60 Truths About Habit Change

Habits can be anything from bad to good ones, from productive to demoralizing, from healthy to unhealthy.

They can also be big or small, part of a group of habits or all by themselves.

They can seem as complicated as the way you are in relationships to as seemingly simple like how you take care of your things.

One thing is clear, even if you just change one habit, what you do is extraordinary. You create a domino effect that effects lots. In other words, the way you do one thing you do others. So once you get a productive habit in place, it sticks and it effects often more than you realize. This is great for good habits and not so great for bad habits.

So how do you change a habit?

This is a good question because often we can actively try to do something new but it doesn't stick. It never felt like you owned it.

Then you may realize you are repeating the same bad habits in new situations instead of taking action in a productive helpful way. You get the same results, garner the same reactions, even if you change the people, place or situation. Bottom line, you aren't getting the outcomes you'd like.

So, I've gathered a lot of information about habits and I want to share some quick and easy snippets about how you can change a habit, in fact 60 of them.

What can you do with this? Just consider it and also consider joining the Weight Loss Jump-Start group to grow skills and motivation so you grow new, healthier habits that get results.

Here they are, 60 Truths About Habit Change. You must:

1. Want something to change something.
2. Own the thing you want - do not base your actions on what others might want for you.
3. Know what having this new habit would do for you
4. Consider how taking action towards this new habit could be enjoyable
5. Consider other people in your life and their part in your habit (whether that is who should be included or how you can manage your successful actions even through their reactions) 
6. Get clear what you want and keep that one thing in mind. Make sure what you want is the #1 thing you want so you commit and do it
7. Actual habit change takes quick action. A moment can easily come and go. Count down 54321 and then promptly do the action you need to do. Watch this.
8. Remember small successes are a great starting point. They grow confidence and endurance for larger wins
9. Accept and love yourself the way you are now
10. Be grateful about where you are now
11. Find what worked well when you were in action or getting results previously
12. Consider who you thought of or spent time with when things truly went well
13. Consider what you did when things just worked
14. Find the spot in your day or situations where a new habit would fit perfectly
15. Borrow actions of a mentor (you have to do and be something you haven't been, where do you know how to do this, borrow healthy, effective actions from others...those who are successful getting the outcomes you desire)
16. Review your goals daily and weekly
17. Take advantage of transition times (like vacations, being in a new country, being around other people) as an opportunity to take new actions you have never taken before (eat differently, work differently, follow a new script, follow a new lead)...see how it works
18. Evaluate what is working right now or while you know you are in action
19. Evaluate what can be improved and when you notice it get a little wonky or off tracks
20. Evaluate how to make a goal or activity yours, if it has ceased to feel that way
21. Get to know your work archetype and how it fits your current actions or desires (like what is your sweet spot, what do you do best)
22. Get to know your brand archetype and who you are in this (like how you dress and what you appreciate in the joy and beauty of being, dressing, organizing and living)
23. Consider your past, what did you do as a child when you had the best time of your life. What part in it did you play?
24. Consider your wins. What did you do differently? In what context was this a winning situation?
25. Consider your set-backs. Where did things go wrong? What would you do differently?
26. Consider other people's wins. When it comes to mentors or those getting results like the ones you desire, at what point did things go exceptionally well in the right direction? In what context were they getting great results?
27. Consider other people's set-backs. This is not easy to notice, however, if you can interview them, find out where things went wrong? How? When? What they did then? What they would change if they were to re-do it.
28. Change your environment if things feel stagnant
29. Change your reaction when the same thing that you don't like recurs. Say something different about it.
30. Be leery of "should" statements. Often your path is not black and white. The path is grey and what works for one doesn't work for others.
31. Give yourself permission to know what to do next. Say it out loud or write it down.
32. Give yourself permission to have a set-back and keep going forward anyway
33. Don't make a set-back mean anything more than simply a learning point to figure out a different way to do it or take a different slant at the same thing
34. When stuck, do something new, sometimes do something outrageous 
35. Don't worry about what others think about your actions (tell yourself, this is a testing moment)
36. Give yourself permission on occasion to do the opposite of what you normally feel you should do. Try being rebellious for a bit, see what works doing this.
37. Find where the devil is on your back (a similar doubt or self-sabotager comes up) and shake him off. He can't focus for long anyways so he can never be as persistent and creative as you – especially when you simply move forward.
38. Realize there is sometimes a breakdown before the breakthrough. Honor your highly charged emotions but don't make this emotional incident mean anything more than simply you moving forward.
39. Believe your dream is worthwhile
40. Don't plan it all out from the beginning. Take solid steps and let things unfold, that's where the magic, beauty and the uniqueness of this event, project, season live...then thing you could never have planned as well as it turns out anyway.
41. Appreciate the little things
42. Look past the superficial stuff. A lot of it is superficial.
43. Look to people and the blessings they are. Appreciate the people around you that come in and out of your life.
44. Speak without tearing yourself or your actions apart or questioning your own choices in front of just anyone. Don't give someone else the entry point to go negative for you. Others don't have the dreams you have, and sometimes don't see the opportunities you see, so they can't always be the motivator that you need them to be. Don't put people in that position.
45. Ask for advice from someone who has done it the right or healthy way...when you need to get advice. This can and should be anytime you need advice.
46. Vent by telling someone you just want to vent but include the fact that you are still ready to roll up your sleeves and get back to work afterward.
47. When setting a goal, consider what you want to be experiencing in three months or a few weeks’ time versus what you currently are experiencing (the big picture). You can even go bigger for a minute and get the real big picture of your goals.
48. When setting a goal, choose a couple of your greatest, trusted strategies to achieve it so you don’t waste your own time and you get into action (the little picture).
49. When setting a goal, consider a time frame to it to see how well your strategies are working- rather than leave it open-ended. You don't need to keep up what you dislike but you can try something new.
50. When setting a goal, start strong (for a three days to two weeks) and then dial it back to the lowest common denominator of what you need to do so it fits well in your lifestyle. Run with your enthusiasm but then keep to a sustainable plan that you can do without having to try so hard...make it enjoyable even (in as many ways as you can...a win, win, win situation)
51. Don't expect someone else's plans to achieve the goal for you. They can help, but not all the way.
52. Make your habit change from an emotional start point.  How can you make it an emotional start?
53. It's OK to be unorthodox in your methods so long as they are healthy for you
54. Committing to others or being accountable to others often helps you get things done
55. Committing money, resources or time, having that on the calendar or paid, often helps you get things in action
56. While in action, uncover what you like about it - not what you don't. Expand on that.
57. Be creative while in action. Maybe the task at hand isn't creative, like the work that needs to be done, but the flare around it can be creative - your conversations, your technique, your attitude, your intention, your skill level.
58. Acknowledge when you achieved your goal
59. Find out what is next from the point of your new achievement. When you've gotten one thing right, confidence grows, so consider what else is possible for you in any area
60. Consider where you've put someone else first lately. Sometimes knowing your next step or worthy goals comes down to knowing what you can do to help others in a systematic, committed way. It often not just helps others but helps you too...if you've found an area that compels you. 

We did it, that was sixty truths about making habit change. What can you do right now?

Consider putting these truths in place in weight-loss starting today in the Habit Change LAB Weight Loss Jump-start program.

Please let me know in the comments below...

What is your favorite habit change truth?