E162: Creating New Lifestyle Patterns for 2022 [PART TWO]

Create new lifestyle patterns, behaviours, and habits with these four simple phases you can start putting into practice to make this year GREAT!

[00:38] Welcome back to the women’s empowerment podcast, we are diving right into this new year with today’s episode all about creating new lifestyle patterns for 2022 or any year for that matter.

If you are new to the show, welcome, I’m Valerie, your Healthy Habit Mentor and I am thrilled for this new year.

Last week on the podcast I shared the first part of this two-part series. It was all about letting go of old patterns. Technically you don’t have to listen to that episode to tune into this one, although it is very helpful to make space for new patterns if we clear out some old ones. Episode 161: Two Part Process for Letting Go of Old Patterns [PART ONE]

In the previous episode I shared a list of behaviours, habits, and patterns that I was letting go of to create space for the new lifestyle patterns I am bringing in for 2022. When I talk about lifestyle patterns, what I’m speaking about is anything from habits, to mindset, to routines, to emotional responses, and anything and everything in between!

With that being said, I do recommend starting small, but we will get into that shortly. We have to remember that a lifestyle pattern is something that is repeated again and again. Therefore we want to make sure we create a new behaviour/routine/practice that we can easily duplicate so that it becomes habitual.

And if you’ve ever worked with me before, or if you’ve been following along with the podcast and/or instagram then you will know, we always start with our intention.

This brings us to the first phase in creating new lifestyle patterns.

[02:27] Phase One: Initiation

Decide what the new behaviour/habit will be, AND why this is important to you. The reason why will become the value or driving force and motivation for your actions. Your intention could be how you want to feel, or a bigger goal the habit supports.

Examples:

Drinking your daily greens mix because you want to feel healthier and happier

You want to build a consistent workout routine because you want to feel more energized in your body and eliminate back pain

Weekly CEO dates with yourself because you want to impact more people through your business

Knowing WHY you are doing something is the heart and soul of the new pattern you are creating. Remember that habits are not habits yet, they are first new behaviours and the brain performs new behaviours differently than it does with habits. We need repetition and time to make a behaviour automatic. Because new patterns form in the prefrontal cortex, the brain is more aware of these and the motivation for making this new habit will be part of this awareness that motivates us.

Speaking of motivation, this helps us with phase two of creating our new lifestyle patterns

[4:33] Phase Two: Trigger or Cue

Forming a new habit requires a trigger that sets the habit in motion. The trigger or cue follows the formula, when this happens, then that follows. “This” is the action or behaviour already part of our routines aka the cue, and “that” is the new behaviour we are creating.

You can use current automatic behaviours as triggers for your new habit. Let’s use our examples:

When I go to the kitchen to brew my morning coffee, then I mix my daily greens

When I finish work on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:30pm, then I go to the gym on the way home

When I see the CEO day in my calendar, then I focus on this intention for the time blocked in my schedule

Some of our new patterns will be daily and others only a few times a week, so it helps to be as specific as possible. The triggers can be even more specific such as putting on workout clothes, or sitting at my desk on fridays.

Here are some other helpful tips to create your new habit in this phase:

Get specific: Schedule two specific times during the week you will go to the gym, and schedule it at the same time every week.

Plan ahead: have your greens powder on the counter, so that it’s the first thing you in the mornings

Set reminders or alerts: Create an event in your calendar for your CEO days. Perhaps it’s once a month, or maybe once a week. Edit the event in your electronic calendar to remind you about the event in advance. You can adjust it and add multiple reminders.

As an extra note: I find with events like this one, it also helps to get specific with which tasks you will be doing during this blocked time. For example, when I am doing my podcast producing, I add this into my calendar as “Podcasting” and in the notes section write out which episodes I’m working on, am I recording, or am I writing out the show notes? Am I designing the cover art, editing? Having this ready for me when I get to that time really helps with my productivity.

The third phase of creating our new lifestyle pattern is

[7:54] Phase Three: Routine

In last week’s episode I shared three little rituals for letting go, and I mentioned that these were great little ceremonies to jumpstart our initiation phase. However, they were not going to actually change our behaviours right then and there, we actually have to perform the new pattern and then repeat it over time for it to become our new habit.

This is what phase three is all about, actually doing the work. Sometimes when I hear myself say “do the work” I notice that that isn’t always a positive phrase or word. Not everyone thinks of “work” as a good thing. This is why enjoyment is a crucial component to creating new habits.

When I say “do the work” I really mean get into action. Since the key to habit forming is repetition, you’re more likely to repeat something you enjoy doing.

Let’s use our examples:

You might not love your greens powder, but it could be more enjoyable when you drink it from a fancy cup, or you enjoy new recipes so you blend it into a yummy smoothie.

If exercising isn’t your favourite, listen to a playlist or podcast you love while you workout.

You don’t enjoy the backend of your business, so make your CEO days more fun by having them at a new coffee shop or co-working space. Invite a business bestie to join you and you can support each other in your businesses, more like a mastermind. (P.S. This is a bonus in helping you with accountability!)

I also want to mention that it’s very important that we start with a small changes approach: swap one unhealthy habit at a time. Super small changes are more attainable and realistic and will build confidence and momentum for us. Then, we can build more healthy practices over time; stacking our habits.

Speaking of confidence and momentum, our final part of the new habit creation is

[13:38] Phase Four: Reward

Making your habit enjoyable is amazing because it’s kind of like having a built-in reward system for while you’re performing the new routine. A strong “why” attached to your habit will also support enjoyment and fulfillment. However not every single day of the routine will be enjoyable and you might not feel the desired feeling or intention right away. This is why creating rewards for completing your routine is so important. It becomes positive reinforcement for you to repeat the new behaviour.

If possible, you want the reward to come right after you complete the routine. Just like when I puppy is learning new tricks, when the puppy sits you say “good puppy!” and maybe a treat or lots of pets are involved and the puppy knows it did something good so it wants to repeat it again to get more treats and love.

The reward system is going to be different for everyone as we all have our own habits, intentions, and preferences. Here are some examples to get your wheels turning:

Drinking greens: Just like making the bed in the morning, drinking a shot of green juice in the morning can be a quick win for the day. Consider it a one and done, check off the box, success for the start of your day. If coffee is also a part of your morning routine, something that I do is drink water - in our example greens - BEFORE having the coffee and then the coffee becomes the “reward” so to speak as I can only have it after I drink my water/greens.

Working out: Physical exercise is one of those habits that give immediate emotional results. This is because working out releases endorphins in your body that make you feel better and happier. If this post-workout glow isn’t enough, consider rewarding yourself with a delicious protein smoothie after your workout, or take a moment to notice how much energy you have and how your back is not in any pain.

CEO dates: Share your wins with your business besties, or perhaps with your social media network. If you’d rather keep your meetings to yourself, have space at the end of your meeting to write out something you’re really proud of that happened this week, or one of your wins. End the meeting on a high note, even if it wasn’t your best week yet. There is always something to be grateful for and the energetic vibration of gratitude and appreciation is really the highest vibration you can feel.

You can also create milestone markers/rewards. If your habit is daily perhaps your reward comes at the end of each week of consistency. If your habit happens a couple times a week, maybe your big reward is celebrating every month. And if your habit is once a week or a few times a month, you can celebrate monthly, or quarterly.

Forming new lifestyle patterns and habits will be a different process for each of us. Following these phases doesn’t really have a specific timeline, so if you’re mapping out the phases in your calendar for your habits, leave room for flexibility, or adjustments.

You might surprise yourself when you write out a 2x a week workout plan and find that you can actually get to the gym 3x per week. And be gracious with yourself if you aren’t doing your habit as often as you say. Start where you are, you can always build on from there.

If you’re listening to this episode around the time it comes out I would love to invite you to create your new habit with me and a community of empowered women starting 2022 with our healthy habit in the 21 Day Habit Challenge! This is a completely free experience and we are completing the challenge together LIVE!

If you visit the link post-challenge, you might see that there is a waitlist for our next challenge, please feel free to join the waitlist as I am planning on doing a few more challenges this year wink-wink!

Thank you so much for joining me and I cannot wait to hear what new patterns and routines you are creating! Take a screenshot of this episode and tag me on instagram @vallavignelife so I can see what you’re working on and what episodes you’re loving!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!