Let’s get back to the conversation on steeping ourselves in a habit. 
If you missed the earlier posts, this is #3.

Post 1: The Habit of Habit
Post 2: How to Steep Yourself

OK, here is the deal.
You identified your goal. (Post 1: The Habit of Habit)
You identified your habit. (Post 2: How to Steep Yourself)

You get that if you steep yourself in that habit, your biochemistry, your culture will shift. And get that if we all do that, as a larger culture, we keep getting better.

It’s exciting, in it’s own humble way, our little new habit, isn’t it?

Did you do it yesterday? I hope so. I did mine. Mary called me and said she did hers. And I received about 100 emails and facebook/instagram posts from others reading this series that they did their habit (#bodythrive).

So, we’re evolving culture one micro-habit, done daily, at a time.

But, here is the crux: to actually automate this habit that we’ve never had, we need to let it change us. We need to tap into our own plasticity of form. Think “Plasticman”. We need to be shape-shiftable enough to become that person who has that habit.

For example, you’ll recall my new goal is to Stick to a work plan in 2016 that reaches my goals. My new habit is Spend the first 10 minutes of my work day reviewing my weekly plan and planning my day.

Now, if I think of someone who has that habit – who actually spends the first 10 minutes of their work day reviewing their weekly plan – it’s not me. Nope. I’m not really that kind of girl, if you know I mean. I was very late in life to start using a calendar at all. I like to plan, but stick to a plan? That is for dorks. Or geeks. Or those uber-organized, left-brained, people with desk jobs.

I want you to do this exercise. Think of the kind of person who has automated your nascent habit. What kind of person is that? How are you not that person yet? Write down 5 adjectives describing that person. Choose words that are the stretch between who you are without that habit, and who the person is that has automated the habit you want.

For my example, 5 words that pop up are:

• organized
• geeky
• boring
• book-smart
• rigid

Now, I would never describe myself with those 5 words. But, in the words of habit expert, James Clear, “The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first. Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity. What you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously).”

That, my friend, is pure genius from James. So, in following suit, I need to create a new identity around being a bit more organized, geeky, boring, book-smart and rigid.

What is particularly amusing about this, is it sounds fun to me. Yes, being a little more boring is a pursuit I’ve never entertained in my business. After 2015, packed with doubling the team, increasing revenue, adding the Ayurveda Summit, and self-publishing and releasing Body Thrive, boring sounds enticing.

Even rigid sounds intriguing. I’ve never been rigid. Intense, yes – that I have been. Rigid? Not so much. I wonder what it would be like to be a little more rigid, especially in regard to my new morning 10 minute habit.

Your 5 words will serve as guiding lights to your goal. As you steep yourself in a new habit, it becomes you. It changes you. And you become more of the opposites of this magnificent world. In the words of yoga, the opposites, these opposite qualities enable you to be beyond the elements or nishprapanchaya. Truly liberated while in form.

Or, more simply put from James Clear, ““To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself.”

More soon,
Cate 
p.s. a reminder: If you missed the  New Year’s Day for the Better Body Habits in 2016 *free* webinar you can still get it. Register here: http://bodythrive.com/habits-2016. And, if you like this post, you’ll love my Body Thrive book.