Building Healthy Habits

You have habits now, and your results (along any potential access: finances, health, deadlift) are the summation of your habits. One isolated act by itself does not effect excellence, but one action as part of a years of actions does.

Continuing your habits is easy. It requires no real energy to continue your habits. Like momentum, it requires energy to change the trajectory of your life. You have to intentionally work to stop or create a habit, and this isn’t easy.

Andrew shares the characteristics of good habits (from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits) that are likely to succeed: obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. What you’re doing by following these is increasing the your chance of success in following through.

For example, if you’re naturally a morning person, trying to start a lifting routine at 10pm at night doesn’t make sense. Set up a habit that aligns with your natural proclivities. This doesn’t mean it will be easy, but it will be easier.

You’ll have to have some discipline and fake it before it’s easy. It’s discipline & motivation that leads to your goal achievement. Eventually, your identity should change (“I’m a lifter” or “I’m a meal-prepper”).

The longer you follow a habit, the easier it is to follow, the less energy it takes to follow it. When the habits defines you, it is fairly easy to continue.

Some examples may help. Andrew replaced a high calorie snack of nuts and beer after work with yogurt, blueberries, and walnuts. A snack of likely near 1000 calories has been reduced to 350 calories, and Andrew feels better with the new habit.

Matt does something physical every single day, even if it is simply a walk. By doing this, he knows that a certain time of day is the time for physical activity.