When something is a habit, you don’t need to think about what you are doing. You wake up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on deodorant, put on your clothes, go to work. They are subconscious behaviors. Habits can form in as little as 21 days – both good habits as well as bad. In order to control your success, you will need to not only change the way you think, but your actions must match your ambitions. This can be said from health and fitness all the way to business and your career.
It’s all in your head
Subconscious behaviors are created through repetition. Constantly going through a motion or activity makes it second nature. But, it all starts with a thought. Why are you changing a behavior? What is the desired result? Everything we do is triggered and acted upon by a stimulus in our brain. If we can change that stimulus we can change the process.
When you are trying to lose weight, you make changes and create habits to put you in a position of success. It could be something as simple as waking up at 5am to do fasted cardio. At first, when your alarm goes off, you want to toss it across the room and stay in bed. But, you drag your tired butt out of bed and get it done. As time passes, you’re awake and ready to roll at 5am because it has become a routine and a subconscious behavior.
In order to control your success and control your outcomes, you need to control what’s between your ears. We are creatures of habit and if we can’t subconsciously do something, we resist change if it doesn’t come naturally. Unfortunately, you can only grow as a person when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations. Uncomfortable situations are what force you to either act or give up. Obviously, one leads you down the path to success and growth while the other leads to failure.
90% of your behavior is routine-based and subconscious. To add something new, you need to dedicate time to creating a routine. Schedule your workouts. Make one day each week a time where you meal prep. Do these things religiously and they will become second nature and a habit. Then, you will be doing them without even thinking about it or forcing yourself to complete a task. Take this concept and look at all of the areas in your life you would like to improve and make the change today. Stay dedicated and make sure your actions match your ambition. Nothing in life worth having comes easy. Put in the time. Put in the work. No one said it would be easy, but it will be worth it.