Mindset (Day 6) - Accountability

I want to end the week of Mindset with a very important topic, and that is accountability. What do you think about accountability? Do you feel you can be a better version of yourself when you have someone or something holding you accountable? Do you currently surround yourself with coaches and mentors?

Accountability is huge! And honestly, it does not matter how strong or how good someone is at something, they can always be better. The best athletes in the world hire coaches. The best CEO’s got to where they were by having mentors and hiring coaches. Successful businesses constantly hire consultants and coaches. Even successful coaches have their own coaches. And yes, even personally - as a fitness professional and coach, I am always hiring other experienced coaches for accountability, to challenge me and get a fresh perspective on things. It is worth every penny. A coach and having an accountability partner can be the difference of being just okay to being great.

If you are looking for an experienced coach to get you started or to take you to the next level in your health and fitness, we provide different plans that are customized and tailored to you. We provide guidance in workouts and nutrition as well as that accountability piece that will keep you motivated and focused on your goals. Please reach out if you’re interested in learning more. Otherwise check in tomorrow as we move on to Week 2, which will cover nutrition.

Mindset (Day 5) - Are You Being Self-Aware?

Let me let you in on a little secret. A secret that will open your eyes and create that initial step to change, and help you to continue on that change. It is very powerful, and many psychologists and neurologists agree that this one little thing can change the structures of your brain and how you view the world around you. So what is this “little” thing? It is called self-awareness.

Most people live their day-to-day life on auto-pilot. Their days are filled with behaviors and habits that they’ve created over many years and sometimes over a lifetime. Sometimes they want to change those behaviors and habits, but don’t know how. This is where self-awareness comes in. It is the very first step to change. Perhaps you’ve heard of it and perhaps you’ve even done it. But if you have not, then I highly recommend you try it. Most people that start practicing self-awareness feel like their eyes opened for the very first time.

So how do you practice self-awareness? A good start is what I call Notice and Naming. For example, notice how you feel and then name what you feel. That’s it, very basic and simple. But it will start opening up your eyes to everything around you. You can do it for just about anything. If you are aware that you are hungry, bloated, or craving something and you name what it is, what are you going to do about it? What is causing the hunger, bloating, or craving? You can also notice and name when you are mad, stressed, etc. and then figure out what is causing that anger or stress. How can you change it? You can’t change it if you didn’t notice it in the first place, right?

Another trick to help you get better at self-awareness is meditation. You can download a free app on your phone like Headspace and practice meditation and self-awareness every morning. Just learn to be present and sit with your thoughts. What are you feeling in your body, what are you thinking? You can even focus all of your attention on your breath (this is for all you yogis out there!). And as your day goes on, notice and name things around you, especially how you are feeling and what is causing that feeling. It can be anything, just play with it!

If you finished this exercise, click the like button. Don’t forget to invite your friends and family and tell them about this challenge. I know this week is a bit heady, but remember that all change starts with the mind. If your mind isn’t in it, it will be very difficult to succeed in this or any challenge.

You got this!!

Mindset (Day 4) - Make It A Habit

Think about your current habits - good or bad. How do you think they became habits? Can you pinpoint when, where and how they became second nature? Are there habits you want to create or habits you are looking to break?

According to “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, all habits entail what is called a habit loop. The habit loop contains 3 very important characteristics: The Cue, The Routine, and the Reward. All habits, good and bad are born from these three characteristics, and of course having the same cue, routine, and reward for 21+ days will make it a habit and second nature. The brain is very efficient, but it doesn’t like to do a lot of thinking. It instead likes to do most things on autopilot and categorizes tasks and behaviors as what we like to call - habits.

So in order to create and change habits, you have to have a basic understanding of what these 3 characteristics are, and how to use them to your advantage.

The Cue

The cue is what makes you start to think about a routine and the reward afterward, and following through with doing the routine to get the reward. Can you think about certain habits your currently have? Is there a cue that starts the process of the routine? For example - while at a dinner party, you smell a delicious food item. Does that smell make you give into your craving? Every morning you have a cup of coffee, is your cue the act of waking up and feeling like you can’t get the day started without that cup? How can you use cues to your advantage? Can you take your gym bag to the office to make you start thinking about going to the gym? Can that or something else be your cue? Whatever it is, just know that all habits have a cue and something that ignites the rest of the habit loop - routine and reward.

The Routine

The routine is the behavior itself, so take the example above while at your dinner party, you smell the delicious food (cue), so you take a bite and then another bite and another (routine). The behavior is the act. But also know that the routine is actually the least important piece in the habit loop. The cue and reward play a way bigger part in creating and changing habits, so try focusing on those two when you are creating new habits and breaking old ones.

The Reward

All habits have a reward, otherwise they wouldn’t become a habit in the first place. So from the example above, you understand smelling the food is the cue, taking the bites are the routine, and the reward is most likely the way it tastes and the endorphin rush (although fleeting) feeling you get in your body after tasting the delicious food item.

So how do you put this all together to create good habits and break bad ones?

Creating Good Habits

Well, for creating good habits, you have to first begin with the cue. So if you want to start making exercise a habit, you can start by taking your gym bag to work, or you can wear a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker, or you can take the route that passes by the gym. It doesn’t matter what it is, but find a cue that is powerful enough that it gets you thinking about the routine and eventually the reward.

So after your cue, you go and do your routine (exercise in this case). What is your reward? According to Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit), the reward is more effective if it is immediate. So saying your reward is getting closer to a summer body can be a reward, it is not immediate, it is not tangible. A better reward is the endorphin rush you feel after working out. Or if you have a post-workout meal or shake you really enjoy, you can think of that as your reward. Your reward has to be something tangible, and if it is something you can feel, touch, taste or see, it’s more effective in creating that new habit.

Changing Bad Habits

So now you understand what the habit loop is and how to create good habits, but how do you change bad habits? Remember how I said that the cue and reward are the most important pieces? You can have the same cue and the same reward, but you can change the routine piece. So if your bad habit is eating icecream before bed, and your cue is the hunger pangs at 7:00 PM and the reward is the endorphin rush you get from the taste of the icecream, how can you have the same cue and reward, but change the behavior/routine? So if your cue is hunger pangs at 7:00 PM, can you instead drink a protein shake or eat a healthy snack that you enjoy to create the same reward? It takes willpower to swap out the routine, but it can be done and that new routine can create the same reward as the icecream. This goes for anything.

So now that you understand habits and how to create new habits and break old ones, think about habits that you would like to create or old habits you would like to break. Think about the cue, routine and reward. Once you’ve finished this exercise, hit the like button. You can also feel free to comment. Happy habit making and/or breaking!!

Mindset (Day 1) What Is Your Why?

What is your Why? What is your reason for hitting your goals and doing this challenge? Looking good in a swimsuit or losing weight isn’t a good enough answer. Your why has to be deeper than that. Your why has to sustain you after that feeling of inspiration and motivation wanes. Your why has to carry you day after day, even during times it gets hard and you want to throw in the towel. Your why is the reason you do what you do and what you will hold onto to succeed to the end. Not just with this challenge, but with any goal or obstacle.

But how do you get to the root cause of your why?

Toyota’s founder Sakichi Toyoda developed a system to get a deeper understanding of solving any problem. He used this exercise to figure out how to get to the root cause of a defective part, business-related situation, and he also used this exercise to motivate his employees. According to books such as Drive, A More Beautiful Question, The Power of Habit (All excellent reads by the way!), Toyota was the Gold Standard in leadership and the management of employees for years. And this one simple exercise developed the company into what it is today. That exercise is called The 5 Why’s.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the 5 whys exercise, and perhaps you’ve done it yourself, but if you have not, it is a very powerful exercise to find the true purpose and underlying reason of what you do what you do. You can use the 5 whys for just about anything, but I want to you to use it for your reason in starting this challenge.

So the challenge for today is to answer this one simple question:

“Why do you want to do this challenge?”

And after you answer that question, ask yourself “Why?” 5 more times. Your answer can get very deep. Your answer might make you emotional and might surprise you, but it is okay to take it there. Use that answer to drive you and give you a purpose.

If you want to share your answer, please feel free! If you want to keep it to yourself, that is okay too. I just want you to click the like button to let me know you completed this challenge for the day. If you want to share how you felt about the exercise in the comments section, that would be great too!

Week 1 - Mindset

The first week I want to focus on Mindset. I was going to lump mindset in with Stress, but I feel it is far too important on its own and feel it should be its own separate category. It is also a great topic to start the challenge off with. What do you guys do to get your mind ready and focused for a challenge ahead? What do you do to ensure you follow a challenge through til the end?