I'm someone who really believes in the power of habit.

And I know many of you feel the same way.

One of my favorite quotes actually is by Aristotle when he said that we are what we repeatedly do...Excellence then is not an act, but a habit so today.

That's what we're gonna delve into how to create new healthy habits, and how to break old ones.

Cue-Routine-Reward. This is the simple formula that was outlined in Charles Duhigg best-selling book: The Power of Habit.

Now let me break it down a little bit.

The cue is the part that triggers the response so for example hearing your phone vibrate would be a cue; the routine is the response part.

Usually the thing we perform on autopilot; in this case, that would be checking our phone.

And the reward is what gives you those feel good feelings; in this case it might be distraction from work or seeing that someone commented or liked your most recent post.

Cue-Routine-Reward. Pretty simple formula.

Establish a cue.

So here's the thing, if you want to establish an entirely new habit, you need to come up with a cue first.

Otherwise you're not gonna know when to act.

And even when you do act , it changes so much from day to day that the habits don't tend to stick.

So it's not enough to say I want to drink more water.

You have to come up with a cue first which in this case could be putting a cup of water out on the desk in front of you where you're working.

That way every time you see it, It's a reminder to pick up that cup and start sipping.

Establishing a cue is critical to creating new habits.

Create a routine.

Eventually the routine part is going to be performed on autopilot.

But in the beginning you are gonna have to work for it a little bit.

So here's a tip that might help. Remember that our brains are always trying to save energy.

So if you're someone who wants to pick up the new habit of going for a run every morning

It can really help if the night before you set out your clothes and your shoes

Not only does it act as a cue when you see it

But it also saves you those two minutes in the morning if you're someone who also wants to decrease the amount of junk food that

You eat it can help then if you have other more wholesome snack choices

Readily on-hand like some pre-cut up fruit or some pre-made wholesome cookies

Decreasing the effort required to take action can really help that new habit stick

Before you even try setting up a new habit though, you need to know why you're doing it in other words

What is your why power?

I think a lot of the times people don't pick up new habits or change old ones because the reward just isn't satisfying enough so

Identify a realistic and worthy reward whether it's an endorphin rush after

Exercising or improved mental concentration after you've had a midday snack

Or a positive and happy feeling that you get after writing in your gratitude journal

Eventually you're gonna start to crave this reward as soon as you see the cue

And that's how you know the habits are starting to stick

So we've chatted now about creating new habits, but what about breaking the old routines that we could do without well

There's a well-developed strategy that might help

And it's really simple all you want to do is take the cue and the reward and keep those the same

But change the routine, so let's say for example

You're someone who has a little bit of a habit of reaching for candy or chocolate after lunch every single day

And you want to break that habit the cue in this case is that mid-afternoon hunger

and the reward might be both the sweet taste as well as

Kind of that midday energy boost you get from it so all you want to do is change the routine so instead of reaching for

Chocolate you might instead reach for some apple slices that you've dipped into nut butter. It's sweet

It's filling and it's rewarding, so you don't want to resist the craving you just want to redirect it

And sure it's not gonna be an easy substitute at first

but with repetition it will become a habit and a snack choice that you do start to crave

The last of Charles Duhigg points that I really want to mention in this video are what he calls Keystone habits

These are the habits that if adopted or changed kind of create a domino effect in other areas of our lives

For example for some people the habit of waking up early can have other positive effects on other habits

It can mean enjoying breakfast which might then mean that they're gonna have a lesser tendency to reach for unhealthy

convenient foods later in the day it might also give them the time to

Work on their most important tasks before noon which then increases their productivity and feeling of accomplishment

Other Keystone habits might be things like exercising or writing in a gratitude journal

You can see then how these Keystone habits go on to influence a wider sphere of habits it allows for small wins

That gives us more courage and motivation to pick up other healthy habits as well

Now the tips I've shared with you in this video

Just scratch the surface when it comes to all of the amazing tips that can be found in the book the power of habit

By Charles Duhigg. It's a book

I listened to three years ago, and I am still reaping the benefits of it today

So I highly recommend it as usual the amazing folks over at audible have gone ahead and partnered with us on this video

Which means that we can offer you the book or any other book of your choosing as well as a 30-day membership

free of charge if you visit the link in the description box below or visit audible.com/pickuplines

For now I just want to emphasize

Focus on changing only one habit at a time

And if you need it to have a bit more of an impact on your life

You can target those Keystone habits take out a pen and paper and write down what you think the cue

Routine and reward loop are for the given habit because if you can identify those. It's more likely that it's gonna stick now

Now I'm curious to know what is this habit that you're looking to add or to change?

Let me know by sharing in the comments below if you enjoyed this video it always shows a lot of love and support if you

Could give it a thumbs up and thanks a lot for watching

Pick Up Limes signing off. We'll see you in the next video