How to Create New Habits

My motto is "change your habits, change your health". True? Yes. Easier said than done? Also true. In particular, why are changing our lifestyle habits so dang hard? We often resist change because we get comfortable. Even if we know a particular change is good for us, we resist the unknown. Self doubt creeps in. What if I fail? What if I still don't lose the weight? Our brain begins to rationalize why we

shouldn't make those changes. It'll cost too much to buy healthier food. It won't taste good anyway. I don't even know what to eat. I'll probably gain the weight back. I won't be able to stick to it, so why even try?

It's funny that this is our brain's way of protecting us, "keeping us safe," yet we still aren't happy. We stay in this purgatory stage of wanting to change but too afraid to take the next step. So what do we do next? Sit and wallow on the couch.

KIDDING.

We do it ANYWAY. If you aren't familiar with Mel Robbins "the 5 second rule," it can change your life. It's a way to take action even when you don't want to.

She purports that:

1. Knowing what to do will never be enough.

2. Knowing why you need to do it will never be enough.

Instead, we need to figure out a way to take action! Waiting around for motivation to happen...is, well, unlikely.

Mel puts it like this:

If you don’t start doing the things you don’t feel like doing, you will wake up one year from today and be in exactly the same place.

So what's the answer?

5 Second Rule:

If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.

Your brain will talk you out of it!! So, move quickly!

Again, after the 5 seconds your brain will send you back to auto-pilot (aka your old way of thinking).

Take that next step NOW-- Choose the healthier entree before you even get a chance to look at the rest of the menu at a restaurant. Start putting on your running shoes NOW before you realize you don't actually feel like running. WAKE UP 20 min earlier to have time to actually prepare breakfast and ENJOY it. Yeah, that means jumping out of bed within 5 seconds of your alarm -- before your brain talks you into hitting snooze. Fill your shopping cart with nourishing food NOT JUNK.

Daily small changes will change your life.

By taking actionable steps that puts you in the driver's seat of your life, you begin to experience the principle of momentum. In other words, the more you follow the 5 second rule, the easier it becomes to keep making forward progress.

I use this tactic probably every. single. day. There's usually a brief moment before I start a workout where my brain tries to talk me out of it. But within 5 seconds I'm already on that treadmill outsmarting my brain.

Take care,

~Beth

How can you apply this "5 second rule" in your life?