits  – The last decade has seen expansive insights and understanding of the neurology of habit formation.

The ongoing research is plentiful & has revolutionised the way patterns work within our lives that relate to many aspects of human behaviour.

40% of the “decisions” we make every day are not really decisions – they are your behaviours and HABITS.

Habits

The Power of Habits

 

What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately form the person you are & the things you believe, & the personality that you portray.

Whether it’s not sleeping, a lack of exercise, poor food choices, or overindulgence in food or alcohol —we know these things are not healthy for us. Why do we persist—and just as importantly, how can we stop?

In his book The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg writes

Habits

HABITS form part of our lives.

 

We all have them – the good, the not so good & the darn right ugly.

Some we will aware of, yet many form the backbone of our behaviours and hum away in the background of our unconscious mind.

The process of building a habit can be divided into these 3 simple steps:

  1. Cue
  2. Routine
  3. Reward.
The Habit Loop

The backbone of Your Habits

 

This 3 step pattern is the backbone of your habits

Your brain runs through these steps in the same order each time.

We work on re-wiring the process so that alternative routines become automatic.

The key is to understand that you can’t extinguish a bad habit, but you can change that habit—and still get the same reward you currently get from your old habit.

A Golden Rule of Habit Change says the most effective way to shift a habit is to diagnose & retain the old CUE, then REWARD & change the ROUTINE.

If you are struggling to get clarity on what you want  – book in with your Catalyst Coach HERE.

We can accelerate your outcomes with you.

7 steps to become a Master of your Habits:

1) Discover The Habits You Want To Change.

 

This means bringing what is usually unconscious (or at least ignored) into your own awareness.
Make a list of things you’d like to change, and then pick the priority.

2) Discover Your Motivation For Wanting To Change That Habit

 

Who needs a helping hand/reminder to keep us going when the going gets tough? … Most of us!
When we identify & connect with a motivating factor secured as part of our goal, it’s setting us up to build resilience when we are tested.
Know WHY you have chosen to do this.

3) Design Your Environment For Inevitable Success.

 

Making it easy for yourself to make good choices, or hard to make bad ones, is essential.
Leaving your exercise gear in a visible place and getting changed into it straight away makes it more likely you’ll get out for that run.
Keeping the kitchen full of healthy snacks will mean you are less likely to head for the biscuit tin.
Placing T.V. remote in a different room, or moving your favourite chair can make it harder to sit down.

Old Habits New Habits

4) Make it a Habit: Write It Down.

 

Studies show that we retain more when we write it down and the easiest way to implement a new habit is to write a plan.

 

The format is simple:

When …..(CUE), I will …..(ROUTINE) because it provides me with …..(REWARD).

In this example, the plan is:

When I get to the office, I will check in with line managers first because
that lets me take care of any urgent issues right away.

 

Do that enough times, and eventually, your new habit will become automatic— a productivity bonus!.

5) Appoint An Accountability Partner.

 

Being accountable to others is a powerful incentive to keep on keeping on.
Even when the going gets tough.
Partnering with a Health Coach can help you identify your goals to build resilience and introduce new habits to connect you to your vitality & self-care.

6) Sustainable Habit Change takes Time.

 

Habit Change can jumpstart within 28 days.
However, the latest research shows that most of us need 3 months to move where we want to be & implement new behaviour for sustainability.
It’s incredible how rapidly we can make a change when we want it.
It will be subject to the habit, your personality, your level of stress, and the support you have in place to make it live.

7) Practice Self Compassion as a Habit Be Kind To Yourself.

 

We are perfectly imperfect humans.
A slip up is your personal detective!
It tells you what kinds of stressors push you off your good intentions.
It tells you what you might need to change in order to stay on track.
Think hard about why you slipped and get back on board.

Tomorrow is another day!

For sustainable habit change,
we need to believe that change is possible.

 

That conviction greatly leads to inevitable success.

Remember our life is in our own hands; what we decide to do with it depends on us and our choices.

Habits are not destiny.

By harnessing this science, we can transform and make changes in all
key areas of our lives & impact energy, motivation, vitality, and confidence.

Habits

Current circumstances are all part of our ‘Why?’ for our Ebook as our gift to you.

A free guide to 5 Steps to Create More Time, Get More Sleep & have More energy.

 

If you would like to go further faster  – book a cuppa with your Catalyst Coach HERE.
We can accelerate your outcomes with you.

 

Remember, sustainable change happens one step at a time. Small Steps Big Impact.

 

Have fun & take care of  YOU,

Sarah Linton Signature

 


 

Takeaways: Habits

 

  • Habits form your who? how? and your what?
  • 3 steps to every habit: Cue-Routine-Reward
  • Stress negatively affects the speed of habit change.
  • Accountability sets you up for success.
  • Don’t try and conquer the world overnight – consistency is the answer.
  • Take a step-by-step approach
  • Small Steps Big Impact

1 final question for your reflection …

What would be 1 habit that you would like to change and find a plan to make it happen?

 

We love to hear from our community!
Leave your insight or comments below.

Sarah Linton

Sarah Linton is a Catalyst for change and impact specialising in making change a reality for personal and professional evolution. A former business leader at global organisations including the Walt Disney Company. A Director, Master Coach, Mum and Founder of Tides of Change & The WAVE.co.nz Sarah is passionately connected to her True North as a prolific creator of new horizons & holding that as a vision for her clients partnering across time zones in the UK, USA & Asia Pacific.

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