Bite Sized Habits Newsflash - Part 3 Creating Rewarding Habits

“The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.”

Kelly McGonigal​

Something to read

The Scientific Guide to Motivation is an invaluable compendium of the habit writer James Clear's best blogs on how to get motivated and importantly stay motivated.

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Something to watch / listen to

I thought I'd share another fun chat with behaviour change specialist Shahroo Izari on why exercise is overrated as a weight-loss tool and underrated as a lifestyle choice.

Is there a burning behaviour change/healthy habit topic you'd like for us to unpick? I'd love to hear from you simply hit reply now or comment in the video and we will do our best to support you.

Pop on the kettle, or put your trainers on for a walk. I hope enjoy this discussion on "Why we need to change how we think about exercise and weight loss" (30 mins).

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Bite Sized Habit of the week

Part 3 - Creating rewarding habits​

Based on last weeks newsletter you may have tried to create a rewarding feeling by celebrating your Bite-Sized Habits immediately after you performed them. If you struggled at this don’t be hard on yourself rewarding yourself/celebrating your Bite-Sized Habits doesn’t come easily to everyone and in fact, some people feel really awkward about it. Below are some key ways that Prof B.J Fogg found can help you create this feel-good factor that can Fastrack your habit formation.

Why should I congratulate myself for doing just 50 steps? Or meditating for 1 minute or having 1 less sugar in my tea?

• Dopamine is key to making habits stick
• It might not feel comfortable but it’s a skill to be practised
• If you choose not to celebrate you choose to make it harder to form habits and making change stick is already hard
• Your ability to ignore self-criticism and celebrate your success will positively ripple out into other areas of your life
• Celebrating a win no matter how small will lead to faster habit formation If you’re finding it hard to celebrate

If you’re finding it hard to celebrate...

• Connect with your why ask yourself why is it important for me to form this goal?
• Lower your expectations. Change is hard but it’s even harder if your looking down your nose at it! What’s the reason we clap and celebrate when a baby takes its first steps? it’s not because she earned it or did it perfectly or better than other babies but because we know the first steps lead to a lifetime skill of walking running etc.
• Believe you can succeed at behaviour change so recruit your children/spouse to celebrate with you, do a physical movement/power pose, imagine you are celebrating someone else - someone you really care about
• Try a celebration blitz - find the spot that least tidy in your office or home, set a 3-minute timer, every time you tidy a thing away celebrate, at the end of the timer bask in the feeling you have created

The key thing to remember is you change best when you feel good.

If you want to kick start your habit changes, why not sign up for the FREE Small Changes, Big Results masterclass! Click here to access it now: FREE Habits Masterclass