Page 8 - Welless4Life_Chapter by Cassandra S. Shaw, Ph.D., CPC

Give Your Behavior A Boost

Making small habit changes can have a big wellness payoff. One book on changing your
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habits is by Charles Duhigg – The Power of Habit, which tells us we operate with a cue, a
routine, and a reward.

• Cue - some event makes you start craving a certain reward.

• Routine - a pattern of behavior (this is what you would change).
• Reward - the payoff you started craving when your cue set in.

You must know your reward for the cue – this is part of the craving. This will help keep you

doing the new routine or behavior in the future. If you do it just to do it because it sounds good,

then you’re likely to not keep up with the new habit. To make a small habit change, focus on the
routine, the behavior pattern. It’s how you answer the craving (your behavior) which would

change. Taking a cue (pun intended) from Duhigg, creating a new habit would look like this:

• Cue: You wake up in bed and roll on your back. You crave being completely alert.

• Routine: You swing your legs over the side of the bed. You start your stretches by
standing up tall with your arms overhead and taking a big breath.

• Reward: The deep breathing with the release of tension wakes up your body. By the time

you’re finished, you feel your blood flowing and you’re completely alert.

Give Your Mind Something Else to Think About

How’s your belief in yourself? Do you believe you can improve your wellness? Belief is all

in your mind. It is your mindset. Linda Graham's book Resilience: Powerful Practices for
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Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster describes two different
mindsets which greatly predict the likelihood of you accomplishing your goals.

6 Shea Publishing, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to
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Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. Links leading you to products or services are affiliate links which I will receive compensation for. This does not increase your cost.
Please note I have not been given any free products, services, or anything else by Amazon in exchange for mentioning them or linking to them. The only
consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions.
7 Shea Publishing, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to
earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon, the Amazon logo, AmazonSupply, and the AmazonSupply logo are trademarks of
Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. Links leading you to products or services are affiliate links which I will receive compensation for. This does not increase your cost.
Please note I have not been given any free products, services, or anything else by Amazon in exchange for mentioning them or linking to them. The only
consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions.