WEBVTT - Celebrate good habits

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This week, we'll be discussing habits, why they matter, some

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<v Speaker 1>good ones to adopt, and how to build them and

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes stop them. Today's tip is to spend more time

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about your good habits than you're bad ones, because

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<v Speaker 1>celebrating the good ones can make them even stronger. When

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<v Speaker 1>we think about habits, our minds tend to drift to

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<v Speaker 1>those nagging ones we've coked with for years. Maybe you

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<v Speaker 1>bite your finger, nails or twist your hair. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been some great books published in recent years about habits,

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<v Speaker 1>such as Charles do Higgs The Power of Habit, which

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<v Speaker 1>explains the Q response reward cycle that has you clicking

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<v Speaker 1>on Instagram every time you see that icon on your

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<v Speaker 1>phone or biting your nails every time your board. Clearly

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<v Speaker 1>people are interested in habits, since James Clear's Atomic Habits

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<v Speaker 1>is currently on the best seller list, and Gretchen Reuben's

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<v Speaker 1>Better Than Before also sold very well a few years ago.

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<v Speaker 1>If you'd like to learn more, those are all great

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<v Speaker 1>places to start. In any case, it is certainly possible

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<v Speaker 1>for someone who's been biting his nails for decades to stop.

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<v Speaker 1>But often bad habits that aren't really hurting anyone are

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<v Speaker 1>better at off managed to simply minimize them, rather than

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<v Speaker 1>throwing the limited resource of willpower into totally eliminating them.

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<v Speaker 1>You learn not to bite your nails in public, for instance,

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<v Speaker 1>rather than holding yourself to the standard of stopping completely. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>I think you should spend some time really thinking through

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<v Speaker 1>your good habits. There may be more of them than

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<v Speaker 1>you think, and celebrating them can help your life in

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of ways. For instance, you're listening to this podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>That means you value spending small bits of time in

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<v Speaker 1>ways that help you learn something that's a great habit.

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<v Speaker 1>When you see this and acknowledge it, that encourages you

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<v Speaker 1>look to look for other small bits of time that

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<v Speaker 1>might be used well. Next thing you know, you're putting

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<v Speaker 1>e books on your phone and reading in the grocery

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<v Speaker 1>store checkoutline. I did this exercise for myself recently to

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<v Speaker 1>try to think through good habits I have or my

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<v Speaker 1>family has, that I tend not to dwell on or

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<v Speaker 1>even think of much, partly because they are so automatic.

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<v Speaker 1>For instance, we never have the TV on in the

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<v Speaker 1>background in our house. If someone wants to watch a

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<v Speaker 1>specific show, that's great, but it's never just on. We

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<v Speaker 1>also don't put TVs in bedrooms. I don't think of

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<v Speaker 1>this as deprivation because I can't even imagine why someone

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<v Speaker 1>would want a TV in his or her bedroom. But

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that I think that tells you something right

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<v Speaker 1>there that this is truly an entrenched thing for me.

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<v Speaker 1>I value sleep, and I've built my life to allow

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<v Speaker 1>for good sleep habits. Getting to bed on top time

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<v Speaker 1>as easier when you're not facing the temptation of watching

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<v Speaker 1>just one more show. We also don't drink sugar sweetened

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<v Speaker 1>beverages in our house. In our day to day lives.

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<v Speaker 1>We don't bring them into the house. Again, I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>militant about it, but it would never occur to me

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<v Speaker 1>to buy a two liter bottle of soda at the supermarket.

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<v Speaker 1>I walk past that aisle as if it doesn't exist,

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<v Speaker 1>just as I don't visit the cat food section because

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<v Speaker 1>I don't have a cat. The result is that my

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<v Speaker 1>kids aren't used to sweet drinks, and when my nine

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<v Speaker 1>year old recently picked out a coke at a drug

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<v Speaker 1>store as a treat, it took him two days to

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<v Speaker 1>get through it. Actually, I think half of it is

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<v Speaker 1>still sitting in our fridge going flat. I offer both

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<v Speaker 1>of these examples not so much for the rah rah

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<v Speaker 1>me factor. My kids eat plenty of other junk, and

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<v Speaker 1>they play way more video games than I'd like. But

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<v Speaker 1>if you ask me about my habits, my automatic response

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<v Speaker 1>would be to bemoan that I pick up my nails

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<v Speaker 1>and spend too much time on Twitter. Those things may

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<v Speaker 1>be true, but in the law run, getting enough sleep

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<v Speaker 1>and structurally limiting sugar consumption are probably bigger deals, or,

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<v Speaker 1>for that matter, automatically putting on our seatbelts every time

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<v Speaker 1>we're in vehicles. When I think of these habits, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>reminded that fundamentally, I'm a person who cares about my

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<v Speaker 1>health and cares about my family's health. This is part

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<v Speaker 1>of my identity. When we remind ourselves of our identities,

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<v Speaker 1>we tend to want to strengthen them. With any journey,

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<v Speaker 1>when you sense that you're already on your way, you

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<v Speaker 1>want to keep going because who doesn't like a head start.

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<v Speaker 1>I think we're a family who doesn't drink much sugar,

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<v Speaker 1>and I feel more motivated to cut up a little

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<v Speaker 1>extra produce and become the family that eats their vegetables too.

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<v Speaker 1>So what good habits do you have? Really think about

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<v Speaker 1>this and feel free to list the obvious ones. Say

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<v Speaker 1>you don't smoke. That's awesome right there. You're massively ahead

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<v Speaker 1>of the game. You wash your hands frequently, you floss,

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<v Speaker 1>you contribute to your retirement account automatically. You pay your

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<v Speaker 1>bills in full and on time. When you think of

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<v Speaker 1>all these things, you can keep your annoying tendency to

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<v Speaker 1>say um or like frequently in context. To take some

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<v Speaker 1>time today to think about all the good habits you

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<v Speaker 1>already have. Then take a moment to appreciate them and

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<v Speaker 1>think about how you might expand them in the meantime.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the

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<v Speaker 1>number four then breakfast p o D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i

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<v Speaker 1>heeart media dot com That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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<v Speaker 1>with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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<v Speaker 1>to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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<v Speaker 1>I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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