Life Hack #2: Making Habits Stick

A familiar pattern

“New year, new you!”
“Today is the start of the rest of your life!”
“Turn over a new leaf!”
“It’s a fresh start!”
“A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.”

Oh, how easy it sounds. ‘Just add water’ and your life will change for the better. Just make a simple decision and you will be surrounded by unicorns and rainbows, blithely skipping down the yellow brick road.

We’ve all had those moments of clarity where we vow to ourselves that we’re going to make that change that will finally impact our quality of life. Join the gym. Quit booze. Start running. Cut the sugary snacks and eat more fruit and veg. Meditate.

Day one: nailed it.
Day two: got half-way there but then got interrupted. Will be better tomorrow.
Day three: this is stupid and impractical. I give up. (Cue self-loathing).

Sound familiar?

And why is it that we keep our bad habits and don’t quit them, but we find it so hard to embed new habits that are good for us?

Time to consult the expert

Dr Sean Young is Director of the Institute for Prediction Technology at the University of California. He applies his vast psychology background to the area of behaviour and has worked with the likes of NASA.

According to Young, there are three types of behaviour; Automatic, Burning and Common.

It’s the ‘burning’ and ‘common’ behaviours that bring about the most change. ‘Burning’ behaviours are those you are aware of, but it feels like you can’t quit them. Often quite addictive in nature, like obsessively checking your phone.

‘Common’ behaviours are those we are aware of, but we find hard to stick to, such as exercising regularly or eating well every single day.

Okay, so we need to find tools to embed habits to create behaviour change. But how?

Look no further! Dr Young has come up with a funky anagram that spells SCIENCE, no less!

• S – Step-ladders: break your goals down. This helps you stay motivated.
• C – Community: find others who want to do the same thing, in person or online
• I – Important: why is this important? Dig deep. Find your why!
• E – Easy: find ways to remove barriers from following through. Block your diary or set reminders. Lay your gym clothes out the night before.
• N – Neuro-Hacks: mindset is everything. We need to change our thinking if we want behaviour to change. Maybe there is truth to ‘fake it till you make it’ afterall?
• C – Captivating: Treat yo’self! Give yourself little rewards for each milestone you achieve.
• E – Engrained: This is what will happen to your new habits if you follow the above steps!

“In general, the more of them that you use, the more likely you are to stick with things.” – Dr Sean Young.

Simple, daily nutrition

At Nutrient Rescue, we are obsessed with life hacks. Working smarter rather than harder. Finding the most effective and easiest ways to get the best results.

We know that great nutrition is the key to good health, but we also know that cramming in the recommended five to TEN a day good quality fruit and veg is nigh on impossible in our hectic lives. Never mind trying to get the variety of nutrient-dense fruit and veg our bodies so desperately need.

So, we harvested the best quality, most nutritious NZ-grown superfoods, removed the water and powdered them to take as Shots every morning - boom! There’s four serves right there in that amazing Double Shot! And down the hatch in three seconds.

Leave your Shots in sight so you’ll take them every day.

Daily is key here, as the benefits that come from great nutrition are down to getting the right amount and variety of nutrients on a daily basis.

So commit to 30 days straight to embed the habit and see visible results.

And remember - if you join our Auto-renew family, not only will you get 15% off every order you make, your shots will be delivered on time every 30 days - so you'll never run out! Helping you to make that daily habit stick like glue.