E246: The Power of Habits: How to Change Your Life One Habit at a Time

Today I’m going to teach you how I created my entire morning routine using one simple formula. The formula started with one simple habit, and this led to another habit, and another, eventually becoming the wonderfully supportive morning routine I have today!

Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, I am your host and Healthy Habit Mentor Valerie LaVigne.

I was recently a guest on my friend Amanda’s podcast, we were chatting about simplicity and how it’s often overlooked, or brushed off. Yet some of the most effective strategies are the simplest ones.

Why is it that we overcomplicate things and in turn, end up sabotaging ourselves. I’ve said before that healthy CAN BE simple. The strategies aren’t complicated or complex, but they do take time. And this is where a lot of us struggle.

We want to go really big right at the beginning, and we want to go all out! But this isn’t sustainable. We crash and burn quite quickly when this is the tactic to optimal health, or growth that we’re looking to build in our lives.

So what’s the solution?

Simplifying our habits. The habit is not the action, the habit is the action repeated again and again, over time until it becomes automatic or habitual. Yes there is power in the small and simple action, but the true power lies in the repetition and time. In fact, you can change your entire life using the power of habits.

[01:55] Story Time: Morning Routine Motivation

Let me take you back in time to tell you a personal story. About three years ago I was experiencing horrible pain in my pelvis. At first I thought I was getting a bladder infection, something I have had in the past. This is what it felt like so I decided to drink more water and pee as often as I could, hoping that would help, as it also has helped in the past.

By the afternoon I was in crippling pain and collapsed on the floor. Since this was during the pandemic, walk-in clinics were not taking people for in person appointments, hospitals were overrun, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to see my family doctor soon enough.

I called the nearest clinic and they were able to schedule a phone call with a doctor for that same day. I was not impressed, but desperate for help.

After explaining what I thought was going on in my body, the doctor prescribed me antibiotics and I had to bring a urine sample to the clinic. I brought the sample and picked up the drugs right away.

A couple days later the pain had lessened, but I was still very uncomfortable. This is unusual for a bladder infection when I’ve been taking antibiotics.

About a week later I received a followup call from the walk-in clinic doctor who told me I didn’t have a bladder infection but he did have some concerns with the sample and I needed to bring in another one. I did so right away.

This was three years ago and I still haven’t heard from the walk-in clinic for an update about that second sample.

Anyway, I knew that I needed to see someone in person and someone who would really listen to me. So I reached out to a local nutritionist that I followed online. She was a mutual friend and I knew she was seeing people in person even during this time.

We set up the earliest appointment and when I walked into the office the first thing she did was hug me.

This meant everything to me, because you have to understand at the time, everyone was practically walking around with a 10 foot pole and wouldn’t go near another person, let alone a stranger they just met!

Needless to say, I felt safe knowing that this woman really cared about me and my wellness and wanted to help me.

And help me she did. Using a bio energetics scan she was able to see that I didn’t have a bladder infection but lots of heavy metals that weren’t leaving my body. She put me on a protocol to detox heavy metals, rebuild my gut flora and support hormone balancing in my body.

Within a few days of taking the tinctures and doing the protocol, I felt almost 100% better.

This health scare set a new habit in motion for me. One part of the protocol for balancing my hormones was eating breakfast in the morning.

Before this, I had been intermittent fasting for… I want to say AT LEAST two years, maybe more. I hadn’t eaten breakfast in a very long time.

[05:10] Habit Stacking Formula for Your Morning Routine

At first, it was a bit of a struggle. My body was so used to not eating breakfast! So I decided to use a specific habit stacking formula to help me eat in the morning.

The formula is:

After I [HABIT I NEED] I will [HABIT I WANT]

The habit I needed was to eat breakfast. The habit I wanted was to drink coffee. If you know anything about balancing hormones, starting your day drinking coffee on an empty stomach is a big red flag for maintaining/creating balance. But if I could eat something before this would really support me.

I wanted the coffee bad enough that I started eating breakfast almost immediately upon waking. Over some time I eventually started craving food both physically and mentally because

1) My body was getting used to eating, and

2) I was looking forward to eating breakfast because I knew there was a sort of reward for finishing and I could have my beloved coffee after I ate.

The health scare was the motivation to get this action started, but it was the habit, and the habit stacking formula that helped me build this morning routine.

When I recognized how well this specific formula was working, I decided to add in another habit. Drinking 250ml+ of water in the morning, which also evolved into greens and electrolytes before breakfast.

Then once the liquids were part of my morning, I added in other parts of the routine such as unloading the dishwasher, working out at the gym, and a few other smaller items.

I built my entire morning routine using this habit stacking formula. Now remember, it didn’t start with the long list of things I do today. It only started as breakfast and coffee.

What do you recognize as a solid starting point for you? You can let me know in the comments of this video, or send me a DM on instagram @vallavignelife

Some ideas for the habit that you want to do can be:

Going on social media/checking your phone

Drinking coffee

Getting on your computer to start work

Or anything else that is specific to YOU and perhaps a not so helpful habit that you have.

Now what is ONE habit that you would love to add into your morning routine but haven’t yet?

[07:44] REMINDER + BONUS for Building Healthy Morning Routines

REMEMBER: keep it very simple! Something small.

As a bonus tip, have it be different from the reward or “want” habit. For example if you go on your phone first thing in the morning, but you also want to meditate first thing in the morning, avoid using a meditation app so that you’re not distracted by the other apps keeping you stuck in your own patterns.

Maybe your meditation practice is outside of the bedroom where you can sit quietly on a pillow or cushion and light a candle.

Now don’t worry if the action is taking longer to become a habit. Celebrate every single day that you do the new habit, and only stack on more when you’re ready. Stay playful and curious as a lot of the self-building of habits can feel very experimental for most people.

If you’re interested in learning more about habit stacking, check out Episode 236 of the Women’s Empowerment Podcast for more tips, examples, and training.

E236: Habit Stacking: Maximizing Your Time and Energy

You can also skip a lot of the guesswork and overwhelm by working with an experienced coach! Learn about all the ways to work with me in the show notes page of this episode, or caption of this video.

I would love to support you in building a life by design, not by default.

We’ve got a great guest episode coming next week, I’ll see you then!

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!