Do you find yourself reaching for junk food, scrolling through Instagram or watching too much TV? If so, these are all automatic habits that you have created with consistent work.
Habits are developed through consistency and craving a reward. We often find ourselves wishing that we could create these positive habits but we often fall back to the automatic ones we have developed.
All habits consist of a CUE, a ROUTINE and a REWARD.
How do you change a habit? You change the routine.
How do develop a habit? You start to crave the reward.
If you want to exercise more the reward could be a sense of accomplishment, the feeling afterwards (endorphins) or the resulting physical change in your body. A number of studies have shown that the cue (ex/lacing up shoes after breakfast) and the reward (ex/feeling good with an endorphin rush) aren’t enough to maintain a habit. When your brain starts to expect and crave the reward then it becomes automatic. Our brains want to satisfy the craving so we must find a reward that helps create that craving.
The trick is to find a the reward that helps you create a habit that will last a lifetime and keep you healthy in body and mind.