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Episode 6: Why Habits Fail — And How to Build Consistency That Lasts
88 Plays22 days ago
In this episode of the Body Evolution Podcast, we break down why so many people struggle to stay consistent — even when motivation is high and intentions are strong.
At the start of the year, many people commit to big changes. But weeks later, habits begin to fade, frustration sets in, and self-judgment takes over. This conversation explains why that cycle is so common — and why it’s not a failure of discipline, character, or willpower.
We explore how motivation fluctuates, why willpower is limited, and how the nervous system responds to overwhelm. Most importantly, we share a practical, human approach to building habits that actually stick — by lowering friction, starting small, and designing behaviors that fit real life.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why motivation fades and can’t sustain habits long-term
- How stress and emotional energy affect consistency
- Why willpower is a limited resource
- How doing too much at once creates resistance and burnout
- The role of nervous system safety in habit formation
- Why starting is the hardest part of any habit
- How small, repeatable actions build momentum
- The power of lowering friction and designing your environment
- Why habit stacking makes consistency easier
- How celebrating small wins reinforces behavior
- Why habits form faster when they align with identity and lifestyle
- How to restart without judgment after falling off
This episode is an invitation to let go of pressure and rethink how change actually happens. When habits feel safe, simple, and aligned with your life, consistency stops feeling like effort — and starts becoming natural.
📚 Resources Mentioned in This Episode
These books and tools were explicitly referenced during the conversation and can help you go deeper into habit formation and behavior change:
🔹 Habit Formation & Behavior Change
- Atomic Habits — James Clear https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735211299Reinforces the idea of small changes, identity-based habits, and reducing friction.
- Tiny Habits — BJ Fogg, PhD https://www.amazon.com/dp/0358003326Directly supports the episode’s focus on starting small and designing habits that feel easy.
- The 5 Second Rule — Mel Robbins https://www.amazon.com/dp/1682612384Referenced in relation to overcoming hesitation and starting before overthinking takes over.
🔹 Motivation vs Willpower (Scientific Context)
- American Psychological Association — Willpower & Self-Regulation https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/01/willpowerSupports the discussion that willpower is limited and unreliable as a long-term strategy.
🔹 Habit Formation & the Brain
- NIH — “The Neuroscience of Habit Formation” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4549517/Explains how habits form neurologically, reinforcing why repetition and safety matter.
These resources reinforce the core ideas discussed in the episode: starting small, reducing resistance, and building habits that feel safe and repeatable.
🔗 Connect with Body Evolution
🌐 Website
🔗 Linktree (all links, free guides, and resources)
https://linktr.ee/body_evolution
Follow us, join the conversation, and continue evolving with us.
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Transcript
Introduction to Body Evolution Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to a space for movement, mindset, and sustainable rhythm. This is Body Evolution.
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to Body Evolution Podcast, where health becomes simple, sustainable, and human.
Meet the Hosts: Corey Repp and Elie Berenguer
00:00:20
Speaker
Hi, I'm Corey Repp. And I'm Elie Berenguer. We break down fitness, nutrition, habits, and energy through one lens, what actually works in real life.
00:00:32
Speaker
Let's do this.
Aligning Identity with Fitness and Nutrition
00:00:34
Speaker
So in the last episodes, we have been talking about identity, the body, and longevity, about how real change doesn't come through pushing harder, but from alignment, rhythm, and understanding how the body actually works.
00:00:52
Speaker
Yeah, and today we want to zoom in on something very specific, and what many people at this point might be really struggling with is keeping with it and why we can't stay consistent with current methods. And we've talked about it a bit in previous episodes about the psychology of change and and what happens internally and identity and everything else. But today we're going to get real specific about, you know, why habits fail and what really works to get them going and get things on the right path without having to restart, having to, you know, get down on yourself. So let's do this. Let's go.
00:01:30
Speaker
Let's go.
Why Do New Year's Resolutions Fail?
00:01:31
Speaker
And that's that's cool because we know that we are right now in this moment of the year where ah people have done all their resolutions, you know, for January, starting the year, and everyone is like, okay, I'm going to change all this, I'm going to do this and the other and these habits, and I want all this. But right now we're in that moment where a lot of people begins to realize some already have failed, others are starting to fail. For some, have been good and it have worked.
00:02:03
Speaker
But why this usually happens? Yeah. I mean,
The Role of Motivation and Stress in Consistency
00:02:09
Speaker
it's it's people struggle with consistency because, you know, this motivation comes and that's that's your emotional energy. That's sort of giving, is it's driving you and and you have that, I can do this, let's let's make it happen. But That only lasts so long.
00:02:29
Speaker
And we've talked about how, you know, that motivation is overwhelmed when life's stressors come in. That is your emotional energy goes up and down with all of that.
00:02:43
Speaker
And that stuff's inevitable. Life has its ups and downs. And so your consistency can't depend on only when your emotional energy is up for this kind of motivation. So.
00:02:55
Speaker
That's where, you know, it's, it's just your biology working with you, you know, the stress drains that motivation in, in that, that kind of, that type of energy, that emotional energy. So it's, it's just natural that that's not going to last. So it's not like you're weak.
00:03:11
Speaker
It's just that, you know, you just get overloaded and your body's going to reject that. You can't, you can't keep up with that. Exactly. And
Challenges of Winter Fitness Routines
00:03:20
Speaker
for me, it's funny because.
00:03:23
Speaker
I feel, in from my perspective, I feel it's maybe the worst moment of the year to try to do this. We we talk in the other episodes about seasons of life and everything. When we come to the season of the year, the seasons, like winter, but if we if we go to the past,
00:03:43
Speaker
no it's not the best moment to start things it's like the weather is cold is freezing is rainy there's no amount there's not much sun you know hitting you and everything and it's funny because if you want to start oh i'm gonna start running and going to the gym and everything it's gonna be harder when it's freezing outside when it's cold when it's rainy and Even you need more willpower to go through those phases. So it's funny that everybody tried to start in this moment of the year. For me, i will use winter to prepare myself to start in spring when the water is a little bit more gentle, more sunny. You want to go more outside and motivation can keep up because of the sun and everything, you know? Right. And I think that people are obviously it's the new year thing, new new year, new you, that motivation of it a new start.
00:04:39
Speaker
And, you know, as you said, the new start more naturally actually starts starts in spring for people when when people when the weather starts to break and you get, you know, the days get longer. But. This is the
Power of Small, Manageable Changes
00:04:50
Speaker
way it is and people have this motivation. So let's, you know, there's still ways to to to use that.
00:04:56
Speaker
it's not that It's not that you can't start right now. It's just going whole hog, doing it all at once and having this big motivation to do these big things is so not natural. Yes. Like you said, let's get, let's get prepared to get, to get big in spring, you know, yes and that's where we, you know, we'll get into, in a little bit later in this episode, a little more detail about the small ways we can start that will build up to those big things. And and if you just sort do this in in the right way, it can build. And I also wanted to mention that it's just sort of a different tact of it.
00:05:30
Speaker
People who, are motivated and smart and intelligent and know all these things, they they can have this big start too and they fail as well. And it's not it's not about how how intelligent you are or the value of your character or how strong you are.
00:05:48
Speaker
it is just plain that motivation by by itself and that that just like spark of energy you get when you're like, oh, I've got a great idea, I'm gonna make this happen. it's gonna It's not gonna last if you don't do it, go about it the right way.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, and and not only that, it's how much amount of pressure you're trying to put in yourself, how many actions you want to take, because
Aligning Habits with Identity for Success
00:06:12
Speaker
ah yes, some people can get results, and for some people it's going to work, truly, because we have different ways of being, and for some people these will work, but it's not for everybody, and it's not for everybody to change their life, all the aspects from one day to another.
00:06:32
Speaker
and And trust me, yes, there is people that it works. I'm not saying it's not, no, that can never work. No, for some people will work because this goes aligned with identity and personality and how you are and how you address things and challenges. But for the majority, when you try to change so many things at the same time, like I'm going to eat better, I'm going to do exercise, or I'm going to quit smoking, I'm going to read more books, I'm going to do... Like, if you try to... It's too much. And that will create frustration. Another thing is that that motivation to keep on going up and be sustainable, you need wins. And when you begin to have a lot of losing and losing and losing, create frustration. So I'm going to start doing this and this and this and this. And then ah like, oh, yes, I went to the gym, but I didn't eat well, but I didn't sleep on like I wanted to sleep. I didn't read the book. I didn't
Celebrating Small Wins to Sustain Motivation
00:07:29
Speaker
do this. And then then it begins, that the you know, that bucket of not done is full of things. And that makes you trigger down your motivation and everything. So motivation is a good start, but we have to be gentle with the body and the mind. And to put, if there is a threshold, we have to push to be near the threshold and little push over the threshold. hole There is a Steven Kotler I like. He talks about ah flow and how to enter enter a stage of flow. And one of the best ways to enter the stage of flow, if
00:08:07
Speaker
If what you do is not engaging because it's not hard enough, it gets boring. So you don't do it. And if you do it too much, it's like 20% over your skills or harder,
00:08:21
Speaker
you will burn out or you will feel that it's too hard and then you will quit. Usually, and scientifically, they say it's like 4% more to push over your boundaries.
Building Habits Without Relying on Willpower
00:08:33
Speaker
So this is not to take 10 new actions. This is pick one, pick two, depending on your personality. Maybe three things that you can start doing, but we have to be careful with that emotion, no?
00:08:48
Speaker
yeah we let it build up and you're like, ah, and then you're like, ah. Yeah. These big life overhauls that we picture as being this ideal are just not going to happen for us. And, and it's, and ah not only is it difficult for us to do because it does not fitting into our life. And it's like, so we get all these losses, like you said, all these undone, this big bucket undone things, but also it's this big change. Our, our, our egos, our brains, the way we live, our personality wants to hold it. We want to preserve where we are right now. And so it's like a perceived threat when you do with all these big major changes and the body will retract and defend. that status quo exactly yeah yeah and like i just saying exactly if it's against your mind if you're like this is not me if you don't believe you're that and this is a new path it gonna so you have the the body is gonna protect too many changes and too fast your body needs time to adapt to them
00:09:51
Speaker
But the mind too, it needs a ah process. And it's funny because what happens with the majority of the people when they say, I'm going to go to the gym, they go crazy into the gym. they They kill themselves in the first day. And then they're like, I feel worse. and And then they don't want to go back. And usually people have good motivation and the motivation can last one week, two weeks, three, four, and then usually begins to drop down.
00:10:21
Speaker
So trust me, motivation is good to start, but we have to hack the system, let's say, to understand that we need other things that is not only motivation.
00:10:33
Speaker
Yes, yes. And your body's, like I said, if it's good to protect itself, It's it's it's your your natural body just reacting the way it's supposed to react. You're going to protect yourself. And so if you're not going about it correctly, it's not that you're failing. It's just that your body's protecting itself. Your body, your ego, your your entire being is protecting what it is right now. and And if you do all these things that it perceives as harmful, perceives as a threat to your identity, everything else, it or or it's painful.
00:11:02
Speaker
Like you said, if you're just like doing too much and it just hurts, then yeah, your body's going to react and it's, you're just, it's just inevitably going to end. And so that's where, you know, don't, it's, it's not about self judgment. It's not about your character. It's just going about it the wrong way.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah.
Syncing Habits with Natural Rhythms
00:11:21
Speaker
And here enters to the other part about willpower. their willpower is is really like a battery. in always is ju like Always is harder to accomplish things when it's late in the day than when it's in the morning. Why? Because your decision-making drains energy from the body, taking too many things and everything. So when you get to the end of the day, when you are more tired and everything, it's harder to do
00:11:52
Speaker
to be able to put that willpower to do some stuff. But the same, if you apply too many changes at the same time, you're draining that battery really fast.
00:12:04
Speaker
So it's like if you do a big effort to go to the gym and then you're like, oh my God, I would love to eat a hamburger or Pixar and everything, but no, no, no, I have to eat healthy, i have to maintain. Okay, you put more willpower down and you say, after this, I promise I'm gonna do these new things with my kids. And now you have to put more willpower there. And after that, I'm gonna read the book. Like, it's gonna drain you and it's not gonna last. So we have to take care of that energy.
00:12:34
Speaker
and that manage that balance. So you can't really through it. it's sort of a finite reservoir of that kind of willpower, that kind of like push to do the right things or resistance to do the bad things. Because I, just an example with me, and I got admit, I still have my sweet addiction and I have problems with evening snacking.
00:12:59
Speaker
And so i I find my willpower just so drained by that point. In the morning, To me, it's easy to do the right things and to resist the bad things and just to, you know, go about things. And I've said designed my life to make sure I take advantage of when I have that willpower because there's the other times there I lapse.
00:13:17
Speaker
i lapse and And I find the evening just so difficult. i can I can consciously see myself, oh, you're you're doing it again. You're doing the wrong thing and then still follow through and do the wrong thing. And a lot of people can probably relate to that. But like you said, maybe that's because of that finite reservoir of of emotional energy we have in the day to do the right thing, to to have that little bit of willpower. to And so we can only bite off so much.
00:13:43
Speaker
and And so, and do the right things, do the right things that trigger it better. And I think we can sort of segue that into the next topic we wanted to talk about is like, how does it work? Like how, how can I do it in the right way? What, how does the nervous system actually work to, to develop consistency?
00:14:06
Speaker
Yes, um and it's true that talking about willpower, because it it really is part of consistency. Also, motivation, of course, is important. The willpower, having discipline, all this for the start, essentially starting something new. We need all of those. But how we can protect that energy, how we can protect so our body doesn't push away or our mind pushes away. So, for example, if you have a bad night's sleep, it it affects your mood.
00:14:36
Speaker
and your motivation. And next day you are even like nothing have changed. Even you're only trying one thing, but if you don't recharge yourself and and and get, it's gonna be, everything is gonna be harder and you're gonna be more negative and you're gonna be like, ah, I cannot do. So there are different things we have.
00:14:58
Speaker
Nutrition is important for these levels of energy in the body. And, if not only for the energy that body needs to execute during the day, but nutrition can affect to the energy of our willpower, of our mentality. if you If you eat this big meal, and then I tell you, let's go to play a soccer game, or let's go to do some, ba a lama I don't have energy, I want to get a nap, I'm tired. So very heavy meals with a lot of things that are,
00:15:33
Speaker
draining energy from the body because creating inflammation or affecting your digestion is going to drain energy. Sleeping bad is going to drain energy. ah Sometimes we need to activate the body to to create the energy. It's like, this is funny, but you're tired to you are laying down in the sofa and you want to, hey, we need to wake up and do something. andre like If you push a little bit of willpower there, a little bit, and stand up and do one minute of jumping jacks, the funny thing is that your body is going to be activated and it's going to bring energy. So we can really create more energy in the body
00:16:17
Speaker
through exercise, through, like, no more exercise, but through movement, through nutrition, through sleep.
Creating a Low-Friction Environment for Habits
00:16:26
Speaker
But we have to build that consistency.
00:16:29
Speaker
And for that, we have to reduce friction. Right, right. and And reducing that friction brings us into... a level of nervous system alignment and regulation and the safety that we feel. And we need we need that in order to gain that consistency. Our bodies are going to resist us, like we said, if we were overwhelmed. But if we keep in that place where we have that that reserve of energy and we we feel relaxed and calm and safe, then that that's the only time your body will
00:17:07
Speaker
adapt new habits as you, if you keep within that kind of range of this is safe, it's repeatable, it's I, my body and my life can adapt to this then. And it's not, oh my God, it's hard. Oh my God, it hurts. Oh, ah it's, it's, it's too much. There's too many things to do.
00:17:26
Speaker
That's when it's not your nervous system gets in that fight or flight and new habits are going to go out the window. You can adapt them. And exactly what you just say, it will push you for procrastination.
00:17:39
Speaker
It will push you to... let
Overcoming Resistance with Small Actions
00:17:41
Speaker
and let's define procrastination is not being lazy and not doing stuff. Procrastination is avoiding to do what is important because it's overwhelming, because it's hard, and then you do other tasks that are simpler, easier, and more manageable in that moment. Like, oh, I need to study. Okay, I'm going to study. And then you arrive to study that it takes you time to sit down and get to study. But then you're like, oh, the the table is not, I'm going to organize first the table and everything. Oh, you know, I'm going to eat something so I can have, and and you begin to, and then it's too late and you say, oh, okay, I leave it for tomorrow. So friction,
00:18:25
Speaker
we can reduce the friction in advance. We can design these things to to make it easier when we want to do that. But for me, the formula is, i love the term keys.
00:18:37
Speaker
Keep it simple, stupid. a Like just choose something so small that you can have. Building the motivation we were talking because you have a little win. Even if it's small, but we need to find a way that really we can create consistency and people will feel like if it's very small i because we are impatient we want no no I have to go like harder and I have to do more but the idea is what is more important you do something perfect through one day and then you derail or you do something small every day creating a compounding effect and making it easier every day
00:19:25
Speaker
and building up the habits. So each time you put a little bit more energy and a little bit more time into that that you want to build. Right, right. And so these sort of inputs to our body, these these new little habits that we do that actually feel good when we do them, they what are what keep us going. That's what that's what actually stabilizes that that behavior and that change. And so...
00:19:55
Speaker
That is
The Importance of Patience in Habit Formation
00:19:56
Speaker
supportive to who you want to be. It's supportive to the lifestyle you want to live. It it might be small. You might think it's not enough. That's where people, you know, we got to sort of keep preaching patience, right?
00:20:09
Speaker
it Small is enough because it will build on itself. you You can't start from the the biggest thing. You have to start small. You have to walk before you can run. People are impatient because they want results right away, but that's not how life works. That's not how your body works. that's you You didn't get here in a day. You didn't get to, you know,
00:20:30
Speaker
Maybe if your energy has sunk down or you' you've gained a little weight over time or you know you have you know you feel less less good in your body for whatever reason, it took a while to get here. Your lifestyle built to this point. Your body has responded to what your inputs you've given it to this point. So you start just got to start feeding it different inputs to get to a different place. but it takes it It's going to take a little time, but it feels so good to build on that, to make yourself a project, to keep to keep that little, that momentum in the right direction. And before you know it, and and that's the thing is if you if you stay consistent, results come crazy good and you feel good about them because you know it's just like, this is not a temporary thing. This is going to keep going. And that way makes it feel so much better.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yes. And
Utilizing Dopamine Triggers for Habits
00:21:19
Speaker
as I was saying before, the keys... So kiss and celebrate. This is another tip. Celebration is important. Even if it's small, ah we have to understand how our body works and how our neurotransmitters work. And we have dopamine. We all know about dopamine and how important is to engagement and everything. So if you begin to, I don't know, you do something simple as, okay, I want to train more. I'm gonna put my shoes and I'm gonna go out the door of a house. And you say like, only that? Yes, that that's my first input.
00:22:00
Speaker
Two things are gonna happen. Sometimes you're gonna open the door. Once you put your running shoes, you open the door, you close it. And some days you're like, you're gonna go run. But other days is like, i really don't wanna go.
00:22:14
Speaker
But you did the small action you decide that was putting my shoes and go out from the house. Okay, if you go run, perfect. But if you don't go run, anyway, you celebrate because you did the small action you said you were going to do.
00:22:29
Speaker
and And you can do a gesture like, yes, I got it. then So this will teach your body, oh, this is good. Okay, okay. So we're going to put a little bit of Dopamine next time when I'm going to put my juice to go out of the house. And that will trigger a little bit of dopamine and that begins to build up. So habits, there is true that some people will say you need 66 days, 21 days, that, that.
00:22:59
Speaker
It's not true. It's different. There are different levels of habits that we want to implement. The difficulty... is gonna put how much time it will take you.
00:23:11
Speaker
Because if you give the phone to a kid that they don't have the phone, if I give them the phone and the habit is super fun, like I gonna talk with my friends or do is social media, believe me, the habit is built in seconds. It's like you give it the phone and they they start and now they are hooked to do that. So there are some habits that can be integrated very fast, more if they are aligned with you. The more aligned is the habit with you and your actual situation, the faster you're going to get it.
00:23:46
Speaker
The harder it is, even if you want it in your life, but the harder it is and the most disaligned is with your actual situation and your personality right now, identity, it's going to be a little bit harder. It's going
Positive Reinforcement vs. Negative Self-talk
00:24:02
Speaker
to take a little bit more effort, more time, more willpower and discipline at the start.
00:24:07
Speaker
So it's important to understand these concepts because once we begin to understand this, we we have to take that self-talk that we punish ourselves because that make it even harder next time.
00:24:22
Speaker
You know, oh, I can never do it. I'm always stupid to do this. I always fail. You see, I knew I could not do it. And that It's going to make it even because the feeling is bad.
00:24:37
Speaker
Next time you think about doing that, your your mind and your body are going to push even harder from that. Yep. More resistance to to to get started. And that's why that that small little make it easy to get started, make it a win, make that dollin dopamine hat hit when you do get started, even if you don't follow through.
00:24:59
Speaker
that That takes down that biggest barrier, the biggest barrier even for people who are well established like me. if if If I'm comfortable on the couch in an evening and I had planned to work out, boy, there's a barrier there to to like get off the couch and go do it.
00:25:14
Speaker
I've worked out my whole life. It's comfortable for for me to do that but there's still that hump to get over, that that getting started hump on any habit that that is you know that takes you out of a comfort zone.
00:25:25
Speaker
That's the biggest hump. And if you can
Lowering Barriers Through Small Victories
00:25:27
Speaker
if you can overcome that by saying, oh, it's easy to get started. It's easy to do that small thing that gets me in that direction. Yeah, that's that's why that' that simple little start and those small little habits that you start with are so important.
00:25:43
Speaker
Yes. Here, it this reminds me because if people want to dig a little bit deeper into these themes and in the future, in other episodes, we maybe go deeper in these themes, but We have a a Tom's Clear from the book of Atomic Habits or we have Tiny Habits from James Fogg.
00:26:03
Speaker
These books are talking about this exactly. How we have to do these things very small, almost ridiculous sometimes, just to begin to create that traction so we can easier take more action over those. Or even for motivation, and Mel Robbins has this five-second rule. I don't know if you know about this, Corey. So the five-second rule of Mel is she was combating that it's not about motivation only. And she said that she created the five-second rule. And to change the way your brain functions, you have to come backwards because it it brings the focus to the now. And it's...
00:26:50
Speaker
Something like, oh, I have to go to the gym. I have to go to the gym. And you're overthinking, overthinking. Like, stop overthinking. It's like, I don't have the motivation. Stop that part and just say, five, four, three, two, one. And just stand up and go. Don't don't think it. the Go and do the thing. So there are a lot of ways. And the thing is that not everything works for everybody the same way. But this part of making it small...
00:27:20
Speaker
is the most important because the most difficult moment is not when you are doing the task. The most difficult moment is to start doing the task.
Making the First Step Easy
00:27:32
Speaker
So if you want to read a book, as I was telling in other episodes, I wanted to read more. I'm gonna read 50 pages. I was thinking about overthinking. When I make it so simple, like I'm gonna read the sentence, that's all.
00:27:50
Speaker
Sometimes I read the sentence and I say I really i don't have the energy, have the motivation to read more, and I read my sentence. I close the book, I celebrate, I read my sentence.
00:28:03
Speaker
But what began to happen is that sometimes I was opening the book, read the sentence and then it hooked me. Oh, what happened next? Okay. and And without knowing, then I read 15 pages or 20 pages or 30 pages or 10 pages. Great.
00:28:22
Speaker
But next day i was not, okay, yesterday I read 10, tomorrow I have to 11. No, I was like, I'm going to open again for one sentence because the hard part was to take the book and open it and start reading. That's the hard part.
00:28:38
Speaker
So if my action is small, and push me to do the start, sometimes you're gonna keep on going, other times you're gonna fail. Other ones, other things you, I'm gonna study, I need to study, I should study one hour every day.
00:28:53
Speaker
Okay, you can say I'm gonna study air one hour every day, there is a lot of resistance if you're not used to it. But you can put a timer and say I'm gonna study, I'm gonna start five minutes.
00:29:05
Speaker
You put a timer and you sit down, you open and say it's only five minutes, And because it's very small, there is less resistance from your mind and your body. And once you do those five minutes, it's gonna come the alarm.
00:29:20
Speaker
If you're engaged, you're gonna stop the alarm. You're gonna continue. And other days, you're like, okay, I cannot do it. And you put it. But if you repeat this, each time is gonna be easier. And those five minutes get 10, get 15, 20. And this is the same for for nutrition. This is the same for going to bed earlier or waking up earlier. This is the same for for health, for fitness, for everything that you want to do in your life.
00:29:49
Speaker
It's beautiful when you do it like this. Right. And so let's sort of wrap this up for people who may have already sort of fell off this year are intended to start, but didn't really start.
00:30:02
Speaker
What
Identifying and Focusing on Critical Habits
00:30:03
Speaker
does it look like for that person to say, i want to restart. I want a new lease on my body. I want to get connected to my body again. My intention was to do all this stuff. I couldn't do that.
00:30:15
Speaker
How do I restart today?
00:30:18
Speaker
Well, what I will say and what I will do, and I think you are aligned with me is first, what is the most important action? What is really the biggest thing I want to change that maybe is the one that can bring more results, generally speaking, or the one that is more complicated for you? And maybe I start there.
00:30:44
Speaker
Or if that creates too much friction, i will choose which one is more joyful to start doing. Which one has less resistance? The idea is to start one action in one area of your life that you want to change, that you want to create a new habit. But we have to lower the friction. We have to lower intensity. It's not going all in.
00:31:07
Speaker
and Remember, some people can work, but if you try it all in and it didn't work, you have to do what, like as we are saying, like start small. Choose something.
00:31:19
Speaker
Please, don't build a huge full plan. Don't bring all the intensity. That we need something because people is focused on the outcome.
00:31:32
Speaker
But if you want to change the outcome, usually we what we should do? Change the input. Now, so we want to begin to create that little signal to change the input. So we have different outcomes.
00:31:49
Speaker
and starting lowering the intensity, not having enough. Okay, I'm going to do all this, this plan. Some people love lose so much time. I have done it so many times.
00:32:01
Speaker
Creating a whole plan to then realize i don't do it. And I waste days planning. Okay, I'm going to do this in the morning and this then and and I create the perfect routine. And that's the other thing.
00:32:16
Speaker
We have to stop i creating routines and things that we see other people do because, oh, it worked for him. does But man, these perfect routines you see in Instagram and on all these social media, the guy with the bucket and the food and this, and then he goes to the swimming pool and everything, all those things, beautiful.
00:32:38
Speaker
Do you have that lifestyle that he has? Maybe he doesn't have children and you have children. Can you apply the same? No. Right. You know, other people is doing all this, but they they have money to pay other people to clean out the house, to do this. If you are the one doing all those tasks, you don't have that time as that person. So you have to find something suitable to your lifestyle.
00:33:03
Speaker
What you will say about this? Yeah,
Fitting Habits into Lifestyle Naturally
00:33:05
Speaker
I agree because it's not only that you you can't have this perfect plan in mind that you need to get to like – I have to do these 10 things that this guy's doing and i'll start I'll start small. So I'll just pick one and do this. But I still have only have this perfect thing to get to.
00:33:22
Speaker
Or even if you even if you create your own perfect plan and say, oh, well, that doesn't fit in my life. But what would fit into my life is this, this, this, and this, and this, and this. And that's what I want to build into my, even that, don't don't don't go that far.
00:33:35
Speaker
Don't have that big thing that is overwhelming. Yeah, you have a ah ah a vision you want to get to and have that direction you want to take. But let lest these things form naturally.
00:33:46
Speaker
Bite off these small little chunks going in the right direction and see where that snowballs to. You might find those things that you really cling on to that doesn't have that, that you know, previous vision of what you thought was right.
00:34:00
Speaker
So, you know, let them, let them form naturally. That's what I would say is, is like, do those small things and, and maybe one or two categories in your life, pick that's like, I, this is going to be beneficial. I, this is, this, I can fit in. I'm going to do the start.
00:34:15
Speaker
and get get those starts feeling good in those tiny areas of my life and see where it goes. And then develop that next step from there. And and know it'll explode into something beautiful, but you just got to nourish it, let it grow. and and But you can't define what it's going to be perfectly ahead of time. Yeah, so I agree.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yes, and the more you go with your situation, with the things that happening in your life, with the moment of the year you are, in the moment, in what phase of your life you are, those things can be changing. And we want to learn to adapt them.
Designing Supportive Environments and Routines
00:34:54
Speaker
But several tips I like to focus is make it small.
00:35:00
Speaker
So it's simple. Choose one that is very important for you or that is joyful. You can start with one, then you can add more. But start start with one action.
00:35:11
Speaker
If you are, oh, okay, I'm gonna start with one action in 10 different areas of my life. Still can be too much still. So begin to measure.
00:35:23
Speaker
And if you are failing, lower it and lower it and you make it in a way that it creates consistency. Another thing is have it stuck. Sometimes it's easier to put one of these actions related to something that you already have the habit. So ah every day after I brush my tea I'm gonna do this.
00:35:43
Speaker
Okay, that make it easier because this is about triggers. Habits are about triggers. Things are things that trigger yourself. So we begin to build these habits and there are triggers to follow up for those habits. So habit stack is one, is good. Small, action. a habit stack. Another thing that you can do to prompt yourself is a little bit of design, okay? And the design to make it easier too so you don't forget if you want to read before going to bed, put the book when you do the bed. This is the habit stack is making the bed.
00:36:21
Speaker
That's the habit. The habit stack they will do is put the book on top of the pillow. So when you arrive in the night,
00:36:32
Speaker
You see the book and you choose only to read one sentence. Boom! So you are joining these different tips we're talking about to make everything easier. If not, I don't see the book, I forget.
00:36:47
Speaker
If you want to eat healthier and stop snacking in the night, put the candy behind whatever that you cannot see them, so you don't get triggered to eat them. And yes, some days you say, you're thinking about it, so you're going to look for it. Okay.
00:37:04
Speaker
But if you eliminate it from the perception that you have, it make it easier and you don't have to use that much willpower. So we have all these different actions that we can do. So we can design we can choose a small action and we can do habit stacking this can really really boost the way you begin to create a new habit or eliminate one yeah exactly that's that's fantastic advice and and
00:37:37
Speaker
I really love how we kind of made that a concise focus of this episode and and we have a free guide that we we have that will help people start this kind of habit formation and sort of analyze your own life and and what habits in the different areas of life and we'll go into ah in those in – coming episodes, honestly, about a little more detail and explaining all these areas of your health and all these possible areas you can start to
Next Episode Preview: 80-20 Rule in Habits
00:38:07
Speaker
attack. But we've got a free guide that kind of explains that and and sort of gets you started in these simple ways as well. So that's a link to that is in our in our show notes.
00:38:16
Speaker
Yes. So definitely in where we are. talking about our next episode, we can dig into this. We can go and try to dig a little bit more what kind of actions you can take in different areas of your life and how you can begin to design all these things. So in next episode, we think that it's a good point to go deeper into these actions and to guide to give you this free guide so you can go deeper and
00:38:47
Speaker
You don't have to follow exactly the guide on all the actions. You can choose whatever you want, but we're going to go deeper so you can understand how to begin to do these little tricks, the tips and things that can help you to go farther away. Yeah. The next episode will help you with sort of more ideas and more areas of your life that, that you can get started and and that really do, do have an impact on your health.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yes. And. We're going to talk about that a little bit of the 80-20. What little things you can start doing that give you biggest results. We love to focus on that because needs less energy. It needs less willpower, less discipline because you focus on what gives you more results.
00:39:33
Speaker
So I think it's a beautiful conversation today. and i don't know if you want to share something else. No, i think I think we can wrap up for today. i really appreciate your input, Elliot, and I think it's been a a great conversation.
00:39:48
Speaker
I
Encouragement to Follow and Share Podcast
00:39:49
Speaker
love it, Corey. So as always, if this conversation has brought you some clarity, if you have felt that it brings you a little bit of understanding, if you connected, well, please just follow us. It helps this podcast to be growing and to get to more people. And if you think that this episode is really interesting for someone you know, that they are struggling to start the habits or they are failing with their new resolutions year thing, but just share with them in the episode.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yeah. And in the show notes, if you want to learn more about us, about what we offer, our coaching, the free guide that we talked about, there's a link in the link to all our links in the show notes. You can follow us on social media as well. um So just all the links are in the description to ago are in the description below. So see you guys next episode.
00:40:45
Speaker
See you next episode. Thank you, Corey. Bye-bye. Bye.