How to Build a Powerful Mindset

Ever wondered how to keep a habit going after you've gotten past the initial excitement of committing to it?

Maybe you want to lose weight, get outside more, have better conversations with the people you care about, work on your business, or any number of goals.

And after that first rush of inspiration, you start to lose steam over time - New Year Resolutions anyone?

Maybe you've had an experience like mine recently where I committed to a new eating protocol and stuck with it for 5 months, losing 25 pounds, before I fell off the bandwagon for a while.

Getting derailed from your habits is a normal part of change.

It's also not as big of a deal as we make it out to be to get back on track.

There's a simple mindset trick you can use to help yourself continue to make progress over time:

Add more helpful, powerful thoughts to your mindset.

I'm not talking about thinking positively and everything will work out. I don't subscribe to positivity rooted in denying the reality of a situation.

What I AM saying is that you can have thoughts that serve you well and then add more.

James Clear in his fabulous book, Atomic Habits, compares following through on a habit to voting.

I'm paraphrasing, but the idea is you don't need all of your thoughts to be a "yes" vote for the new habit, you just need a majority of "yeses" to overpower the "nos" of your objections so you can do the thing.

Your mindset is the thing that will make or break you getting what you want vs. staying stuck where you are. Voting more "yeses" is how you build up a powerful mindset too.

If you have enough helpful, beneficial thoughts to outweigh your inner critic, your doubts, or your resistance in the moment, you make headway.

Here's an example.

When I started my new protocol, my main thought was, "I want to be someone who can do hard things."

That was really motivating to me. I had previously let myself off the hook and given myself a lot of slack to wriggle out of things I really wanted to do - and made myself miserable not following through.

Committing to being someone who's willing to do something hard in order to get something I really want appeals to my sense of self.

And it worked! That's why I went 5 months without any slips and lost a bunch of weight.

Then I travelled, spent a holiday with family, and celebrated a major relationship milestone, and my protocol slowly got pushed to the side.

I put back on 5 pounds before I got myself back on the bandwagon.

The weight isn't relevant to the goal, but it is relevant to the idea that you don't have to drop back to where you started to get back on the bandwagon.

Get back on track at any time, whenever you're ready.

Getting back on track required more than this original thought, "I want to be someone who can do hard things," because I'd already proven to myself that I could do hard things. It didn't motivate me the same way.

The thought that I added was, "I want to be stronger than my urges."

It was about feeling like I had command of myself again. I'd already done the hard thing, now it's about fighting a particular obstacle I know trips me up in the moment.

I'm putting more "yeses" into my voting box for the habit I want to keep, and those outweigh the "no"s.

The voting sounds a lot like this:

Nos

"F*** it! I don't want to follow the rules today. I want to indulge."

"I've had a tough few days, and I want something easy."

"I'll get back on protocol tomorrow."

Yeses

"I'm the kind of person who does hard things for something I want."

"I'm stronger than my urges."

"I've made it through before, and I can do it again and again."

"I'm worth taking seriously."

"It's hard at first, but it gets easier."

More yeses than nos means I'm back on protocol and not overindulging in sweets and treats.

Notice that I didn't say, "I'm all powerful and can totally curb my cravings" or "Eating well is easy" because eating well ISN'T always easy for me.

Cravings can be hard for me, and I acknowledge that while reminding myself that I can work through them anyway.

What does this look like for you?

What are some powerful, helpful thoughts about your habit that you can start putting in the "yes" column to beat out those resistant "no"s?

Comment below and let me know. I'd love to hear how you're leveling up your mindset a step at a time.

Big, warm vibes your way,

<3 Steph

Want some help figuring out your "no" thoughts that are keeping you stuck so you can decide your "yes" thoughts to get what you want? Work with me, and I can help you make positive progress in your life in big and subtle ways. Book your free consultation here to get started.