How To Lock In Life-Changing Habits Now

It's about who you are, not the result. It's about who you want to be every single day. And when you be that person, what happens is you satisfy something within you that allows anxiety, that allows stress, that allows the pain of not being that person to fall away. And by being the person who just shows up to these actions, you actually free yourself. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the show. It's time for another quickie because there's always time to fit in inspiration. And we are about to head to our California house tomorrow. So we will be there a couple months. Then this is the rotation where we go to Wisconsin in July and August, and we spend some time there at our lake house. I'm super excited. But with all of the moving around, I will tell you that my kind of life and schedule requires some extra focus. When we first did this rotation last year between the three places, I was like, oh, my God, how am I ever going to do this? Because I am such a routine person, and when I go to different places, I can tend to get really thrown off. I don't know if you're anything like me, where you're almost like, I used to dread traveling because I would get so thrown off. And a lot of that, I've realized, is because I didn't have my habits and cues for my habits and plans set in place, knowing that my identity is actually the person who can maintain these habits through travel, through anything that disrupts them. And that's what I want to share with you today. I'm actually reading again. I've picked it up before, but I didn't finish it. You know how books kind of speak to you at different times in your life. And it's so funny. I remember so many people being like, read Atomic Habits. Read Atomic Habits. And I'd pick it up and I'd be like, not really into. And I think what has happened is that my life has gotten so disrupted that my habits have been thrown off. And I was like, I need something. Oh, my God, what should I read? And it came again through Instagram. A bunch of my friends were reading it and uploading it, and I was like, okay, I think it's time to read this book again because I feel like I'm struggling with some of my habits. And I'll tell you another reason why I feel like I'm struggling with some of my habits. My work life has changed so much in the last two years where I think that a lot of the things that I did before were more automatic. I had the podcast I was, you know, had gotten into the habit of writing books. I'd gotten into the habit of everything that I was doing with courses and with our events. Like, it was starting to become really second nature to me because I had done them for so long at that point, the things that I was doing. And so I was still really good about my habits. I was great about working out. I was great about reading. I was great about learning. And what shifted in the last couple years is that my work life had gotten much more challenging. It took all of my bandwidth and then some. All of my brain width, if we're going to call it that, and then some, because I was learning something new every day, and I was struggling every day. I was really, really challenged every single day because nothing felt habitual in my work. So if you're in transition right now, if you're about to launch something, you're probably not in a very habitual state in a large chunk of your life. So what happens, though, is when we lose those habits, we can feel really unstructured and a little lost, and we can actually lose and lack even more energy because we now feel like we're floundering in every area of our life. Like, I don't know when I should work out. I don't know if I should work out today because I'm already tired and I already need this extra bandwidth in my work, and I already feel stressed out. So now everything is in upheaval. So what I'm trying to dial in right now is reading and learning again. And I have been having a really hard time getting back to my habit of reading every day, which has impacted everything that I'm doing because I talk on a podcast three times a week. And if I'm not learning, I feel a struggle. I'm like, oh, my God, I have nothing new to say. I have nothing good to share. So it makes everything feel exponentially harder because I'm not doing this one act consistently. It's not that I haven't been reading. It's literally been so sporadic, though. And even podcasts have been very sporadic because I feel exhausted throughout the day with using up all my bandwidth, learning and talking about new things and going to new places and having these tough conversations going out there and. And, like I said, feel like I'm using up all of the bandwidth throughout the. The day, that I ain't got nothing left, guys. Apparently, I can't even say I don't have anything left for anything. So I'm reading this book and I'm Loving it, because it's about shifting your identity back to or into the person that you want to be. And I want to read this to you. Identity, it says in the book, identity was originally derived from the Latin word ascentidas, which means being and identitydem. Right? You're learning along with me, which means repeatedly. So essentially, identity means repeated beingness. Repeated beingness. So it's who we essentially be that we become, that we identify as. So I noticed that I kept saying things like, I need to read. I need to read so that I can have things to say on my podcast and so that I can feel like I'm adding value and I can feel like I'm getting smarter. Like, all of these things that make me feel really good instead of making it easier on myself and really looking at how my day is set up and looking at the cues that are making me do other things. So essentially, when I wake up in the morning, have I made it easy on myself when I want to read? Do I have a book right next to me when I wake up for my coffee? And am I saying things to myself like I need to read for the result, or am I saying things that help me identify as the person who reads? So instead of saying I need to read, I've been saying, what would a reader do right now? Like, what does somebody who is a constant learner and a constant reader do? They would read right now. They would sit for even just 10 minutes and pick up a book and start reading and allow themselves to not get distracted. So instead, in the morning, I've been making the barrier of entry to reading much easier. And at night, I'm going to put a different book by my bed stand that's more of a night book. Because I noticed I would try to read at night, but I put my morning books by there. And what I mean by that is, in the morning I can learn something. I can take in something that's a little bit more challenging, learning something new where at night I want to do something more, like reading about a story or I want to do something where it's maybe just soul filling and it's really satisfying to my soul. It's easy reading, because I'm not about to go try to learn at 9 o' clock at night when my brain is trying to shut off. And these are the things I was doing, you guys. I was getting these really heavy business books that I knew nothing about. And I'm like, I should learn about this and I should learn about it in the morning. I should Learn about it at night. So when I was doing it at night, I was getting so turned off because I'm like, I'm exhausted and this is making me feel like a failure. So we need to really look at the ways that we're setting ourselves up. Like, if you have not been to the gym in a really long time and you think you're, you just joined this program that's super intense, and you're going to get these three or four workouts done a week that are really intense and you're so committed, but you haven't been to the gym, you're gonna feel like a failure the first time you go because you're only gonna get 10 minutes done, sister. Like, let's be super honest. So if you go into it with that knowing that expectation, great. But if you go into it thinking that you're gonna take on the world and you're gonna do all these things and make sure that it's perfect the first time, we're actually setting ourselves up for failure. Instead of saying, what would a healthy person do? Maybe who's just gotten a little sidetracked, okay, well, they would go easy on themselves and going to be 15 minutes three times this week to get ourselves just back in the groove, back in the habit. So if I would have picked books back up and said, you know what, I need to get back into my routine. I was reading a book a week. If I don't do this, I'm going to be hard on myself. Now I'm like, how about we finish 10 minutes of a book that feels maybe kind of easy or enjoyable in the morning, and then maybe 10 minutes of a book that feels really enjoyable at night. Then you're going to get into the habit. And then slowly that habit can start to expand. Then you can talk about reading different things or reading for a long durations and going back to identifying as the person. It's the consistent question of not, I want this result. I want this result. Why am I not doing it? It's what would a person who is healthy do right now? What would they do? What would they eat right now? What would a reader do right now? What would a learner do right now? And you know, some of the things that I'm finding is they wouldn't pick their phone up right away in the morning. They wouldn't pick their phone up the second that they feel stressed. To start associating social media with when you feel stressed, right? They would say, okay, maybe I just need break. Okay, maybe I need a meditation Right now, okay, maybe I'm going to turn this other thing on where I can learn and really satisfy this craving of learning. And so I've been looking at where am I making my barrier of entry impossible, where am I not setting myself up for success? And where am I really not identifying as a learner or as a reader? And so these have been the things that are starting to really change my life because I'm sick of living in the pain of saying, why am I not doing this? What's my problem? Why am I so out of habit? None of those questions are going to get me the answers that I want. So I want you to look at some of the habits that you're trying to create right now and say, where are you not setting yourself up for success? How can you make it a little bit easier for yourself? How can you give yourself enough time to get to the gym? How can you lay your gym clothes out? How can you know that that workout that you're about to do, you're going to be able to accomplish it because you've made it easy enough for yourself to just get back into the habit. And especially if you were someone like me who used to really identify as like, I was a hardcore reader, I would read so many books all of the time. And I'm comparing myself to the old expectation. I'm like, my life has changed. I may not be able to do that for a while because I do use so much of my brain's bandwidth throughout the day that it's exhausting. So maybe I need to just set my expectation a little bit lower and be really happy that I'm just getting back into the habit.

With the holidays and the new year coming, you probably are looking around your house thinking that you would love to upgrade and freshen up your environment. And there is no easier way to do that than with your window treatments. Nobody covers windows better than Blinds.com. blinds.com brings your space to life in your way. They have free design help. Other retailers may claim to have experts, but blinds.com has spent nearly 30 years building an award winning team of over 100 design consultants that are ready to help you create your dream space. Always convenient, always tailored to you. Three ways to shop 1. Perfect fit Whether you want to DIY have it all done for you or you're somewhere in between, choose what works for you and rest easy knowing the fit is guaranteed. So the holidays come fast, you guys, and you can freshen up your window treatments fast as well. And unlike some competitors, the price you see is the price you pay, no hidden fees, and there's zero pressure from blackout in motorized options to classic shutters. Blinds.com has windowed treatments for every room, style and budget, even shades for your outdoor space. The Black Friday deals@blinds.com are going strong all month long, so don't miss your chance to save big. And as always, our listeners still get $50 off when you spend $500 or more. Just use code earn at checkout limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See blinds.com for details. 2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss. You become the leader that ide have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify, 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did and that I use Shopify. It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand. Set up as fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built into you can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets and do it all from the same dashboard. In 2026, stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that's Shopify. Shopify.com happy hear your first cha ching this new year with Shopify by your side.

And so I hope that this helps you guys. I hope that this has reminded you that there are these different levels to habits that you're going to need to do for a really long time before you see the results. And something else that he brought up in this book that I absolutely loved. He said bamboo essentially hardly grows for five years. Like you don't even see it grow. It's like minimal. It's nothing. Because what's happening in those five years is that it is growing its root system. And after the five years, it essentially breaks a barrier point. And when it hits that barrier point, it shoots up in 90ft, I believe in six weeks. So five years nothing. Five years, nothing. Maybe you're in that period right now, and then within six weeks, you become an overnight success, right? And you shoot 90, 90ft in the air. And it's called breaking through. This is what he calls it, breaking through the plateau of latent potential. And that's really what people are calling an overnight success, is that you've put the five years in, you've put the 10 years in, and all of a sudden you're seeing the result. So I want you to remember, it's about who you are, not the result. It's about who you want to be every single day. And when you be that person, what happens is you satisfy something within you that allows anxiety, that allows stress, that allows the pain of not being that person to fall away. And by being the person who just shows up to these actions, you actually free yourself. I would say you get 80% of your day back without feeling the stress, without feeling the resentment towards yourself, without feeling the disappointment in yourself. So learning to show up for these things, you're going to free yourself up into a place where you actually start to fall in love with the journey, and you start to fall in love with the action. You fall in love with your life because of the relief and satisfaction that you're learning to gain from doing these things about yourself, from the confidence that you're gaining about yourself, and really start to pay attention. I think the reason most of us are not the people that we want to be is because we. We just haven't looked at these little things that could really change our day and change the game. So if you just locked in a few habits and made them small, right? And started to identify as the person who is healthy, identify as the person who doesn't numb out on social media, but instead takes a walk, right? Who doesn't identify as the person who snacks all night long and instead goes for that evening walk and then reads a book, right? How do we start to identify as. As that person so that we can free ourselves up and become the people that we want to be and not live in pain, not live in resentment because of these little things we're not doing every single day. I don't want your head to hit the pillow again tonight. Going oh. Disappointed myself again. What do you have to do? What do you have to do to become that person that is proud of their self when their head hits the pillow? I'm sending you guys so much love. I hope that this helped. As a reminder that you are that person, you just now have to figure out how to make your reality match up to the person that you know that you are. And that's when you are fulfilling your potential. That's when you're fulfilling the reason why you came here. Okay, guys, let me know if you got anything out of this. I always love to see who's listening. Tag me on social media. You know that I love to reshare, and I love to see your faces. Until next time, earn your happy, happy. Bye, everyone.