THE CLIENT WISDOM BLOG PUBLISHED BY MBT MORE BUSINESS TODAY LLC
Has this ever happened to you? You eat one or two Doritos at a party, and within one week you are eating them daily? And while you are eating your bowl of Doritos waiting for your dinner to cook, you think, “I wish it was this easy to make myself exercise three times every week,” Sigh. Crunch.
I admit that Doritos are my gateway food. The fear of Doritos for me is real. Once I start eating Doritos, I fear, the door is open for Tombstone pizza and then ice cream of every kind. Many of us exhibit addictive behaviors when eating processed foods. That is actually true. So, how can I win the battle with Doritos and what does this have to do with business and leadership?
Mindset. Habits. Creating your own rhythms.
A number of my clients were at the halfway point in their sessions recently. The trend I see is how the work they do to shift their mindset after the first few sessions creates a rhythm that leads them toward developing new habits. The shift in mindset comes from reframing the way they view certain tasks. Rather than thinking about their development as something “extra” they have to do, they characterize the changes as part of their everyday life.
The key is mindset. How do you think about exercise? If you begin to see it as an everyday activity – I brush my teeth, then I lift weights, then I take a shower – the activity settles into your routine. It may create a syncopation before it incorporates itself into the orchestra that is your life. Patience. You are making new music, and it is all your own.
How does this work in the opposite direction? How do I undo the damage of daily Doritos? I reframe it in my mind. “Doritos are a sometime food,” just like the mantra the mom on Bob’s Burgers uses to break her pie habit. Not a forbidden food. Not a daily food. A sometime food. I need to repeat this mantra to myself over and over in my mind. My morning and evening routine do not include snacks, but they do include lifting weights and walking the dogs.
What habits do you need to adopt or remove from your daily rhythm? Start with mindset.
For more information contact Mary Balistreri, The Mindful Business Coach at mary@mbtmorebusinesstodayllc.com