March 12 Weekly Challenge: Building Better Habits
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themedalist wrote: »airborneclarkey wrote: »This thread is fantastic
Welcome to our group, @airborneclarkey! We are glad you have joined us!
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I am trying to retweak my eating habits at night I tend to over eat when the boyfriend goes to work, he works night shifts 4 on 4 off. Tonight I went to Zumba right after work didn't even give myself time to fall into the couch right after work.!!! You all are doing wonderful!!!!
Fantastic!! Yes!1 -
This week I have been struggling with seasonal allergies. Still have made it a priority to follow my habits and I feel very accomplished. It is hard to go on with a routine when we are sick. I just wanted to do something different and not allow myself to just be in bed all day. Did all my tiny habits, actively cleaned my home, did my puzzle and rested. Of course allergies is nothing compared to the flu or some other ailment but I am super dramatic, and make a big thing our of nothing ( another bad habit I am trying to break).
Well done everyone. I am so proud of this group!4 -
I'm having a great/horrible week. I'm doing well overall in my life, but on tracking and keeping up with MFP groups, I've fallen short. I completely forgot about the Tiny Habits on Saturday cause I spend most of the day working outside. I spent Sunday helping my parents put a truck load of stuff in storage. Monday I was in horrible pain in my left shin. I'm not sure if it was a shin splint or not because it felt more like a cramp and then left me feeling like I'd been whacked in that leg all day.
I like reading how well everyone is doing and the habits you are working on. They give me ideas on some I can work on for myself.
@nebslp I love that you have a special room! I've often thought of making one for myself out of the "guest" room in our house. It's more of a storeroom. This past Saturday, I moved out a few of my parents' things that were taking up space, so there is more room in there now for me to work with. I'd like to repaint it or add some decor. I need to change the curtains and the blinds and organize it much better. Then perhaps I, too, can have a special room where I can go and feel happy.4 -
MmamabearR wrote: »I'm having a great/horrible week. I'm doing well overall in my life, but on tracking and keeping up with MFP groups, I've fallen short. I completely forgot about the Tiny Habits on Saturday cause I spend most of the day working outside. I spent Sunday helping my parents put a truck load of stuff in storage. Monday I was in horrible pain in my left shin. I'm not sure if it was a shin splint or not because it felt more like a cramp and then left me feeling like I'd been whacked in that leg all day.
I like reading how well everyone is doing and the habits you are working on. They give me ideas on some I can work on for myself.
@nebslp I love that you have a special room! I've often thought of making one for myself out of the "guest" room in our house. It's more of a storeroom. This past Saturday, I moved out a few of my parents' things that were taking up space, so there is more room in there now for me to work with. I'd like to repaint it or add some decor. I need to change the curtains and the blinds and organize it much better. Then perhaps I, too, can have a special room where I can go and feel happy.
@MmamabearR, I certainly understand how our lives can throw us curve balls that unravel our best plans. As it turns out, our challenge next week would also lend itself well to the Tiny Habits structure. If you or anyone else if interested in that, the deadline to signup is this Saturday March 17.
Just a cautionary note — the info packet you will get from the Tiny Habits program is sometimes getting routed to junk/spam folders, so if you don’t see it in your inbox, look for it there.
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So I dont think I did a single habit on my list today. I was out most of the day, woke up late and just couldn't be bothered this morning. I'm not going to berate myself. That will do no good and just upset me. I will start again tomorrow. I'll have to find ways to work around when things like this happen.5
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HGSmith0920 wrote: »So I dont think I did a single habit on my list today. I was out most of the day, woke up late and just couldn't be bothered this morning. I'm not going to berate myself. That will do no good and just upset me. I will start again tomorrow. I'll have to find ways to work around when things like this happen.
Don’t be down on yourself hon! If they were things that came easily to us, we wouldn’t need this challenge, right? Life happens and everyday is a brand new start!
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I really enjoyed the TedTalk Fogg shared for extra credit today. I guess I've been over thinking the rewards. Awesome!2
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Your Environment Matters
I mentioned earlier the importance of environment in impacting habits, but I wanted to reiterate that point. Our habits are extremely contextual and dependent on the environment we are in. Knowing this, we should look for ways to structure our environment to make it easier to do good habits and harder to do the habits that set us back.
Massachusetts General Hospital is a great example of this. The nutrition services department there wanted to see if they could nudge people to make healthier cafeteria choices simply by making it easier for them to select a better option. Specifically, they wanted to reduce soda consumption and encourage people to drink more water when they ate at the hospital cafeteria.
Before making any changes, the only place water was available in the cafeteria was in one small refrigerator on the side of the room. Not a well traveled area. Most of the drink options available to people were in two large refrigerators right next to the two cashiers in the check out area. So you can imagine that most people selected their drink options from those two large refrigerators where water wasn’t available.
Nutrition services then made a few changes. They kept the soda option, but placed water in all the refrigerators and also in several other key areas in the cafeteria. The result? Over the next six months, sales of water increased by 26% and sales of soda decreased by 11%.
The take-home message is that we make choices based on what is presented to us, what’s convenient, and what’s easily available, and not necessarily based on our underlying goals. We see this in grocery stores too. The most profitable items and those the store wants to promote are put at eye level, where they are harder to miss.
I saw the impact of environment on my habits just this week. Like @77tes, I am trying to drink water the first thing in the morning before I have a cup of coffee. Most of the year I’m pretty good about sticking with this habit, but I noticed that it really falls off in the wintertime. And thanks to our challenge this week, I now know why. I don’t like extremely cold water and the water coming out of my tap from my well during the winter is very cold. Sometimes I run the faucet a little to warm up the water, but even that isn’t a great option because I don’t like to waste water. The net result is that I haven’t been drinking a lot of water. Now, having traced through this, I realize there’s an easy solution: I put a pitcher of water on the countertop and now the water is kept at room temperature. I’m drinking a lot more water.
BJ Fogg apparently likes popcorn but felt he was eating too much of it (how is that even possible?). So he put the popcorn container on a top shelf in his garage. Still available if he really wants popcorn, but much harder to access. And he’s eating less popcorn.
Please spend some time looking at your environment both at home and at work as well as other places you go. See if you can change things up a bit to make it easier to do the habits you want to adopt and harder to do the habits you want to avoid.
Convenience is a huge factor in the habits we develop.
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I really enjoyed the TedTalk Fogg shared for extra credit today. I guess I've been over thinking the rewards. Awesome!
Thank you for mentioning this video, @77tes. I had completely skipped over his terrific talk.
Yes, rewards don’t have to be extensive. A simple enthusiastic shout-out will do. But rewards are an integral part of the habit forming process.
Here’s the video:
https://youtu.be/AdKUJxjn-R8
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Great point about environment, @themedalist ! My sneakers are right beside my bed, so they are ready to go when I wake up. I probably should put my poetry book somewhere close to where I finish with taking out the dogs because that habit is hard for me to feel automatic with. That may be because I have the book by my bed, but I finish with the dogs in the living room.2
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I agree. After I pour coffee, I read a verse out of the Bible. Then after I towel dry my hair, I sit in my oak rocker and say a morning prayer. I found it felt out of my way trying to figure out where my Bible is each time I pour coffee so moved it today next to my "prayer chair" and i think it will all kind of tie in together now.2
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I was having a similar problem. After I lay down I was thinking about something I was grateful for BUT if I was tired I realized I would then wake up and not know if I had done my gratitude. Now I'm going to move the behavior and attach it to brushing my teeth, a couple of minutes when I have time to reflect.1
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A few final thoughts as we wrap up our Building Better Habits challenge. I hope this week’s challenge has been helpful to you. In fact, of the 35 challenges that I’ve written since I became group moderator in May 2017, this is the challenge that I want to be most helpful to you in your daily life. Understanding the components of habits and how they can be used to create new or better habits gives us a big step up in achieving our goals. We don’t have to rely on fleeting motivation or willpower. We can make changes in our lives using research-backed strategies that shift the odds in our favor that these new habits will take root and become permanent.
It doesn’t mean that building new habits is easy. It’s not. It takes time, focus, practice, and repetition. But if we commit to that process, we can make almost any change in our lives.
I have especially enjoyed hearing how you are taking these concepts and applying them to your daily life. Thank you for sharing your stories as to how you’re walking more, reading more scripture and more poetry, meditating more, finding some quiet space in the special room of your house, drinking more coffee and water, finding gratitude, and making more time for personal care and wellness. It’s always hard for group moderators and bloggers to know “who’s out there”. When you take the time to post your comments and stories, it inspires me to keep taking the time to research and write challenges like these.
If this week has piqued your interest in habits and you want to learn more, Charles Duhigg’s book, “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business”, is very readable and entertaining. Read it and you may never shop at Target again.
We will be revisiting habits again in May’s Sit Less Boot Camp, and we will be repeating this weekly challenge later this fall.
Our next challenge also has a habits twist: we will be focusing on making a couple of small changes to our eating habits. I don’t know a single person who has lost weight and maintained that weight loss without making a bunch of small changes and tweaks to their eating habits. Let’s identify one or two changes to make and then share the tweaks and habit shifts that have worked for us. Look for that new challenge soon, it will be posted on Sunday evening.
I have really enjoyed this week!
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Great post! I am happy this week was about habits. The input from everyone is amazing. Hard work will pay off in the end. We just need to take the first step.
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@themedalist I want to thank you so much for taking over this thread. I found it last year and wasn't very involved. Now it makes a huge impact on my life. I enjoy looking at the new challenges outlined and I love logging on Monday morning and seeing all the effort and research that you put into each week. I have learned so much from you and from all the other people in this group. It means so much that there is a group of people on this board who focus not only on weight management but also on overall well-being. So thank you for taking over and spreading joy and knowledge with me!
Also, I just placed a hold on that book at the library! Lol.4 -
@HGSmith0920, I also placed a hold on Duhigg's book. I hadn't thought of doing that until you mentioned it. I'm number 60 on the waitlist, so maybe it will be available by the Sit Less Boot Camp in May, lol.
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I’m at my daughter’s until tomorrow but have to celebrate a little by reporting tat even though I’ve been gone since Thursday, I’ve remembered my vitamin every day when I made coffee. I think this habit is going to stick. I haven’t been able to do the other 2 tiny habits because I’m not home, but will get back to those on Monday. I have lots of resources to catch up on, too:)
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