72:: Atomic Habits for the girls

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A lot of the inspiration I have

for each of these podcast episodes

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comes from conversations I have with

patients, with friends, with family,

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and this episode is no different.

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So we're gonna dive in today about

atomic habits and habit formation,

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building consistency within

your routines, primarily related

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to health and wellness goals.

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So welcome back to Wellness, pick the Pod.

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I'm your host, Dr.

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Kelsey Vic, a board certified

orthopedic doctor of physical therapy,

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a pelvic floor physical therapist.

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And a pelvic floor or physical

therapist, and this conversation

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has come up twice over the last,

I'd say, probably month or so.

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Oh, even shorter than that, honestly,

maybe two weeks where my cousin and one

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of my best friends were both talking about

how to create these healthy routines given

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this life transition that they're in.

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My cousin.

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Graduating from college and moving

into like a full-time job and

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her like true, real adult life.

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And my friend, who is just recently

a mom of two and trying to figure

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out where to put exercise into her

routine given the chaos of her life.

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And I thought it was a neat.

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perspective to have both someone

who's going from college into like

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her real adult job, and then someone

who has been a mom of one now going

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into a mom of two and learning how to

navigate that and that they're both

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struggling with the exact same thing.

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And the advice that I gave to both of them

in addition to just like commiserating

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with them because I've totally been In

their situation in regards to trying to

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rebuild consistency with a life change.

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Not necessarily two kids, although I

have gone from, school to an adult job.

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So I have been in my cousin's situation,

but not my friend's situation.

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But I thought it was interesting Those

conversations both came up over the

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last two weeks, so I figured let's

dive in a little bit more because as

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we start this new school year, as our

general routines start to change going

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from summer into fall, I thought this

was a necessary episode on things that

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I've learned when it comes to habits

and consistency and then science

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backed tips for habits and consistency.

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So for starters, I was rebelling

against the book Atomic

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Habits for the longest time.

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Everyone talked about the book Atomic

Habits, and I just did not wanna read

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it because of how popular it was.

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I'm not typically A rebel, but in this

instance, I did not wanna read it, but

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this year my goal was to read all of

the like boring business books or trendy

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business books, or trendy self-help books.

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And I started with Atomic

Habits and it was fantastic.

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A lot of the tips and

points in this book were.

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Sort of mindset shifts for me,

and also allowed me to reflect on

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how I've been able to build some

habits super consistently and some

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habits not super consistently.

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So we'll dive into what that book

talks about when it comes to habit

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formation, and then we'll start to

apply some of those categories and his

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process into some of the routines that

a lot of people struggle with when it

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comes to their health and wellness.

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In order to make a habit, we want to

break it down into a few different steps.

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We wanna make it obvious, we wanna make

it attractive, we wanna make it easy,

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and we might want to make it satisfying.

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So we'll start with making it obvious.

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This means putting your clothes

out on the chair the night before.

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If you're gonna have an

early morning workout.

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A lot of the time when I am trying to

form a habit for the first time, at the

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end of the day, I'll reflect on the time

that I had throughout the day to do that

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habit and where I failed at doing that

habit, simply because I forgot, simply

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because I did not make it obvious.

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For example, if I'm trying to eat

a little bit healthier, I am much

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more likely to grab vegetables that

are pre-cut in the fridge already.

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I can just open the fridge, see the

pre-cut vegetables and grab those.

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So that's me making it obvious for myself,

for someone who's trying to work out.

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Again, putting those clothes on the

chair at the beginning of the day.

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At the end of the day, whenever you're

planning to schedule the workout might

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just cue you in the right way in order to.

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Do the action that is

going to build that habit.

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The second one, making it attractive.

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So workout with your favorite music,

organize the meal, prepping in the pantry.

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I don't know if you guys are

like me, but I oftentimes.

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Pin, the super aesthetic pantry

organization or closet organization or

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fridge organization on my Pinterest,

and that is a way to make meal

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prepping and healthy eating attractive.

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Same thing with working out workout

to music, workout with a friend.

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Add in something that makes

that habit attractive to you,

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especially in the beginning.

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We covered our dopamine system last

week and we've covered it before, but

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last week we related it to the summer.

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I turned pretty show.

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So if you miss that episode, I

highly recommend to go back and

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listen to it because along with

making it attractive, we can't make

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it attractive every single time.

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We can't.

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Always work out with music, with

friends, and making it super exciting

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every time because then that excitement

will wane a little bit and we'll have

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to add on something additional in

order to maintain that motivation and

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maintain that pursuit towards that goal.

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So we cover that in last week's episode.

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If you wanna go check it out,

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the next step is making it easy.

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I'll relate it back to the meal

prepping example and My goal of snacking

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a little bit healthier, I am much

more likely to snack on vegetables

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that have already been cut up.

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If I see a full cucumber in the

fridge, a full bell pepper, I am much

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less likely to grab it than if I am

able to meal prep it the week before,

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the day before or the Sunday before.

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If I chop it up, I'm much

more likely to grab it.

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So that's.

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Present Kelsey, making it

easier for future Kelsey.

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And the same thing applies

to a lot of different habits.

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As you can make it easy and make it

something where you don't have to cross

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as many barriers in order to accomplish

the task that is going to get you to

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form that habit, the better off you'll

be long term to form that habit.

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Another habit that I think I've mentioned

before, but I wanted to have a dedicated

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hour of prayer every week where I really

like turned off all distractions and I

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journaled, brought my Bible, I brought

all of the readings for the week,, I

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wanted to have that dedicated hour.

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And in order to build that habit, I

tried to make it easier on myself by

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after work, after my last patient, I

would drop by the church on the way home.

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Pray for an hour and then head back home.

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So since I was already passing the church,

might as well go into it and do the task

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that is going to make me form that habit

of improving my prayer life and deepening

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my faith relationship by making it easy

and just stopping by the church on the

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way home and not having to say, okay,

on this Saturday I'm gonna drive to

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the church, pray, and then drive home.

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That's it.

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A greater barrier to entry for

me than just driving to the

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church on my way home from work.

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And lastly, to form a habit, you

have to make it satisfying, and

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that can mean occasional rewards.

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Maybe you want to work out a little

bit more so you dress a little bit

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cuter, or maybe your goal is to.

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Eat healthier snacks.

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It's okay to make, you know, little

ants on a log or little animals with

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the vegetables, or put it in a really

fun, cute little snack box for yourself.

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A bento box, whatever it is.

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It's okay to reward yourself by making

it satisfying, whether visually,

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whether with a new outfit, whatever

that healthy routine is you're

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trying to build, make it satisfying.

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In order to break a habit, we

wanna do the opposite of those,

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so we have to make it invisible.

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Make it unattractive, make it

hard and make it unsatisfying.

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So for make it invisible.

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I struggle with this with snacking

a lot of the time in My pantry,

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I'm a big tortilla chips girl.

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Tortilla chips and salsa is my go-to

tortilla chips, melted cheese, and I've

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found that when I make that snack option

hidden or more invisible, I'm less likely

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to pull that snack and more likely to

go check the fridge to see if I have

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healthier snack options available to me.

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If you struggle with watching TV when

you're supposed to be exercising,

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maybe hide the remote to where

you're always sort of searching,

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and then that might cue you.

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Oh, that's right.

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I'm not necessarily wanting to do

this anymore for my future self.

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I want to replace this habit or this

routine that I've gotten into with a

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healthier routine in the form of exercise.

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Make it unattractive.

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I think cancellation fees

are extremely unattractive.

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If I sign up for a workout class, I

am way less likely to cancel myself.

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So even if you have to add a little

bit of financial incentive to the

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task, I think that is a way to make

it unattractive if you cancel on

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the studio or cancel on yourself.

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Make it hard coming back to the snacks.

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If I hide the chips in the deepest part

of my drawer in the back of my pantry

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or on the back shelf of my pantry and I

have to move a lot of different things

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in order to access those chips, I'm way

less likely to grab those because it

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takes a lot of effort to access them.

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So applying that, make it hard strategy

to those habits that you also wanna break.

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And the last one, make it unsatisfying.

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So let's say you're trying to stop the

doom scroll or stop the TV watching

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or limit your blue light exposure or.

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Get more sleep.

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If you can give yourself this ultimatum

like, okay, if I go over my screen

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time, I owe myself 25 50 pushups

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or if I turn on the TV and I'm watching

it for more than two hours, I owe

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myself something that I do not like

Unloading the dishwasher or doing a

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chore that I don't like to do, you

can pair that habit that you wanna

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break with an unsatisfying activity.

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Again, you have to have the discipline

to follow it through, but if you can

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make that habit that you wanna break

unsatisfying, you're more likely to

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replace it with a habit that you want

to implement for your future self.

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Some other general tips that I've

really taken to heart and probably

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the things That have stuck with me

the most since reading that book.

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The first one being change the language

you use and how you identify yourself.

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So if you're trying to form a habit

and you're talking to a friend,

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and let's say you're trying to

exercise more, if you say, oh yeah,

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I can't, I'm trying to exercise more.

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The act of you saying, I'm trying

to means that you identify as

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someone who currently isn't.

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I'm trying to exercise more, meaning

I am not someone who exercises

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as much as I want to right now.

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And if you can switch the

language to be like, I can't come

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tomorrow, I'm an exerciser, or I.

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Go to the Saturday morning

yoga sculpt class every, every

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weekend, and I can't miss it.

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So that's you identifying as someone

who is an exerciser who goes to this

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yoga sculpt class rather than someone

who's trying to be an exerciser.

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The classic example is smoking.

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If you say, I'm trying to quit smoking,

that is still you identifying as a smoker

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who's trying to quit, rather than if

you say, oh, I'm sorry, I don't smoke.

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Now you're identifying as a non-smoker.

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So applying that to whatever habit

you're trying to build or trying

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to form will help you identify as

that future version of yourself

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and that present version of you.

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In order to help you break a bad

habit and then reform the habit

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that you actually want to form.

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And then lastly, again, this ties back

to the dopamine system, but varying

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the rewards helps to maintain that

motivation throughout the journey.

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If you always make it super

satisfying, super exciting by

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working out with friends, by

always eating your favorite snack.

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That's only going to increase your

need for even more of a dopamine

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boost in order to get that motivation.

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So if you can vary the rewards and

make it a little bit more intermittent

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when you get the rewards, rewards

being, you know, the new workout

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set, or working out with a friend or

doing your absolute favorite workout,

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that might be a little bit expensive.

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If you can vary those rewards, you'll

be able to maintain that motivation

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for longer throughout your journey.

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Of habit formation.

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With the start of the school year, with

the start of just sort of like this

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back half of the year, I thought it'd be

fun to go through these habit formation

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tips and tricks and things like that.

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So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.

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It pairs well with the dopamine episode.

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So again, I highly recommend it's

the episode right before this one.

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So check it out if you want to pair them.

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And if you're looking to bring in

some new, like healthy routines

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as we shift into the back half of

the year into this sort of like.

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Summer turns into fall when things

start to buckle down a little bit

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more and leave this like summer

of fun stage that we're in.

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So I hope you enjoyed this episode.

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Thank you guys as always for your support.

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Thanks for listening and I will

see you guys again on the next

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episode of Wellness Picks the pod.