Welcome to the final post in this series on Habits!

Wow!

I have heard from many of you that this has been super helpful! Especially during this time of such rapid change and having to adjust our lives so dramatically.

That was my hope! Thanks for all your messages!

Enjoy this final post of habits…Today’s message is appropriatelyaboutBecoming Unstoppable.

Quick Overview:

• Growing Habits to Other Areas
• Trouble Shooting Habits
• Special Bonus: Link to Video on Habit Change…

Remember, Learning Happens When Behavior Changes

If you have made some changes…Congratulations! What have you changed? What have you learned?

Knowing how to change your behavior is nice, but not enough. You have to change your behavior to learn.

So, if you did not see the previous posts, hop on to the web site theintegrativementor.com. Review the previous posts and have fun applying the simple principles to make essential changes in your habits and your life.

That is how you learn, through doing, then becoming, then sharing.

When am I done?

Some changes are easy and happen effortlessly, others seem to be an ongoing struggle. How long do you need to keep applying these principles? If you guessed forever, then you have learned Something important! This is a constant refining process. We are never done, never exonerated, always facing the new day and the next challenge.

Spontaneous Changes

– You may have found that as you change one habit, others follow.

For example, after starting a movement habit, you may have already begun a daily meditation practice or improved your diet. These are lovely and exciting examples of spontaneous change, so keep going and watch with gratitude and wonder.

Research shows that this type of automatic behavior change is prevalent. It is particularly common when you successfully change one key thing (a keystone habit), after that change your whole life starts to change. It’s the positive domino effect. People who just changed exercise also reported significant decreases in perceived stress, emotional distress, smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and an increase in healthy eating, emotional control, maintenance of household chores, attendance to commitments, monitoring of spending and an improvement in study habits. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17032494

Planned Changes: Growing Habits in Other Areas

There may be other areas of your life that you want to change that have not yet spontaneously improved, for those areas, you can apply the methods and tools you have already learned.

Apply What You Just Learned

Just go back and uncover your Identity, your virtues and values, look at what behaviors exemplify this Identity and these virtues. Then WOOP it (wish, outcome, obstacle, plan) and use the method of finding your Golden Behaviors to get the next habit to start or stop. Then KIS/MIF/BIIF or MIHx3/BIUF.

When are You Ready?

Usually when you think you are, but if there is any doubt here is a helpful checklist:

– Do you have another area you would like to start or stop a behavior?

– Have you made a 30-day streak (tracking apps are helpful here: search online for ‘habit tracker’ to find one you like)?

– Has your new behavior been tested when you were busy or in a different environment where external triggers are not there? (Like on vacation)

If you answered yes to most of these, the next question is, “What Next?”

Reminders: I recommend you go back to the first sheet on habits and Identity. They are all on theintegrativementor.com

A few key points:

– Habits Come from Your Identity Out. It’s all about how you see yourself, your practice is a simple way to vote for that Identity.

– DO the pre-work: Name Identity/Name the Virtues or Values this Identity Has/What Behaviors exemplify those virtues/What is the Wish and Outcome/What are likely Obstacles/Then brainstorm and come up with Golden Behavior’s

– Then you are ready. KIS/MIF/BIIF

– Actions are votes, not just another thing on an already too-full to-do list.

Learn How to Trouble Shoot Your Habits

– “Things were going great, now they are not. What do I do?”

This is typical when something upsets your routine. This can happen even if it is a good thing, like a vacation or when it’s a personal challenge like an injury or when life gets too full.

Setbacks are so common you can call them healthy, so don’t beat yourself up over them, just jump back in.

Tips to Get Back in Rhythm:

– Review Your Identity/Virtues/Values/WOOP and Golden Behaviors

– If needed, choose a new Golden Behavior and Prompt or re-Start with your previous one.

– Start as small as you need to: Set a new Floor and Ceiling

– Focus on your Prompts and Floor First.

– Here is a reminder of the basics, but go back and review previous posts for details. KIS: Keep it simple (one thing, floor/ceiling, reliable prompt), MIF: Make It Fun (link, laugh, love), BIIF: Bake It In Forever (Record, Review, Remember).

Track Your Progress and Review it weekly and adjust as needed for your success.

As we grow and evolve, it is helpful to also review our identities and our why’ s/reasons for making changes. I recommend doing Something like this monthly and a comprehensive review yearly.

“My life changed, it’s a good thing, but it shifted my priorities. Should I stay with my habit or change to a new one?”

On our way to becoming unstoppable, we may need to revisit our priorities. This is like a tune-up. I recommend doing this at least every year. In the beginning, you may want to visit your habits every three to six months.

This is where we can work with the T’s, C’s and the Mountaintop Breeze

First, Both Spread and Slide is Normal

– Spreading what you learned into other areas of your life is normal.

– Sliding or reverting back to old behavior is also normal.

For Slide: Re-Commit and Re-Set/ Re-Take/ Keep Going/ Lower Floor (if needed)/ Set New Prompt if needed /or troubleshoot as below.

For Something Else —> Trouble Shoot

The T’s

Tiny: Does it need to be smaller, lower my floor?

Trigger: Build in a Better Prompt?

Training: Do I need a new Skills/Tools?

Team: Do I need more support?

The C’s

Competition: Do I do best when I have an external

Challenge? A race or friendly competition?

Cause: Do I need to be doing it for someone or something else in Service (like a cause, a walk for ‘Make a Wish Foundation,’ ‘Breast Cancer Research,’ etc.)?

Courage —> Consistency: Is it just being able to see yourself as your Superhero self more consistently?

Commitment: Is it just Remembering? Do I need to post simple reminders or build in a better prompt?

Conflict: Did Something new and unexpected enter? Is there a part of me that needs more profound healing first? Do I need to revisit the Mountaintop?

The Mountaintop Breeze

Did Something New Enter?

Did I start with Something that is in conflict with another goal or value?

Is that other thing more important?

Do I need to return to the Mountaintop, or do I just need to Realign?

Example: Here is a story from one of my clients.

Outcome: I want to have more Energy. The reason why is I want to play with my kids.

Action: The action I am going to take is daily movement.

My Identity is to think of myself as an Athlete.

One Action: I want to start with doing daily movement.

Floor and Ceiling: My floor will be dancing in my room for 1 minute, my ceiling will be either running in place for 4 one-minute sprints or going for a 20-minute jog walk.

Time and Place: First thing in the morning after waking, going to the bathroom, and drinking some water.

Worked great for 6 weeks now bored…what might help?

We took a look, at the T’s and C’s

Is it one of the 4 T’s? Tiny, Trigger, Training, Team.

Is of the 4C’s? Competition, Cause, Courage, Conflict

From my client: “For me, as I look at this list, I think

I need two things: a little training and adding competition.”

Check back 2 weeks: I got a trainer for my workouts, and I’m now training for a race.

Check-in at 4 weeks: I am back at it. My energy level is better than ever (I have not felt this good in 20 years). Also, with this newly added competition, I have changed my diet, and I am getting better sleep. I have tons of energy to play with my kids now and my mood is so much better!

As Promised

Bonus Video: Get out some paper and a pen and get ready to jump in!

Enjoy!

To Your Health,

Ben

PS I always enjoy your emails and when you Share Your Successes or Struggles!

Success Story:

One of Our Readers made a few simple movement changes and then started changing what they eat.

Their goal was to have more energy and to be more loving to themselves.

They recently let me know that they not only have more energy and are feeling more loving towards themselves, they also lost 6 inches from their waist and 40 pounds!

Way to Go!