Forming new habits then failing at them is an exhausting cycle.
One study showed that out of 41% of Americans who set resolutions in a year, only 9% followed through. ¹
Is there a habit you know would improve your health, but year after year, it feels impossible to stick to it?
Most of us have at least one thing we want to be doing – small or large – that we haven’t been able to make happen.
The science of human behavior is fascinating, and understanding it can help us integrate new habits and transform our lives in a measurable way.
Today we’re sharing the five factors that make habits stick… and that make the process feel more effortless.
Whether you apply these to your own life or use them to offer your clients a new perspective, these five keys are game-changing.
Let’s get into it…
1. A healthy body-field.
Your energetic blueprint – aka body-field – dramatically influences your physical and emotional health and energy.
Many of us have been culturally conditioned to blame ourselves when we can’t stick to habits, but the truth is that sometimes you simply don’t have the fundamental energy you need to make it all happen.
From the time you’re young, unhelpful patterns can get built into your body-field, making it mentally and physically difficult to follow through on healthy habits.
There can be trapped emotional events that are silently guiding your behavior, like shocks, traumas, and long-term stressors.
These factors can alter the body-field and lead us to respond to life based on our subconscious programming, rather than conscious choice.
To reclaim our power of choice, we need to reprogram the body-field – kind of like restoring your smartphone to factory settings.
The BioEnergetiX WellNES System – and especially the NES Infoceuticals and imprinted meditations – play a huge role in unblocking and reprogramming the body-field, so we can reach a place of conscious choice and healthy habits.
2. Meaning.
Our human biology – and primarily the subconscious mind – clings onto what feels normal… even if “normal” is not ideal.
To make a change in our behavior, especially in midlife or later, we need a very good reason.
When it comes to health, it’s often uncomfortable symptoms over a long period, or a scary wake up call, that gives us a good enough reason to make a change.
How can we make changes sooner than that?
When we become aware of the human tendency to cling onto what’s normal, and when we build energy in the body, we may be able to create momentum and stick to healthy habits more easily… before that wake up call comes.
As you’re forming a new habit, ask yourself why.
Get very clear on why you’re doing it and what it will mean for you.
How will you feel when you’ve been doing this habit for one month, three months, and six months?
How will it impact your health, relationships, and career?
When we aren’t clear within ourselves on exactly WHY we’re doing something, it’s hard to be consistent.
When we have a very strong reason, we’re more likely to stick to a new habit.
3. Intention.
What’s your intended outcome, in connection with this new habit?
Do you want to keep your health intact, heal a pressing health issue, grow your business?
HOW do you want to do that thing?
Will you hustle, or do you want it to feel easy and effortless?
When you decide how you want to go about doing something, and set yourself up for what it requires, both mentally and physically, it may feel easier to follow through.
4. Repetition.
A study from the European Journal of Social Psychology says that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit. ²
That number varies greatly because humans vary greatly.
How long a new habit will take you to form depends on your unique psychological makeup and lifestyle factors.
We do know that repetition helps.
When you do something over and over, it may become automatic and effortless.
Think back five years: Is there a habit you have now, that you didn’t have then?
Does it feel pretty easy at this point?
That’s the power of repetition.
5. Grace.
Humans are fallible.
None of us have perfect lives where we do all our habits every day and never make a mistake.
One of the things that can hold you back from forming a habit is beating yourself up when you don’t do it, rather than giving yourself grace.
If you always beat yourself up when you fail to do something, you may fall into a toxic cycle of being “on” or “off” the wagon.
This approach can work for a short time, but ultimately may lead you to get frustrated and give up.
Showing yourself grace while remaining anchored in discipline may increase your likelihood of following through on new habits.
A great example of this toxic cycle is diets.
Studies show that around 80% of diets fail.³
When you correct the body-field, find unique meaning, set clear intentions, and give yourself time to repeat healthy habits, nourishing your body feels much easier.
This is why so many people who use the BioEnergetiX WellNES System naturally stop engaging in behaviors that don’t serve them, like drinking alcohol, eating junk food, or avoiding exercise.
When we get to the root of habits, correct energy at the source, and show ourselves grace, we’re more likely to naturally let go of unhelpful habits and integrate new habits that serve us.
Coaching is all about letting go of old habits that aren’t working, and integrating new habits that make a real difference in our lives.
Bioenergetics is at the foundation of behavioral change, which is why we’re so excited to certify more Bioenergetic Health Coaches in 2023.
Do you, or your clients, struggle to form new habits?
If so, we hope these five keys for making habits stick help you this year.
Cheers,
Harry Massey
Founder, NES Health