Automaticity: The Birthplace of Habit

You can read this week’s newsletter here.

BELOW IS THIS WEEK’S BLOG ON AUTOMATICITY:

There is a term for why you put on your seatbelt or say please and thank you.

It’s called automaticity, and it’s the definition of how we create habit.

There are five areas you need for habit development:

  1. Tracking and goal setting

  2. Focusing on long-term benefits rather than short-term benefits

  3. Scheduling time for the habit

  4. Planning around obstacles and conditions

  5. Incorporating and preparing for challenges that might arise

If we are talking about fitness and health as your habit, then let’s use the above steps to create success.

If I were to create a fitness habit for a new client, here is how it would look:

  1. Empirical data. How many pushups can you do? How long does it take you to do 100 pushups? What is your 1K row time? What is your 5k run time? How many air squats can you do unbroken? Re-test every month or two, and WRITE IT DOWN!

  2. Do blood work and set up an appointment to have blood work done exactly a year later. Have a physician explain to you what the blood work says and how you rank, according to him or her. Increased cardiopulmonary fitness and lean-body mass will create beneficial data and will lead to long-term benefits.

  3. Four workouts per week. 200 workouts for the year. Each workout with its batting average next to it. 1/200, 2/200 etc. Put it into a calendar with reminders. 24 hrs before, 1 hour before, 15 minutes before.

  4. You will get sick, people you love will get sick, orthopedic catastrophes will happen on your mountain bike, and work travel will be a real thing. Thinking about these curves in the road ahead of time is a necessity. I constantly talk about the future, including these obstacles, during our sessions. We role-play scenarios, and I challenge clients to tell me how they will respond.

  5. When work travel arises, I challenge my clients to do 1000 pushups for that week. When they get sick, I challenge them to eat perfectly for the week. When they can’t lose weight, I challenge them to eat as little as possible and maybe even fast for a day or two.

These five steps are the birthplace of habit. We have a good number of folks who have completed four workouts per week for years, including the pandemic ones. They don’t consciously think about it at this point. It’s just what happens.

Once the habit is formed, it doesn’t need constant tending.

The goal of a coach or a program is to hold clients accountable for their positive habits.

This habit-forming program is probably the most satisfying thing that I do as a fitness/wellness professional.

Let me know if you need help.

TJ

Allison Belger