The power of habits matter

Living in Melbourne for the last two years has meant being subjected to uncertainty and for me, losing a sense of purpose. What I mean by this is, that I went from being a “busy” person who ran a successful business and enjoyed socializing, to being confined to my home and my postcode.

I found myself starting to fall into the habits of waking up late and spending some days feeling like I had accomplished nothing.

And this got me thinking – the power that habits can have over our lives.

Habits are subconscious patterns of behaviour that we repeat regularly, sometimes with no real awareness of them. How a habit effects your life is really determined by a few factors.

How often the habit is repeated

If the impact is positive or negatively affecting a persons life

What the underlying triggers of a habit are

Having awareness of the habit and the desire to change it

Once I became aware of the habits I was beginning to form, I realized that they were not making me feel good and were not leading to outcomes I wanted.

After working with hundreds of people over the years and quite a few through lock-downs, I began to understand that there was unique opportunity in these circumstances.

I will be honest, I get really annoyed with the rubbish advertising and marketing used on people in regard to weight loss and improving their overall appearance. It’s one of the reasons I started studying how human behaviour can be influenced.

I’ve been mentored by some pretty successful ecommerce and marketing genius’ in my career and one of the first things I was taught was to Identify a persons point of pain (aka vulnerability) and offer a solution.

And this is the premise for how all social media and main stream media operate.

Our dissatisfaction with ourselves, often perpetuated by the very same industry that’s offering you the solution, is an underlying driving force for how we make decisions and form habits.

Millions of dollars are spent every year by companies to figure out the best way to create a customer.

Anyway, I digress.

This whole concept felt kind of out of alignment with who I am and I’ve known for a long time that I could make a lot of money offering gimmicky weight loss and exercise programs. Just look at the fitness industry – they raked in 3 billion dollars in 2019. If you can be convinced that you will be able to transform your whole body and by extension life, in just 6 weeks, then you are gullible or lazy.

I’ve been approached by countless companies asking me to sell their products. This could be by becoming an ambassador, sales rep or even offered free products in exchange for posts. Most of the time I turn them down, as I only offer my clients products I believe in and often times don’t make any profit from.

I always reference athletes when I try to explain why short term changes don’t actually work. A gold medalist doesn’t just show up for 6 weeks of hard work and clean eating. The truth is, metabolically you will see minimal differences in such a short amount of time. Athletes – or anyone with a good baseline of fitness – take years to develop and perfect their bodies and health.

And you know what that discipline comes down to?

That’s right, habits.

Anyone who is serious about making lasting changes has a clear understanding of their values and beliefs. They know who they are, what their personality and basic biological function looks like – I guarantee most people struggle with this part of my programs.

Sitting down and considering what you truly value and believe is confronting and often deeply rooted in our experiences. We form our opinions and shape who are without really stopping to think about the where and the why of how it came to be.

When we see a social media ad for a weight loss shake, coupled with a super toned fitness influencer, what is it about that concept that drives you to want it too? Removing the surface level idea of a quick solution to lose a few covid- kilos, is it the dissatisfaction with your own body and wanting to look more sexy, that’s underlying? But go a little deeper and that unconscious feeling of dissatisfaction must’ve started somewhere… why is it important to look different? And so we keep unpacking this seemingly basic desire to buy a product.

By doing this, you have the power to then unlock all the habits – and that can include how you think too – and start to make real changes to your life.

Letting go of this idea of being able to change your life quickly.

It starts with the decision to change and then the rest is about commitment and showing up, day after day.

I say this with some authority, as I have put myself through countless programs and worked with many great mentors over the years. But most importantly, I have listened to lots of people’s stories and noticed the pattern is always the same.

People want to feel valued, loved and accepted.

I know I go against every marketing rule in the book, but I just can’t do the whole “selling the dream” BS anymore. Losing weight, improving your health (physical and mental), releasing fears, overcoming the past… it all relies on the same thing – YOU.

At the end of the day, no shake or pill or medication or coach can do the work for you. It takes time and hard work.

I am straight up with people about the work I do with them. It’s not a shortcut. But once you wake up and realise you have everything you need inside you, that’s ridiculously empowering.

So, how did I get through the lockdowns?

I stuck to my regular routine. I would put on a little bit of make-up in the mornings, eat my breakfast and had scheduled things in through-out my day. It could be as simple as doing the dishes or walking the dogs. These small habits gave me purpose.

I also make a point of exercising everyday and sticking to my nourishing food diet.

Change takes time and sometimes its just that 1% upward that you achieve, but to reference the compound effect, that 1% has been the difference between world records being broken.