Habits

What are habits? Good? Bad? Whenever I think of a habit I think in the negative, watching too much TV, being too addicted to my device, and eating terrible food from drive thru's that they inevitably always get wrong. But the more I read about habits I have become more interested in the motivation behind them. It is defined as a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

How can I change bad habits that happen on a subconscious level? It seems impossible at first, like getting up early, being mindful of my eating habits, listening to my body when it says I'm full, exercising regularly, learning something new, or reading more.

In my recent reading (or my case listening) I came across a book called 'The Power of Habit' and learned that habits are the core of our everyday life. From the moment we wake up - be it 5 am or 12pm, drink coffee or not - they are perpetual acts that we ritualize.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is, 'The difference between who you are and who you want to be is defined by want you do.'

That one sentence to me is profound. I have slide on to habits that are terrible, sleeping in till I'm literally dressing myself and pulling my hair into a sloppy ponytail before heading to work and inevitably being 10 or 15 minutes late. That defines me as a person, eating terribly to the point the pounds have crept on at an astonishing rate, and staying up till late into the night and wondering why I'm so tired the next day.

However what do I want to be? I want to be a person who is defined as productive, early to work, well dressed, put together, and an early riser, as well as someone who goes to sleep at a reasonable hour.

But how do I get to that point? What must I do to build good habits, ones I want to last that will benefit my health? Consistent effort, and according to the book, rewarding outcomes to my subconscious. Like my mom's way of potty training me, (yes, I'm going there for an illustration) for a week she said that she sat me on the toilet, if I went I got a piece of candy. So what happened? Two weeks after she started I was potty trained.

So one new habit here I come:

5 am wake up call, and a glass of water. My reward? A cup of joe...

So since this will be like a personal journal, I will be tracking my weight and other stats on each post so I can see my progress.

Stats to track my progress:

Starting weight: 226 lbs
Measurements coming tomorrow... (Sorry guys I ain't no 32-28-30...obviously... -_-)
Dress size: 14-16 in women's