In this informal, first‑person video, Tami Grgas shares her personal struggle with chronic insomnia and how she uses the Primed Mind app to improve sleep and wakefulness. She then outlines six actionable habit‑building strategies she’s found effective: (1) focusing on keystone habits that trigger positive ripple effects; (2) applying minimal viable effort by taking baby‑step actions daily; (3) making a flexible, detailed plan—leveraging apps, replayable content, and accommodations for her dyslexia; (4) rewarding herself by pairing enjoyable activities (e.g., audiobooks, stretching, taekwondo) with habit execution; (5) setting reminders such as calendar events, alarms, and checklists to cue good habits; and (6) enlisting friends and partners for peer support and accountability. Throughout, she peppers the talk with personal anecdotes about her cat, husband Paul, COVID‑related gym closures, and her dietary choices, illustrating how these tips play out in her daily life. She invites viewers to request her notes and encourages everyone to try sticking to new habits.
Chapters
Hello, how are you today? Tami Grgas here. I've been— I don't know how many of you set New Year's resolutions or intentions or whatever you want to call them, but I've been trying to incorporate better habits into my life since the new year. Now this thing is Trying not to get the ring light in my glasses, and that's not working there. Let's put it up there. See, problem with wearing glasses. Anyways, um, you might be able to see my kitty over here. He's watching me. Um, he might come say hello, I don't know. So anyways, I've been, um, reading up about how to make good habits. Stick. And there's a few things that are kind of my— one of my biggest obstacles is I don't— I have insomnia, chronic insomnia, they told me. And sometimes I, I can't get to sleep, and I won't get to sleep until 2, 3, sometime in the morning. And then when it's time to wake up, I don't want to wake up. I mean, sleep is so important. It really is. But I have found an app that has been helping me. I will kind of roll over and find the app on my phone and push start, and it's helping me to create good habits. And at the very end of it, it's like, it's walking me out of my sleepiness and into being awake. Mm-hmm. Which it has been helping. I've definitely been waking up earlier and being a little more productive, which is good. But I wanted to tell you a few things that I've learned. Okay. Now, number 1, there's 6 of them. Number 1 is to focus on keystone habits. Keystone habits are kind of like, um, if you, want to exercise. Exercise is going to set off a chain reaction that changes other habits. So, you know, you will feel better about yourself, you'll probably eat healthier, you'll procrastinate less, you'll be more productive, just things like that. Like, it, it helps with other habits eventually. In the beginning, it probably doesn't, at least at least I don't think for me, but anyways. So number 2 is to use minimal viable effort. That's a big way of saying focus on baby steps. Sorry, my pump's freaking out. I just finished eating. So it's like, ah, your blood sugar's going high, but my insulin hasn't really kicked in yet. So anyways, use minimal— Minimal viable steps, focus on baby steps. So the key to new good habits is to do the minimum and be consistent. So make sure you're doing that little bit every day, every day, every day. So number 3 is to make a plan. Now this doesn't have to be set in stone. It just needs to be, you know, You saying, like, for me it was about waking up in the morning and creating that habit. And I found— it took me a while, but I found this, like I say, this, this app that's helping me called Primed Mind. It also helps me to get to sleep at night. So it's kind of a double whammy there. And it, it seriously is helping me to be more productive and get up earlier and, and sleep better. There are still some nights that I can't get to sleep till late, but it helps. So think about the details. Thinking about the details makes you more likely to follow through. So it's kind of like when a lot of people say, well, you have to take notes, you have to take notes. And I, I never followed that very well because I also have dyslexia and For me, a lot of times I need to focus on what's going on in order to absorb it into my brain. And if I take the time for notes, sometimes it's difficult for me. However, with today's, you know, the Facebook Lives and all this kind of stuff, I can see a presentation. And, you know, watch it through, and then, um, I can go back and watch it again and take notes, which helps me because seriously, if I— there have been times that I've stopped to take notes and then I've missed a whole bunch of stuff, and I'm like, well, what the heck, you know? So it does work better for me to listen the first time through. and then take notes a second time through. If it's something that can't be replayed, then I'm very sad. So there's that. Okay, so that was make a plan. Number 4 is to reward yourself. Now, I've always done the reward myself thing. My latest is we're not going to be drinking alcohol during the weekdays right now because we kind of, you know, this whole COVID thing, we've been drinking way too much, my husband and I. And at the end of the month, if we make it through all this, then I'm going to go to the Lucky Bucket and get a good bottle of vodka, the real good stuff. It's a little more expensive, but it's really good, really good stuff. So the way that they're saying to do it in this article I read, I kind of like it. I'm like, hmm, So she was saying, you want to listen to an audiobook, but you know you should go to the gym. Allow yourself to only listen to audiobooks while you exercise. I'm like, ooh. So you get a reward as you're doing the habit you're trying to create. So I'm trying to wrap my mind around that. I do like it. I do like Audible books. I, you know, like, I'm like, hmm. Although we don't really have a gym we can go to right now with this whole COVID thing. The gym on base is closed down to civilians, and apparently we're civilians now. So, but I'll figure something out because I do like that. I should be doing more stretches and stuff like that. And maybe like, um, I like to watch TV with my husband. Like we, we pick random shows and we'll just binge watch it, or we'll watch movies together, or that's our time together. And I'm thinking that maybe I'll only allow myself to watch these shows with him if I spend the first 10-15 minutes of the show. So stretching. That might help. Anyways, so, uh, or practicing taekwondo. Ooh. That's a good one too, cuz he'll practice with me. Okay, okay. Thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking. So they're also saying, she was saying to use reminders. So I love, you know, she says mark your calendar, set the alarm, use a checklist. And this is what she said, and I was like, ooh, I never thought of it this way. When breaking bad habits, you need to resist. With good habits, you need to remind. I'm like, oh, okay. And then number 6 is to get help from friends. So this one that I'm talking about that could— I could be using the reward myself and the get help from friends part, because if I get Paul to do it with me, then that will work. So she's saying, peer pressure works, and a good support network shows us that change is possible. Hanging out with pals who have the habit you want is a good way to do it. So, you know, for someone who's trying to quit smoking, stop hanging out with all the smokers. Um, trying to quit drinking, stop hanging out with all the drinkers. Um, all those kind of things. So those are my 6 tips for making good habits stick. I hope this helps you out. I hope it helps me out. I'll have to inform my husband when he gets— well, we'll see him at taekwondo tonight, so I'll talk to him on the way home maybe. Oh no, we'll be driving in different vehicles. I'll talk to him when we get home. So yeah, if you'd like a copy of my notes about this, please send me a message below. I will get them to you. I hope you have a wonderful day, and let's try sticking to those habits. Yay! Yay!
