Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to build habits by appealing to who
Speaker 1: you want to be. I know many listeners of this
Speaker 1: podcast think a lot about habit formation for good reason.
Speaker 1: In many ways, habits and routines are the building blocks
Speaker 1: of life. Habits make good choices effortless, and let the
Speaker 1: power of small winds add up. Of course, one reason
Speaker 1: people are obsessed with habits is that for many of us,
Speaker 1: forming and maintaining them is a struggle. We have big ambitions,
Speaker 1: but stuff doesn't stick. We know, for example, that walking
Speaker 1: ten thousand steps a day would be a good way
Speaker 1: to improve our health, but we just can't see how
Speaker 1: it might fit into our lives. One way to deal
Speaker 1: with this disconnect create how bits that are based on
Speaker 1: your desired identity. Try to complete the following sentence, I
Speaker 1: want to be the type of person who fill in
Speaker 1: the blank. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, refers to
Speaker 1: this as the practice of creating identity based habits. For example,
Speaker 1: you might decide that you want to be the type
Speaker 1: of person who runs every day, the habit that follows
Speaker 1: is clear you have a daily running habit. You can
Speaker 1: also build off a broader identity statement, such as I
Speaker 1: want to be the type of person who puts family first.
Speaker 1: Many potential habits could follow from this, such as shutting
Speaker 1: down your work by six pm or making time daily
Speaker 1: to eat breakfast with your kids. With this line of thinking,
Speaker 1: you're getting to the deeper y of a habit before
Speaker 1: you start on the behavior. When you have the why,
Speaker 1: it can be easier to commit to the habit and
Speaker 1: to becoming more like the person you'd like to be.
Speaker 1: It may take a while before your identity statement is realized,
Speaker 1: but if you keep reminding yourself that I'm the kind
Speaker 1: of person who wakes up at six am to exercise,
Speaker 1: you'll have some explaining to do to yourself when you
Speaker 1: set the alarm for eight. Of course, when you think
Speaker 1: about it, maybe you don't buy into the identity you're describing.
Speaker 1: An upside of this identity based habit strategy is that
Speaker 1: it gives you permission to ditch habits that don't resonate
Speaker 1: with you. If you start saying, I'm a person who meditates,
Speaker 1: so then you realize, well, you don't see this as
Speaker 1: you fine. Upon giving it a little thought, you'll probably
Speaker 1: know in your gut whether or not you have a
Speaker 1: solid reason for pursuing a given habit. In the end,
Speaker 1: when you know why you're doing something, habits become a
Speaker 1: little bit less of a struggle and feel more like
Speaker 1: little victories. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.