Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - How to Easily Create New & Healthy Habits that Last | Clutterbug Podcast #127

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

In today's episode, let's talk about the 5 critical steps to make any habit last. These steps really come down to knowing yourself and having the self-awareness to adapt your new habits so they effortlessly fit into your current lifestyle.  Get motivated, be more productive and achieve BIG things with these five simple steps.      You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's talk about building blocks. Let's talk about simple things that we can do to create habits that actually last. Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. Today we're talking about habits, creating new habits, creating healthy habits, and how we can actually take steps to create habits that will last. I think that's what we're all craving. We all have amazing ideas for trying new things and new things we want to implement. and maybe we last a day or a couple of weeks.

But how do we create real change? How do we create habits that even five years from now we still have that are healthy? And it seems so hard. It seems like we are pushing ourselves and trying to find motivation. And it seems like a battle that we just can't win. But I know there are some really simple steps that simplify it, that make it easy and actually attainable. So that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Habits are kind of the building blocks of our life. Gretchen Rubin says that they are the architect of designing our life and that 40% of our life is directly impacted by our daily habits. So whether we eat healthy or not is a habit, whether we work out is or not as a habit, whether we have a tidy house as a habit, whether we have a clean house as a habit. To achieve any of these goals, we need to have habits that don't feel like work in order to keep them up long term. Anyone can go in a diet, anyone can join a gym and go a couple of times. But how do we make this part of our daily life, our weekly life forever? How do we make this part of just our being? And that's creating a habit that we don't have to think about. But before we can create a new habit,

we need to really get clear on the why. Tony Robbins says having a clear vision for a new habit, making it a pull instead of a push is key. And what that means is creating a vision that is so, like you want it so bad that you're excited about doing it every day. So you don't need to find the motivation. Just visualizing that goal gives you the motivation to implement these new habits. And a push is something like, I have to lose 10 pounds. That's something that you have to find motivation to do. You have to push yourself to do. A pull is something that you feel drawn to. You want to do it. You can't stop yourself from wanting to do it. And the real difference between this sort of push and a pull is getting very clear on your why. So not I want to lose weight or I want to be a

couple of sizes smaller, but how about I want to feel incredible when I put on my summer dresses? I want to feel in control of my body. I want to be in control of my cravings. Right. That to me feels like, yeah, I do. I want to be the boss of myself. I don't want to let food and all of this other stuff control me anymore. I want to take back control. But you might have a different vision, right? You may have a different real why. Maybe you want to get healthy. Maybe you want to live to play with your grandkids and take them, you know, wrestle them on the beach or whatever. I don't know. Maybe you want to not just get into fitness, but maybe you want to run 5K or climb a mountain or go on a long hike on a trail. Have a real goal that's cool and it's exciting and it's a finish line

and it gets you like, yes, it's a clear vision. Not just a, I got to lose 10 pounds. I have to declutter my house. I have to. I have to. Where's the I want to? And it's a small shift in our mindset that is the difference between the pull and the push. So we have to focus on that. So for me, I really gave this a lot of thought. I kept saying, I want to simplify. I want to simplify. But when I really dig deep, what that means is I want to do less work because I want to have more time for nothing. I know that sounds ridiculous, but at my core, I feel frantic sometimes. I feel hectic. I feel like There's not enough time in the day. I feel like I'm rushing all the time. I really want to simplify my life. I want to make my life easier. So I want to envision a life where I don't have to do

anything if I don't want to. You know, I'm laying in a hammock. I'm just living a life that's more simplified. My weekends can be for relaxing, not for catching up on all the stuff that I couldn't do during the week. I want to simplify my life. I want to simplify my life. I want to work less and I want to make my life easier. And I'm excited about that. That seems awesome to me. So now I just have to figure out the steps to do that, which honestly, we're going to talk about those steps later, but it's decluttering. It's taking shortcuts. It's identifying my time suckers. It's saying no to things that I really don't want to do so that I have more time for the things that I do. And the other goal that I have for my life is I thought it was lose weight. I thought it was, and I did

lose weight. So I had weight loss surgery. I lost a lot of weight. But that wasn't it. That wasn't it. Because I still struggled with the underlying thing. And then I was like, I want to eat healthier. And for a long time, I was making really healthy choices. And then I was sliding back to old ways. And even when I was making healthy choices, if I really look at it, that's when I felt really good, because that's when I was in control of myself. So my real goal isn't I want to eat healthy, don't want to lose weight. My real goal is I want to feel in control of myself. I don't want to have things in my, I don't want to feel like I can't help but eat the cookies. Like I have no self-control and I just am eating the cookies. I don't want to feel like that anymore. I don't want to feel like

I'm like I want to go for a walk, but I just can't make myself do it. How am I not in control of my own body? When it really comes down to what I want is I want to be in control of myself, I want to feel in control of myself. I want to feel proud of myself that I'm not giving in to every impulsive whim. And that I can feel excited about. That's something that I'm like, yeah. I'm feeling excited about that. And the other thing is I want more adventure in my life. My life's pretty boring, you guys. And so these three things, I want to make my life easier. I want to simplify it. I want to feel in control and proud of myself when it comes to health and fitness. And I want more adventure and spontaneity in my life.

These are the things I'm going to focus on, but I want you to think right now of some sort of goals, some vision, some why that you want to accomplish. And then we'll start talking about habits and we'll start talking about how we can take that end goal, that vision, and we can step back

and we can look at the steps that we need to implement to get there. And those are the habits that we need to create. Those are the things we need to focus on. But before we can focus on new habits, we need to have a clear vision. We need to know our why and it has to feel exciting. It has to feel like a pull. Okay, so get some things in your mind, start thinking of things. And then let's talk about five simple steps that will make creating those new habits feel easier. I'm not going to say it's effortless because let's be honest,

creating new habits is hard work, but it's going to feel easier. And the likelihood of having real success is way higher when we have these building blocks. I want to take a second to thank Fun Jet Vacations for sponsoring today's video. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to start traveling again, and I want a vacation that's fun for the whole family, and I can get those from Fun Jet Vacations. Fun Jet Vacations offers vacation packages to all of my favorite destinations, like Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, Hawaii, and more. And it's my one-stop shop for all. all the vacation needs, including flights, hotels, transfers, and even excursions. After not being able to travel for a little while, I miss it so much.

It's not just the fun I'm having on the excursions or on the vacation, but it's all of those memories that I'm bringing home with me. Going on vacation just fills me with a deeper sense of well-being. It brings joy and downright fun to my life. For a limited time, you can use promo code FJ50 for $50 off your next fun day. Jet vacation. Get more moments that are fun expected. Surprise yourself with where you could go at funjet.com or call your local travel advisor. Restrictions apply. Okay, so let's start from the beginning. Before you can create a new habit and before you, even when you're thinking about your

vision, thinking about your end goal, the easiest way to get started is to make that goal, that new habit, part of your foundation. So what are the four foundations of your life? sleep, getting enough sleep, eat and drinking healthy, so eating and drink, getting enough water, eating healthy foods. The third is moving your body, getting some sort of exercise. And the fourth is having a clutter-free environment. And I didn't come up with these. These are actually Gretchen Rubin talks about these. Tony Robbins talks about all my favorite life gurus. They all say the same thing. Your foundation to have a successful, happy, productive, amazing life. You need to get enough sleep. You need to eat healthy, need to move your

body, and you need to have a clutter-free environment. And this doesn't mean you have to be a minimalist, but it does mean that you have to have an environment that you are in control of, that you are not living in absolute chaos. Because if your environment is chaotic, you are going to feel chaotic. So you need some semblance of organization. That's the first step in creating a habit is making sure that it sort of fits into one of those categories. but when I think about putting more adventure into my life, it doesn't really fit these categories. So that's probably not the one I should focus on first. I've got, you know, the decluttering down pat.

I joined a gym. I go to the gym multiple times the week. I'm getting enough sleep. I'm not eating and drinking healthy. I'm not drinking enough water. And I'm not making the best health choices when it comes to food that I should. So that is the one that I'm going to start with. Do one of the goals you had come to my?

mind. Do they fit into these four categories, the foundation of your life? Do they, do you want to go to bed earlier? Do you want to shut your screens off earlier and get more sleep at night? Do you want to eat healthier or drink more water? Do you want to exercise more? Or do you want to get your home under control? These are the really important fundamental things. So think about one of those or multiple ones of those and some habits we can create to help you achieve those goals. So the second step is knowing your tendency. So the four tendencies by Gretchen Rubin, I cannot tell you how important this is. Listen, this book is so insanely important. I think everyone should read it because we all have a different way that we meet expectations. And anytime you want to create a new habit, it's really putting a new expectation on yourself.

It's telling you, you're like, I'm going to do this thing, whatever. is. But how do you make yourself do that thing? Well, it starts with knowing what motivates you, knowing how to do that thing. So for me, I took the four tendencies test. You can go to Gretchenbrubin.com and check it out of the four tendencies. You can take the quiz online and there's lots of free resources if you don't want to buy the book. I mean, I'm not, this isn't like a sponsored post for her or something. I just, this book will change your life. Just knowing yourself, the free quiz will change your life because I am an obliger. And what that means is I don't meet inner expectations. I only meet outer expectations. I won't do something if I'm just doing it for myself.

I need to do it for somebody else. I need to show up for somebody else. So I have been saying for the past 20 years that I want to work out on a regular basis. I'm going to start running. I'm going to start doing this and I never do. I never follow through. I'll do it maybe for a couple of days and I'll give up. Why? I don't know. So this time around, I join the gym with Isabel, Abby, and Izzy's best friend Jenna. And I signed us all up. And because the four of us are going, somebody from this group, one person always wants to go. Sometimes none of us want to go, but we're going for each other. We go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm driving them.

I have to go. I'm their ride. I might as well work out while I'm there. I've not missed a day. This is crazy for me, okay? I've not missed a day, but I know this about myself. I know that I won't do something unless it's tied to somebody else. So you can take any of your goals and tie it to someone else.

You can say, if we eat healthy all this week, we will go to the park this weekend. Or if I do this, I will do that for you. or have a buddy, have a partner that you do these habits with. Or if I succeed this week, I will do something for someone else and let that person know. So they are holding you accountable. The second step is knowing your energy style. Know your energy style. No, if you're a morning person or a night person, I know I'm not a morning person, so I'm never going to say that I'm going to go to the gym or work out every morning. That's just not me. It's totally not me. I'm a night person. I got to do the big stuff at night. Know if you're an all or nothing person or you're slow and steady. Are you the type of person you're

just going to like bang stuff out and work till you get it done? Or do you need to pick away at things? Again, these will help you when thinking about new habits that you're creating. Make it realistic for your energy style. Know if you're a morning or an evening person. Know if you're a buster or not. And this is going to make design. your habit or coming up with your new habits a lot easier because you can schedule them around your energy level. Of course, I have to say the fourth step here is knowing your organizing style. Obviously, if one of your core things is to get your home under control, it's important to know your style, what works for you, what doesn't, and why. So you can take the free quiz on my website. It's clutterbug.com. And you can find out your organizing style and lots of different

tips and tricks and products that work for you because I guess all of these things, when you think about all of these things, it's all about knowing yourself better, understanding your natural tendencies so that you can adapt your new habits to work with those. Habits are hard enough as it is to create a new habit. Going against the grain, going against the way we naturally do things is going to make it impossible. So we have to adapt. We have to change and adapt and create a habit that slides into our life without complication. So again, going to the gym, making sure that I'm going with other people, tying it to other people, I'm their ride, I have to show up for them.

We have appointments three times a week. We're showing up for ourselves and each other, knowing that I have to do it in the evening after dinner, because that's when I have the most energy. Know your organizing style if it's part of your home. And the last step is knowing your current habits by monitoring them. Monitoring a habit is insanely powerful. And what I mean by this is just tracking your steps every day. Your phone can do this.

You don't even need a Fitbit or a tracker, your phone. Tracking your steps every day, taking a look at it, makes you want to walk more. Tracking your food with My Fitness pal, putting in everything that you eat, makes you want to eat healthier. tracking your sleep writing down every week how many hours you get of sleep at night 100% makes you sleep more tracking your spending there's a lot of apps i really love the app mint it tracks your spending for you just open that app every week and see what you're spending money on oh my gosh should i seriously spent 30 dollars on starbucks this week crazy pants crazy pants so monitoring that

monitoring your habits writing it down tracking them helps you at them helps you adapt helps you notice things you're like making changes okay why am I doing really great this week and I sucked this week well I was working more or I was I didn't meal plan this week and I meal plan last week where I'm out of town so why is it easier for me to do these things when I'm out of town than it is when I'm home we assess we look and then we adapt and we can't do that we can't really have that self-awareness about our habits if we're not monitoring them and the great thing is monitoring your habits, a lot of these things, there's apps for. Almost every type of new habit has an app to help

you monitor it, whether it's a cleaning checklist or a decluttering checklist or tidying things or my fitness pals. You can track your food and your workouts or track your money or your spending. Whatever it is, there's a way that you can monitor it. You can monitor how much TV you watch. You can look at your screen time and see how many hours a day you are on Facebook or TikTok, all of these things. you can monitor. And when you monitor it, you become aware. And when you're aware, that's when you can really take, you know, action to adapt and create a habit that's long lasting. Okay, so here's what we're going to do, you guys. We are going to do a 30-day challenge together. So I hope you've got a habit, a goal, a vision in mind, something new that you want to start implementing, not just for a little

while but forever. Go to bed earlier, start eating healthier, start working out, whatever it is. Let's do this for 30 days because you know 30 days of doing a habit means that you're more likely to be able to do this forever. It becomes like a habit that you don't even have to force yourself to do a natural habit. So remember to pick a foundation to know yourself in how you can implement this habit for success and then monitor that habit. So for me, My 30 day challenge is, it's bold, okay? You're ready for this? It's so bold.

I'm not going to have any sugar or simple carbs for the next month. The next 30 days, I'm not going to have, like I'm going to have fruit, so it'll be sugar in my fruit, but I'm not going to have candy or chocolate. And I'm not going to have simple carbohydrates like white bread or pasta. So I can have other carbohydrates like carbs that are in vegetables or fruit or even complex carbohydrates so maybe I'll have some whole wheat toast or something but that's it just cutting out white sugar and white carbohydrates I can do this this feels easy it feels simple and I feel like this is something that I can really achieve because it's part of my foundations right it's the eat or drink

healthy which is part of the foundation and I know myself I'm going to start monitoring I'm going to start writing down everything that I eat I know my energy style I'm an all or nothing person I'm not a, I'm going to do everything in moderation. I'm not a moderation person. I'm going to eat a little bit better. That doesn't work for me. I have to do all or nothing, so I have to cut stuff out. I have to say no sugar and I'm way more likely than just I'm going to have less sugar. Listen, I don't do self-moderation. I'm an all or nothing person, which comes from really knowing your energy style, knowing it, and adapting the habit. So think about your own. own life and think about a habit, a vision, a goal that you want to achieve and how can you

implement that for the next 30 days. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time.