Transform Your Life Through the Power of Habit Formation

Welcome to MindfulMornings! Today's newsletter draws inspiration from Charles Duhigg's groundbreaking book, The Power of Habit*. This transformative work reveals how understanding the science behind our daily routines can help us build the life we truly want.

Today you'll learn about:

• Creating Visual Accountability to Strengthen Your Habit Loop

• Building Habits That Align with Your True Identity

Here are 2 quotes, 2 tips, and 1 question to help you build healthy habits this week…

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2 Quotes

1. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Will Durant (summarizing Aristotle)

    

2. "First we make our habits, then our habits make us."- John Dryden

2 Tips

1) Create a "Habit Scoreboard" for Visual Accountability

Why:
Your brain craves feedback. When you can see your progress laid out in front of you, something powerful happens - the visual proof of your consistency becomes its own reward. This taps directly into what Duhigg calls the "habit loop": cue, routine, reward.

A Habit Scoreboard transforms abstract goals into concrete achievements. Each checkmark builds momentum. Each completed streak strengthens your identity as someone who follows through. Over time, maintaining your visual streak becomes as important as the habit itself.

Here's how to create your own powerful Habit Scoreboard:

1. Choose Your Display

   • Get a large wall calendar, whiteboard, or poster board.

   • Place it somewhere you'll see multiple times daily - bathroom mirror/wall, kitchen wall, or beside your bed

   • Or use a habit-tracking app like Streaks or Atoms if you prefer digital

    

2. Set Up Your System

   • List 1-3 habits you're building (start small - too many dilutes focus)

   • Create a simple grid: habits at the top, dates running down the side

   • Choose satisfying markers - gold stars, colorful X's, or smiley faces

    

3. Make It Meaningful

   • Each morning, look at your scoreboard before starting your day

   • After completing your habit, immediately mark it off

   • Take a moment to feel proud - this emotional hit reinforces the loop

    

4. Protect Your Streak

   • After 3-4 days, you'll feel the pull to maintain your chain

   • If you miss a day, it’s ok, but don't miss two days in a row

   • Celebrate milestones - 7 days, 30 days, 100 days

Resources to support you:

• Final week to get 30% off our habit formation courses and learn to apply these principles to meditation and sleep. Use code summer30 at checkout.

  • The Meditation Habit

  • Sleep Habits: Foundations

• Tool: Try this great habit tracking calendar/wall hanger*

The scoreboard isn't about perfection. It's about progress you can see and celebrate.

2) Use "Identity-Based" Habit Formation

Why:
Most people try to change their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. But there's a more powerful approach - focus on who you want to become. When your habits flow from your identity, they stop feeling like chores and start feeling like natural expressions of who you are.

This shift is profound. Instead of "I'm trying to run," you think "I'm a runner." Instead of "I should meditate," it becomes "I'm someone who meditates." Your brain works hard to maintain consistency with your self-image, making identity-based habits remarkably sticky.


Transform your habits by aligning them with your core identity:

1. Define Your Aspirational Identity

   • Ask yourself: "What kind of person achieves the goals I want?"

   • Write identity statements: "I am a person who..." or "I am someone who..."

   • Examples: "I am a morning person" or "I am someone who prioritizes health"

    

2. Create Identity Reinforcement Rituals

   • Write your identity statement on a card and read it each morning

   • Before your habit, say "I'm the kind of person who ….."

   • After completing it, affirm: "This is who I am."

    

3. Collect Evidence

   • Keep a journal of moments when you acted according to your new identity (like using the habit scorecard mentioned in tip 1)

   • Notice small wins: choosing water over soda = "healthy person" evidence

   • Reviewing this evidence helps to strengthen your self-image

    

4. Use Identity-First Language

   • Change how you speak about yourself

   • Not: "I'm trying to quit smoking" but "I'm a non-smoker"

   • Not: "I need to exercise" but "I'm an active person"

    

5. Start Tiny, Think Identity

   • Even one push-up makes you "someone who works out”

   • Reading one page makes you "a reader"

   • Five minutes of meditation makes you "a meditator"

Resources to support you:

• Book: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg* (the inspiration for today's newsletter!)

• Exercise: Write three identity statements and post them where you'll see them daily - you can attach them to your habit scorecard.

• Course: Try the Meditation Habit (currently 30% off at checkout with code Summer30) to become someone who meditates!

When you root habits in identity, you're not just changing what you do - you're evolving who you are.

1 Question

If your daily habits were newspaper headlines, what would today's front page reveal about the life you're currently living?

Thanks for reading! We hope this exploration of habit formation inspires you to look at your daily routines with fresh eyes. Remember, every habit you have today is perfectly designed to create the life you're currently living. The beautiful news? You can redesign them anytime.

With gratitude,

MindfulMornings

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