TRYBE Tales - Weekly Wellness Edition

Wellness Wisdom Drops

FROM TRYBE

“The body achieves what the mind believes.” - Napoleon Hill

Decide who you are and your body will follow.

🧠 The Hard Stuff

Scene 1: It’s almost summer time and we’re overcome with a wave of fitness motivation, hitting the gym at 6am for two weeks straight, and buying clothes one size down to keep our eye on the prize. But we see no results, start running to the donut shop instead of to the finish line and tell ourselves we just aren’t the “fit-type” 🤷

But research in social psychology and neuroscience have shown that a shift in your mindset from outcomes-based to identity-based habit building could be a game changer in helping you build sustainable habits that actually take you towards your goal (and not towards the donut shop).

We tend to behave in ways that align with our self-identity, and our brains seek congruence between actions and our perceived sense of self. So when you tell yourself “I’m a fit type of person”, your cognitive dissonance muscles are motivated to align your behaviours to that self-concept. Meaning your subconscious self is optimizing your actions towards answering the question “what would a fit type of person do in this situation?”. Wow, did we basically just explain Machine Learning 🤖🤯 ? (Kinda, almost, not really)

🍦 The Soft Stuff

Let’s take a look at what happens when we focus on the outcomes - the “I just want a 6-pack” mindsets of our raging ego (for the record, my ego will always want this. No shame in this game).

Focusing solely on outcomes may lead to a more extrinsically motivated approach to physical wellness, which means we seek the external validation to feel the success. But I’m sure we can all recollect how external validation plays out - we work so hard for it, we get it, it feels good for 12 hours, then we forget all about it and wallow in a feeling of emptiness until we’re back on the next shiny object. We humans are so predictably adorable.

Focusing on targets can still be great, but without the identity behind it you may stop striving for growth once you achieve that first milestone, you don’t necessarily implement lasting lifestyle changes. In contrast, a health-conscious identity habit breeds intrinsic motivation driven by an internal, firey desire to align with your values and self-concept. That’s a much stronger foundation to build and grow in new, lasting ways.

It’s a lifestyle 😎

 1. Recipe for Success, by James Clear 🧠 

1. Decide the type of person you want to be. Many people aren’t sure where to begin as they usually focus on the results (like 6-pack abs). Start there and work backwards. Ask yourself “Who is the type of person that could get this outcome?”

2. Prove it to yourself with small wins. Perform small tasks that get you there. By collecting small wins, you’re training your brain to adopt the new identity and seek more opportunities for ‘wins’.

Outcome: 6-pack dazzling abs

Identity: I’m the type of person who never misses a workout

Small wins: Do 1-minute of planks every morning

 2. Surround Yourself with Experts 🧠 🍦

"The key, if you want to build habits that last, is to join a group where the desired behavior is the normal behavior." - wow, James Clear does it again!

If you want to accelerate your identity shift, join a group that embodies your identity. For example, want to adopt the “I am a runner” identity - join a runners club! Whether you barely scrape by a 1 minute job each week, or happen to crush 30 minutes daily, you are a runner, simply because you’re part of the gang.

3. Visual Queues 🍦

Sometimes we need all the reminders we can get of how spectacular we are, especially when we’re trying to create an identity - nbd right?!

Leaving visual queues to either remind you of your new identity or to take action (like do those morning planks) can be subtle but sneaky ways to reinforce the identity you’re building. Here’s some examples:

• I’m a runner: leave your running shoes in front of your door, put your running clothes on the top of the dresser, buy a running belt and hang it in the doorway

• I’m a healthy person: move your junk food to the highest shelf, keep your protein powder on the counter, put your gym membership on your fridge

What's something small you could do today to help reinforce your healthy identity? Do it!