Happy Monday team!

A few weeks ago when we were discussing books, a brief mention was made about the book Atomic Hanits by James Clear. I follow him on social media, and recently came across an interesting graphic that I wanted to share. For those interested, it lays out the basic principle of his ideas into what he calls “The Habit Loop,” which consists of four pillars: Cue, Craving, Response, and Reward. If you’re like me and trying to incorporate some new habits or stop some others (I’m trying to do both), you might find this helpful.
I thought we could take a look at each of the pillars each day this week. The first pillar is the Cue. If you want to start a new habit, make it OBVIOUS: write it down, pack your gym bag and leave it by the door, leave the journal and pen near your bed, or set a list of reasonable and doable intentions. To stop a bad habit, write down the benefits of avoiding that habit and make it unattractive. Write down what you get and don’t get from continuing the bad habit.
I hope you find this interesting, and if so, am interested in hearing your comments.

Thank you for posting the infographic summarizing the four key elements of The Habit Loop, @nancyinmiami!

Here are some tricks I’ve tried with varying levels of success:

For The 3 Layers of Behavior Change, I ask myself what kind of person I want to be, which aligns with Clear’s recommendation of focusing on “identity based habits instead of outcome based habits,” I think.

My “make it obvious” cue is to enter every daily task directly on my phone calendar. I used to make To Do lists for everything but then I read about making one huge list of everything that needs to be done and prioritizing the tasks on the calendar. If a task isn’t completed by the end of that day, find a new slot for it. Look at the patterns and adjust as needed. I’m still refining this system but it’s getting better,

I also hang my purse, sun hats, and two tote bags on hooks in the closet near our back mudroom. One bag holds my rowing gear (e.g., sunscreen, waterproof case, tools for the boat, sunglasses lanyard, etc.) and the other is for soccer (e.g., ball pump, shin guards). So, I just need to put on the right shoes, fill my water bottle, grab my bag, and go —

For habit stacking, I’ve found that I’m more likely to get an errand done once I’m already in the car or walking to/from something I enjoy. So, I have a shopping bag hanging in my laundry area where I put things that need to go to the dry cleaners, then I put the bag near the door on my rowing day, or the day once a month when I walk to the local library for my book club. I enter the ‘stacked task’ in my phone calendar for the appropriate time slot (after rowing practice or before book club). I call my mother on the drive back from rowing practice to remind her to take her morning medication, too.

The challenging behavior for me is environment design for specific tasks. Some things work well, such as one book by my bedside and the ‘grab and go’ bags described above, but other habits have eluded me. For example, I’ve been trying to build a habit of sending more greeting cards to family and friends. So, I put an attractive container with cards on a small desk in my bedroom with the intention of writing one card before bedtime and mailing it when I do my errands (see above). I thought this would work especially well as an opportunity to reflect with gratitude at the end of each day. This has NOT worked! There are other examples but this is already quite a long post so I’ll just try to improve by 1 percent today and see where it takes me! 😆

The past week or so has been stressful. And it is making itself known in my diet. My boys got new AFOs (ankle/foot orthotics) and they absolutely hate them. So lots of crying and resisting. And stress for all of us. And emotions in general. I think this is pretty much the last hope to get them walking independently. On top of that, naps seem to be disappearing for at least one of the twins, taking away my chance to regroup and get a bit of a break in the day.

I know food (and a beer or two at the end of the day) isn't going to help solve any of our problems. I at least got myself back to the gym last night. Today I'm going to do better with my diet. No more excuses.

I'm so sorry @Zaxa2021 that they are struggling - it's so difficult - big hugs❤️❤️❤️

Thanks @nancyinmiami for the graphic - I have the book Atomic Habits and I never finished reading it - so it's on my Summer book reading list

Thanks @PatriceFitnessPal for sharing how you will put it into practice

To cope with my grief, I bought a book - Shift - Managing Your Emotions - So They Don't Manage You by Ethan Kross

My boss' memorial service is Saturday in Milwaukee - it will be a tough day and our bank suffered another loss yesterday - a salesperson had a massive heart attack 2 weeks ago at the same time my boss was in the hospital and was pronounced brain dead yesterday - I didn't know him, but his memorial is on the same day, same time but different city - Chicago + holiday weekend-we also had a grief counseling session provided for anyone that wanted to participate yesterday - lots of tears, memories shared

That's my week so far.....oh, and my pastor for 17 years has been reassigned to a different church and is leaving by the end of June - I became a member of our church at the same time he started - so this is a big blow to our community - he is one of the best

Daily step goal 10000

5-18: 10074

5-19: 10388

Sunday: Short walk at park led by local geologist who talked about area’s glaciology

Monday: Nothing, unless I count my elevated heart rate during a little panic attack while at the dentist 🙃

Ugh…my post just went poof 😡

Monday steps: 11,878

Tuesday steps: 7613

Had an all day meeting yesterday so lots of sitting in the conference room. Day 2 today but will "try" to move more. It's difficult as I'm always the one presenting, everyone else can come and go at will.

I was listening to Atomic Habits last week but the book expired and went poof like my post. 😂 I did take his Master Class last year so I think between that and @nancyinmiami posting I don't need to renew the loan.

Have a great rainy day!

Thought this group might appreciate this!