Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
The single biggest thing that influences our wellbeing is our habits. We all have set things that we do, some of which serve us well and other things we do even though deep down we know they aren’t good for us. Our habits are unique to us as individuals and just because you’ve done things a certain way for some time, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change your habits.
The choices we make today have an impact through compounding effects on our future and if we want to be healthy and enjoy our later years we need to take good care of our bodies and minds. That said I believe in moderation, and that a little of the things we like, but we know aren’t the best for us is okay if it brings us joy.
In this blog I’m going to talk a bit about the Kindspace vision for supporting people with their habits through support in crafting goals that align with their values and “well timed nudges” to keep on track. I’ll share with you some of my favourite books on habit formation and achieving goals. And as a gift to you, I’ll share a link to our new Kindspace Habit Builder resource that we’ve created on Trello.
Habit Building
Where to find out more
There are lots of books and resources out there on building positive habits and eliminating or minimising habits that have a negative impact. You might have heard of James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, which has become a best-seller over the last few years. And whilst I love this book and know it has been helping millions of people, I like to understand a bit more of the science behind it as well as the practicalities of how to implement the ideas.
Here are my top reads if you are interested in habit formation, wellbeing and achieving goals. Note these are affiliate links and I earn a very small commission if you make a purchase after following these links.
How to Change – by Katy Milkman
This book really delves into the behavioural science and Katy’s research, but in a lovely relatable way that gives you clear insights into how to go about making changes in your own life. There are some really powerful concepts in this book around how ready someone is to make a change and that the timing really can make a difference and also that it is important to have some flexibility in your plans, so that you don’t beat yourself up about missing a day and then give up on the whole plan as I know so many of us do.
Atomic Habits – by James Clear
As an engineer I know how important the concept of marginal gains is when trying to optimise a process and capture every tiny bit of value from a resource. It is often this “low hanging fruit” that can make a manufacturing process profitable or delay the requirement for more expensive upgrades to improve the process, by finding areas where you can squeeze through a bit more.
This book takes some mind-blowingly simple concepts and shows you how to make them work for you. This book is a great place to start to learn about habit formation and how to use small changes to cumulatively change your life. A key concept in this book is habit stacking, which is taking a habit that you already in the routine of doing and adding another new habit, so this might be flossing your teeth after brushing them, and remembering to do it by putting your floss next to your toothbrush.
The 4 Pillar Plan – by Dr Rangan Chatterjee
Dr Rangan Chatterjee is such a fantastic communicator, and you can see he has a real passion for what he does. He has many books; this one is one of my favourites as a good all-round place to find out how to keep your mind and body well. He also does a great podcast and YouTube videos which you can find at the links below.
https://drchatterjee.com/blog/category/podcast/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnwlb3IQDPJtFysPUJbDFQ
Playing Big – Tara Mohr
A big part of this book is about breaking out of a fixed mindset and trusting your inner mentor to guide you to the life that you want. The second chapter includes a wonderful guided visualisation where you go to meet your future self and later in the book Tara also shares a concept called Should goals versus Gift goals, which shifts your mindset from fear, guilt and self-criticism to feeling energised by the future vision where you can enjoy the benefits of your hard work and most importantly feels empowering.
There are some great resources on Tara’s website, including the guided visualisation that I mentioned:
You can see more of our book recommendations here.
My top tips for habit building
Here are my five top tips to successfully change your habits, inspired by these books and my own research.
- Wellbeing is about finding a balance that works for you. Take small steps and focus on forming new sustainable habits. Celebrate and reward yourself for your progress. What matters most is beginning and focusing on making positive changes. No matter how small, your actions will make a difference.
- Who you are shapes your habits and your habits shape who you are. When thinking about a goal that you want to achieve, frame it by thinking about who you want to become rather than what you want to achieve and you are far more likely to succeed.
- When looking at forming new habits, it’s important to link your intentions to a specific cue, rather than just focusing on the end goal. For example, linking what you intend to do to a specific time of day, location or action. The more detailed and specific you can describe your intention the more likely you will be to follow through. The cue helps you to remember what you are supposed to do.
- Crowding out is an alternative strategy to change your habits. Instead of trying to stop doing something you can try introducing new and more positive habits so that there is literally no space for the old bad habit. For example you could try drinking water instead of fizzy soft drinks, or swapping a biscuit for a piece of fruit, or go for a walk instead of going on social media.
- Getting into the habit of setting and reviewing your goals is a great way to ensure that you stay motivated and fulfilled. Achieving positive outcomes can boost your self-esteem and lead to improved physical and mental health. It can really help to have a framework to structure your goal setting. You could try the WOOP method, where W is Wish, O is Outcome, the next O is Obstacle and P is for Plan.
If you are like me, you might prefer to listen to books instead of reading them. The Audible subscription from Amazon gives you the choice of one new book a month as well as free podcasts. They have some great Audible exclusive content on top of your subscription. I recently listened to Gabrielle Bernstein’s book You are the Guru which was complementary to my subscription and found it really empowering. She has some beautiful advice about seeing the world through a lens of love and that inspired action can clear your path.
Access Audible at the link below.
How Can Kindspace Help?
We want to help you implement positive changes into your life and to stay well. The Kindspace skill for Amazon Alexa is one way that we can support you to do this, but our community expressed an interest in seeing what other ways Kindspace could be used to support healthy habits.
You can use the daily check-in feature in Kindspace every day to find out how you are doing and learn more about your key wellbeing indicators. You can also delve into our library of tips and advice to find new ways to boost your wellbeing.
We wish that Kindspace could also give you those little well timed nudges when you need a reminder or to check-in with you to see how a specific activity has gone, but at the moment the capability in Alexa voice apps means that only you the user can initiate an Alexa conversation. That’s why we recommend setting up a reminder on your device for your daily check-in and you might also want to set reminders for other things. We have a guide on Reminders, just click here.
So, while we can’t programme Alexa to be more actively supportive in your habits and goals right now, we can provide you with additional support resources. We’ve built a Habit Builder resource using Trello (I love Trello, it’s is an amazing tool for organising your work and life) to complement the Kindspace Amazon Alexa experience. Every habit is also a tip in our main library, where you can find even more advice and wellbeing support through your smart speaker. The Habit Builder is available for free in our Kindspace shop.
The Habit Builder Trello board is designed to help you build a routine that supports your wellbeing and supports you to adopt new positive behaviours. The Trello board is pre-populated with an area for you to plan your routines and find inspiration as it contains content from the key Kindspace wellbeing categories of Sleep, Nutrition, Exercise, Mindfulness, Relationship, Personal Growth, Health, Complementary Therapy, You-time, Financial, Inspirational Quote and Positive Affirmations. You can have a browse through the wellbeing lists and see what resonates with you.
To get started the first thing you need to do is create a copy of the Board for your own use as this copy is not editable. To do this click on Show Menu in the top right hand of the screen. Then part way down this menu you’ll see three dots and the word Menu, click here and you should then see text that says Copy board, click on this and it will prompt you to name your new Board. You may want to make your new board private when you do this, click on where it says Change to select the Private setting.
The tool is designed to make it easy for you to drag entries into your routine and you can also amend the wording or add your own entries. To keep the actual tracking process simple and make the exercise more tactile you can print off our check sheet to keep a track of your progress, or the PDF is editable and can be updated and saved in digital format.
We recommend that you start off simple and only commit to one or two actions to begin with and then as new habits become more embedded see where you can add to the good work you’ve begun. Try also to build in some flexibility to your plan so that if you miss a day then it does completely derail your intentions. i.e. rather than committing to going for a walk every day, say you will go for a walk 5 days a week and that allows you to cope better with any changes to your schedule or other obstacles.
If you have feedback, or have suggestions for new habits or ideas, please email us at kindspace@tltechsmart.com and let us know what you think!