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 about how to build a new habit
Speaker 1: into your life. I think most of us have things
Speaker 1: we know we'd like to do regularly and aren't doing
Speaker 1: much now. Maybe it's flossing or keeping in touch with
Speaker 1: a certain friend. In my case, I've said for a
Speaker 1: long time that I'd like to do more strength training.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things that I know is important,
Speaker 1: particularly as I get older. And yet, despite my ability
Speaker 1: to run every day, I have a really hard time
Speaker 1: making this habit stick, or at least I did until
Speaker 1: this spring. Then I finally spent a little time thinking
Speaker 1: about what I've learned about habits and my years of
Speaker 1: reading and writing about productivity. I analyzed what makes a
Speaker 1: habit stick and what makes us fail to stick with
Speaker 1: our goals. First, I realized that it's easy to be
Speaker 1: a little well lazy. To make a habit stick, you
Speaker 1: need to make it very easy to do. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to drive twenty minutes to a gym to use
Speaker 1: a weight machine. Instead, I got a kettlebell and some
Speaker 1: resistance bands and put them in my office. Every time
Speaker 1: I walk into my office I see them. I don't
Speaker 1: have to go hunt them down from a closet because
Speaker 1: I'd probably lose momentum in the two minutes that would take.
Speaker 1: Maybe my office is a little cluttered then, but it
Speaker 1: keeps these things in the front of my mind. Second,
Speaker 1: I designated a specific time in my schedule. A life
Speaker 1: has lived in hours, and anything we're going to do
Speaker 1: in life takes time. So if there isn't a specific
Speaker 1: time to do something, well, you probably won't do it.
Speaker 1: I also realized that sometimes are more in demand than others.
Speaker 1: We're more likely to stick with habits when we're able
Speaker 1: to seize time that wasn't being used well before. In
Speaker 1: my case, I had a small window most weekday mornings
Speaker 1: during the school year, after my nanny came to the
Speaker 1: house or after I came home from the middle school
Speaker 1: carpeal run, and before I brought my middle two children
Speaker 1: out to the bus stop. That window was generally eight
Speaker 1: ten am. I'd usually just check email during this time,
Speaker 1: and I definitely felt like I was frittering it away,
Speaker 1: knowing I'd need to stop whatever it was I was
Speaker 1: doing soon, so I chose to make this my strength
Speaker 1: training window. Any day that I was in my home
Speaker 1: office from eight ten to I would use some time
Speaker 1: in this window to do at least a few minutes
Speaker 1: of strength training exercises. I'd throw around my kettlebell and
Speaker 1: do various things with the resistance bans. Then I'd continue
Speaker 1: on with my day. Now, I'm not exactly going to
Speaker 1: be winning bodybuilding competitions with what amounts to ten minutes
Speaker 1: or so of strength training three to four days per week.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. When we set huge goals, we
Speaker 1: often fall short, and then we get discouraged and we
Speaker 1: stop all together. Small things done repeatedly, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: truly do add up. If I set a goal to
Speaker 1: lift for an hour, there's no way I'd do it.
Speaker 1: But a few minutes, well why not? And then another
Speaker 1: key point, I write it down. Long time listeners know
Speaker 1: that I track my time on weekly spreadsheets. I like
Speaker 1: to see the word waits there a few days per
Speaker 1: week and that eight cell on my spreadsheet. It provides
Speaker 1: a good record that I'm doing it, as does how
Speaker 1: I feel. I can tell that some exercises are getting
Speaker 1: easier and I feel a bit more powerful during my
Speaker 1: runs my back feels better in general, and that's definitely
Speaker 1: a good thing. So if you'd like to start a
Speaker 1: new habit, you might try what I did. Make it easy.
Speaker 1: Designate a specific time, ideally a time that you're just
Speaker 1: wasting now, keep your goals small enough that it inspired
Speaker 1: there's no resistance, and then record your progress somewhere. You
Speaker 1: just might find yourself able to stick with something you
Speaker 1: thought you wouldn't be able to do. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: 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. M