Decide who you want to be

According to Rich LaFountain¹, a scientist fascinated by the science behind building diverse habits for lifelong health and wellness, the first step in creating rock-solid habits is to embrace your aspirational identity. You have to start by envisioning the best version of yourself. And because your interests and habits reflect your personal identity, who you want to be will influence the actions you take in your daily life. 

For example, if you want to be a marathon runner and strongly identify with that persona, you’ll likely feel compelled to run on a regular basis because that is what marathon runners do. 

DoDay Founder Michael Behrakis has been through this exact process. 

“I was running a café, unfit, overweight, smoking heavily, and one day I just realised this is not who I want to be. I want to be a guy that attracts and motivates people. So, I started behaving like the guy I wanted to be and getting rid of the behaviours that didn’t align with that person,” says Michael. 

Small changes lead to big results

Small, specific, attainable habits have immediate rewards and, when done consistently, lead to long-term habit formation. For example, if your goal is to walk for an hour a day, start by getting in a 10-15 minute walk every day for a couple of weeks. Then add 15 minutes to each walk over time, and before you know it, walking for an hour a day will be your new habit. 

Set cues and create rewards

To turn healthy behaviours into habits, you have to train your brain to establish strong neural patterns for that habit. In short, your brain needs a cue for the behaviour, the action of doing that behaviour and a reward for the behaviour implemented over and over again. The cue might be putting a notification in your diary for a 15-minute walk around the block during the day. The reward might be a coffee when you get back. In fact, if you already have an enjoyable habit, like an afternoon coffee, linking your walk to that reward can help the new habit to take hold because the coffee serves as a reward for doing the walk and reinforces the new activity habit. 

“Getting rid of habits is hard,” says Michael. “But making new habits is easy.” 

“When I gave up smoking, I didn’t focus on giving up smoking. I filled my life with other activities and habits that didn’t align with smoking and rewarded the new behaviour. Instead of going out for a smoke, I would sit down and read for 10 minutes. Reading was something that I wanted to do more of and enjoyed but never had time to do.” 

When working with clients on Nutrition Coaching, Personal Programming or Personal Training, I get them to set up simple cues for the new habits we’re trying to form. It can be as simple as setting an alarm on their phone to go to bed on time or sending their nutrition tracking to me for accountability. 

Consistency and repetition are key

Missing a day won’t derail a habit. But if you miss a week or more, the habit is broken. This is where a coach can help when trying to form new habits. They help keep you on track and accountable to ensure that new habit takes hold, whether it be turning up to the gym regularly or hitting a daily protein target. 

The great news is once that new habit is formed, and it will be quite resilient and much easier to maintain. This is why all DoDay programs have a 12-week minimum commitment. We want to set you up for long-term success. 

Need help forming healthy habits? Contact Michael.   

¹ Rich LaFountain 2023, How to Build, Stack, and Integrate Healthy Habits.