As you know from the Mental Strength and Peak Performance training manual (1) and the Mental Strength and Brain Chemistry (2) program …
A habit can launch you towards your goals!
Good habits can ignite you towards your athletic, career, and life goals like a rocket-ship, keeping you from ‘thinking too much’.
Up at 6:00, do your morning routine, strategize and plan your day and ensure it fits with your week, your month and year. Your actions are in line with your plan and you are ready to attack the day.
And as productivity-guru Brian Tracy says, be sure to “Eat that Frog” first thing in the a.m. by doing the hardest, most dreadful thing first and get it over with — making this the habit. Your day, and your life, will be smooth sailing.
But habits can also go the other way, too
In fact, researchers with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism did a fascinating study with mice. (3)
Gaining tasty treats, the mice were taught to press levers in response to cues, until a habit was created. Then the scientists switched the reward and awarded the mice with either poisoned pellets that made them terribly sick, or electrified the floor so when they walked toward their food, they got a shock.(3)
Once the mice found that the pellets and the floor were “booby-trapped” they avoided them.
But when the mice saw their old cues they forgot about the traps and fell into their old habits. Thereby eating the poisoned pellets and getting shocked because their old habit was so ingrained.(3)
Whether it’s in your sports, business or normal life, it’s not hard to find parallels.
What are some common bad habits?
Some people might stop at Starbucks once a month for a Frappuccino, containing a whopping 73 grams of sugar.(4)
After all, the purpose of each Starbucks is to sell the most coffee drinks as possible at the highest price point the market will allow. They set up cues as well.
From the delicious aromas upon entering, the family style atmosphere, the familiar cozy colors and how the cup feels in your hand. Each cue is meant to get us coming in once or twice a day, rather than once a month. Of course, going to Starbucks every day isn’t necessarily a bad habit, far from it. But drinking 73 grams of sugar each day may not be in line with your highest priority goals.
So what do we do with this? Now that we know habits can go both ways?
Start simply and identify some of your Law of 80/20 habits. What would you like to have as a good habit, ones that move you closer to your goals? What habit would you most like to replace, the one that is not in line with your ideal situation?
Simply being aware of them is the first step.
In the coming months we will uncover some amazing strategies that you can use to attach a rocket ship to your hip and replace negative habits.
And as always, if you need anything, we are happy to help!
References
- Mental Strength and Peak Performance training manual: https://www.mentalstrength.com/mental-strength-and-peak-performance-training-manual/
- Mental Strength and Brain Chemistry featuring Dr. Brittany Rummel who has a Ph.D in Psychology with an Emphasis in Cognition and a Masters and Bachelors in biochemistry: https://www.mentalstrength.com/mental-strength-and-brain-chemistry/
- The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and business by Charles Duhigg
- Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino: https://www.starbucks.com/menu/product/427/iced
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