Author: Jorge Martinez

How to Break Bad Habits that Damage Your Brain

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
How to Break Bad Habits that Damage Your Brain

A rational person would assume that the country with the most gyms in the world would also be one of the fittest.

The irony is that the US leads with over 40,000 gyms but only 23% of Americans get enough exercise. The fittest country in the world is one of the poorest and is not even in the rankings. People in Uganda don’t have to go to gyms because they already get plenty of exercise during their workday. 1

Ugandans like Jennifer Namulembwa and Abiasali Nsereko can’t afford to own a car and have to walk everywhere. Their daily life demands that they stay active. 2

Jennifer works as a cleaner in Kampala and spends over three hours per day walking to work. She does it five days a week but would rather ride in a car or motorcycle if she could afford one.

Abiasali is also very active and spends up to eight hours a day on his feet. He is a sixty-eight year-old Ugandan farmer who wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to milk his cows and grow all the food he eats.

When it comes to being healthy there is a difference between “need” in order to survive and “want” because I desire. For Jennifer and Abiasali it is not a matter of choice to be fit but a financial necessity.

In contrast most people in wealthier countries drive to work and spend their day sitting. Their only choice to be active is to exercise.

The words “need” and “want” don’t have the same meaning.

Difference Between Needs and Wants

Over the last fifty years our habits have changed significantly.

The majority of people today don’t have physically demanding jobs and the main staple of most meals is not vegetables. By relying on motivation and willpower, we treat exercise and eating healthy as things “we want” instead of necessities.

The average American today spends three hours daily watching television and over two hours on social media. Yet, a recent survey revealed that most people don’t exercise because they are tired, don’t have time, or are too busy working. 3

According to the CDC, sitting too much is just a part of the problem.

Only ten percent of adults eat enough fruits and vegetables. Instead, more than half of our total daily calories come from ultra-processed foods. These foods are low in nutrients and high in sugar, oil, and salt. And very addictive.

Due to the drastic shift in our habits, the US obesity rate jumped from 15% in the 1970s to over 40% today. And this number just keeps rising! 4

A sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition are not only problems found in the US. Over 800 million people in the world are considered obese.

Unfortunately, our bad habits don’t only harm our bodies. Every habit has a direct effect on the brain for better or for worse.

How Bad Habits Hurt the Brain

Your brain needs oxygen, nutrients, rest, and hydration for peak performance. Without these four key essentials your brain becomes weak and ineffective.

According to a 2009 study, it takes at least 2 months for a simple behavior to become automatic. But complicated habits can take 9 months to fully develop.

Unfortunately, not all habits are created equally.

Bad habits damage the brain and impair decision making. They are also easy to form because they reward us immediately. Watching television, eating junk food, and using social media are all easy to do, fun, and addictive.

On the contrary, good habits require patience and effort. They take much longer to form since they pay off in the future. The reward we receive from exercising and eating healthy becomes visible only after we invest a significant amount of time and energy. The fact is good habits require conscious effort.

Our bad habits are effortless.

And once we develop a bad habit, it becomes a vicious cycle that damages the brain. It impacts the daily choices we make by hurting our thinking, learning, and memory. And the weaker the brain is, the harder it is to form good habits.

When we eat fast food instead of a salad we neglect the brain of nutrients. By using social media instead of getting sleep we don’t give the brain enough rest. By sitting on the sofa instead of exercising we give the brain less oxygen. And by drinking soda instead of water the brain does not receive proper hydration.

Every day we are surrounded by products and services that are engineered to keep us addicted to our bad habits. It is simply much easier to stick with an old habit than replace it with a new one. Even the old habit is self-destructive.

The only way to create lasting change is to treat good habits differently.

How to Make Better Decisions

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset to explain how you can develop your talents and skills through experience and hard work.

The fact is there is nothing about you that is fixed.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your brain grows through effort, learning, and experience.

Unfortunately, not all habits are created equal.

When we eat processed foods instead of a salad we don’t get enough nutrients. By staying up late using social media instead of resting we cut down our sleep. By sitting on the sofa instead of exercising we neglect to get more oxygen. And by drinking soda instead of water we don’t receive proper hydration.

Chronic stress, too much sitting, excessive sugar, and lack of sleep make the brain weak and ineffective. These bad habits impact the daily choices that we make by hurting our thinking, learning, and memory. And the weaker the brain, the harder it is for us to replace our bad habits with good ones that stick.

Because your habits are stored in your subconscious mind, changing them is not an easy process. It takes conscious effort to create lasting change.

Giving your brain power will help you to make better decisions.

Understanding Needs and Wants

This is why it is important to differentiate between a need and a want. The way you think about your habits is important because good habits will never become easy to do. Good habits can’t compete against bad habits that are easy to do and provide immediate rewards. And will always require more effort and planning.

But if you develop the right mindset you can make good habits stick.

Your brain needs a ton of energy to process information and make decisions. It requires nutrients, oxygen, rest, and hydration to function properly. Exercising, eating vegetables, getting quality sleep, and drinking water are not optional. Your brain needs these four essentials. They should be treated as needs and not wants. Otherwise, your mental and physical wellbeing is negatively impacted.

If you develop the right mindset building healthy habits is not hard. When you treat a healthy habit as a necessity it becomes easier to commit to repeating it even if life gets busy or it requires substantial effort.

By giving your brain the energy it needs, it can process information quickly and perform at its optimal level. If you don’t, your brain will lack to the power to make good decisions. And it will be too weak to make good decisions.

The only way to master your habits is to keep your mind sharp. A mindset focused on growth is key to making better decisions and living your best life.

Are You Focused on Growth?

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset to explain how you can develop your talents and skills through experience and hard work. The fact is there is nothing about you that is fixed.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your mind grows when you develop your talents and skills through effort, learning, and experience.

Even if you grew up believing that your intelligence, talents, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot grow you can develop a growth mindset.

Change the way you think and you will be able to grow your mind.

Why and How to Track Growth

To track your habits and measure growth, a mindset tracker is an effective and simple tool you can use.

It is similar to a habit tracker since you just need to mark an X on a calendar each day you stick with your routine. But by subtracting your bad habits from your good habits you can visually see if you are growing or harming your brain.

I created the Mindset Tracker below to make this process as easy as possible:

Healthy habits like exercising and eating more vegetables help your brain to grow and keep your mind sharp. While unhealthy habits like eating junk food and watching too much television harm your brain and hurt decision making.

Habit tracking works because it keeps you motivated and reminds you to act. Keeping track of how your good and bad habits affect your brain will also make it easier for you to grow your mind and make better decisions.

By tracking your habits each month, you can review your progress and make any necessary adjustments in the new year.

The Mindset Tracker will even show you if “You Have a Growth Mindset!” or if “You Have a Fixed Mindset” to ensure that you stay focused on growth.

Are You Ready for Battle?

To fulfill your potential and live your best life, you will need energy, strength, a focused mind, and good habits. You will need a healthy brain that is functioning at its optimum level to maximize brain power and make better decisions.

And the weaker your brain is, the harder it is to form good habits. This negative cycle becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since a weak brain lacks the power necessary to form healthy habits that stick.

By rewiring your mind for growth, you can boost your brain power and improve the quality of your decisions. And making better choices changes your destiny.

Your brain can help you achieve amazing things in life if you take care of it. This is why the first step to breaking bad habits is to focus on your brain health.

Sleep also plays an essential role in the function of your brain.

By removing toxins that build up in the brain during waking hours, quality sleep maintains neural pathways. A good night’s rest improves your learning, memory, focus, productivity, and overall performance.

However, if you don’t give your brain the rest it needs you impair your ability to think clearly and make decisions. By sleeping less than five hours per night you can damage your brain and double your risk of developing dementia.

Learn more: Brain Power: How to Boost Your Intellectual Ability

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Footnotes
  1. The country with the most gyms is the United States with 41,370 locations. Nicholas Rizzo (October 2021), 200+ Gym Industry Statistics 2021 [Global Analysis].[↩]
  2. Jennifer Namulembwa spends an hour-and-a-half walking to work, five days a week. BBC News (September 2018), Why Uganda is the ‘world’s fittest country’.[↩]
  3. 48% said they’re too busy from work and other obligations to exercise. Ben Renner (November 2019), Half of Americans want to exercise, but don’t have time.[↩]
  4. After holding at 15%, the obesity rate shot up beginning in the 1980s, reaching 35% in the mid-2000s. Lane Kenworthy (May 2012), Why the surge in obesity?[↩]
Brain Anatomy, Decision Making, Habits Guide

Brain Power: How to Boost Your Intellectual Ability

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
Brain Power: How to Boost Your Intellectual Ability

As an expert on habits, I used to believe that our habits mostly affected our bodies. I was wrong. Our brain, mind, and habits are all interconnected.

For example, healthy eating habits contribute to brain growth. By giving your body the nutrients it needs you can boost your focus, improve memory, and slow cognitive decline. 1

On the other hand, a high sugar diet will impair your thinking, memory, and learning. High glucose levels affect mental performance and can cause your brain to atrophy or shrink. 2

Every habit you have has a direct effect on your body and your mind.

But your habits do not control your life. Your brain controls everything that you think and do. It is your body’s command center. And controls all your thoughts, emotions, memory, speech, reasoning, movement, breathing, and temperature.

Your brain impacts every decision that you make in life. It is your responsibility to protect it at all costs and not damage it. Instead treat it as your most valuable asset and do whatever you can to make it more powerful.

What is Brain Power?

The brain has about 86 billion nerve cells called neurons. How those neurons are connected directly affects the quality of the decisions that we make.

Your brain power is measured by adding the number, size, and strength of all the neural connections in your brain. It is defined as your intellectual ability. And contrary to old beliefs, your level of intelligence is not fixed at birth.

Thanks to neuroplasticity your brain is always changing and growing.

When you were born the neurons in your brain were disconnected and unable to communicate with each other. But they quickly connected with one another based on any experiences you had. These connections form at junctions called synapses and control everything that you do.

Synaptic connections allow you to learn and adapt to every new experience. Your brain also prunes connections if you don’t use them. Synaptic pruning helps you become more efficient by getting rid of connections that you don’t need and reinforcing those connections that you actually use.

The more you do something the stronger a connection becomes. This is how you form habits. And why things get easier over time with practice.

Why is this important?

You can grow your brain just like any muscle. And while good habits make your brain stronger and increase your mental performance. Bad habits will damage your brain and negatively impact your decisions.

The Brain Power Loop

Your brain is more complex and more powerful than a supercomputer. Every experience that you have changes it and affects its performance.

For example, your brain consumes a lot of energy. It requires plenty of oxygen to think and process information. When you exercise you increase blood flow to your brain and create new neurons critical for memory and learning.

Running and biking does not only make you fit. It also increases your brain’s plasticity and improves your memory, focus, and thinking skills. Exercise raises your IQ far more than any mind game by giving your brain the oxygen it needs. 3

The opposite is also true.

Sitting too much can cause thinning in your brain. A sedentary lifestyle does not give neurons enough oxygen for them to function properly. And can gradually lead to cognitive decline, memory loss, and dementia. 4

Your brain, mind, and habits are all connected in a loop.

If you choose your habits wisely they help you master the world around you. Good habits energize your brain, increase efficiency, and maximize your potential. But bad habits weaken your brain and hurt decision making.

You are the architect of your brain in charge of powering it up.

The Brain Power Hierarchy

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow published one of the most popular theories of human motivation. According to Maslow, people have basic needs that must be met before they can pursue other important needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that people have to meet their physical needs such as food, water, shelter, and sleep before focusing on their personal growth. Social, emotional, and self-actualization needs are important but a person will usually pursue their immediate needs first.

When it comes to brain health, it is important to follow a similar hierarchy. Your brain has basic needs that should be fulfilled before pursuing further growth.

Oxygen and nutrients are critical for your brain because it is an energy-hungry organ. It uses 20 percent of the oxygen you breathe and energy you consume. The best way to give your brain more power is to focus on the four essentials: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and water.

Exercise acts as a fertilizer for your brain by growing neurons (neurogenesis) and protecting existing ones from stress. Even walking briskly for 30 minutes will increase the levels of a protein called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which is vital for cognitive performance, memory, and learning.

Your brain also needs key vitamins and minerals to function properly. Leafy green vegetables are power foods that increase blood flow and metabolize nutrients for energy.

Sleeping well reorganizes and recharges your brain. And drinking plenty of water hydrates neurons and helps them to communicate better.

Challenge Your Brain to Grow It

Once your basic needs are met, there are many ways to grow your brain.

Your brain is designed to become stronger and more powerful the more you use it. The key to reaching your potential is to make a commitment to acquire new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis. By making learning a lifelong habit, you can increase your intellectual ability.

By learning a new skill or starting a side business, your mind is forced to work harder. Hard work and learning challenge your brain and change it. Neurons multiply and form new connections every time you learn something new.

It is important to also form strong relationships to keep your brain healthy. Studies show that socializing stimulates attention and memory. Spending time with family and friends will help to strengthen neural connections.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your brain grows through effort, learning, and experience.

Reading is one of the best ways to exercise your brain and keep your memory sharp.

The goal is to form habits that unlock your full potential. Reading, meditating, journaling, and using your creativity are good ways to do that.

How to Reach Your Full Potential

Whatever skill you want to build, you are born with the ability to master it.

The phrase “Use it or Lose it” was coined by neurologist Marian Diamond to refer to what happens to the brain if it is not exercised. Her research shows that the brain continuously shrinks and expands depending on our experiences.

Just like the brain has the potential to grow, it can shrink if it is not challenged. Without enough oxygen, nutrients, rest, and hydration it can’t function properly. And when neurons are not used they lose their connections and deteriorate. 

People that have a growth mindset put in the time necessary to learn a new skill. They accept that failure is a part of the learning process and see mistakes along the way as lessons to learn from and master.

Likewise, if you are going to fulfill your purpose in life you must first believe that you can be successful by working hard and developing your talents. Even if you grew up believing that your intelligence, talents, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot grow you can develop a growth mindset.

Change the way you think to maximize your potential.

Learn more: How to Break Bad Habits Damaging Your Brain

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Footnotes
  1. Research shows the best brain foods are the same ones that protect your heart and blood vessels. Harvard Health (March 2021), Foods linked to better brainpower.[↩]
  2. You’re also at risk of brain shrinkage in areas associated with memory and thinking. Harvard Health (December 2012), High blood sugar linked to brain shrinkage.[↩]
  3. Exercise boosts your memory and thinking skills both directly and indirectly. Harvard Health (February 2021), Exercise can boost your memory and thinking skills.[↩]
  4. Sitting too much linked to changes in a section of the brain critical for memory. Leigh Hopper (April 2018), Researchers link sedentary behavior to thinning in brain.[↩]
Brain Anatomy, Decision Making, Habits Guide

Mindset Tracker Guide: The Best Way to Track Your Habits

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
Mindset Tracker Guide: How to Best Track Your Habits

To master your habits, one powerful thing you can do is to use a mindset tracker. It is similar to a habit tracker but it also measures how your daily habits are affecting your brain.

Here’s why measuring brain health is important:

Habit trackers have been around for years and some of the most successful people in the world use them to track their daily, weekly, and monthly habits.

However, many habits contribute to poor brain health. Too much sitting, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and chronic stress all have damaging effects on the brain and harm our ability to make good decisions.

Most habit trackers don’t measure the negative effects bad habits have on the brain. On the other hand, a mindset tracker will easily show you if your daily behavior is keeping your mind sharp or damaging your brain.

Why the Brain is Important

The brain is the most valuable organ in the human body. It controls memory, communication, problem solving, decision making, and all of the body’s functions. What you do every single day has a direct effect on your brain’s structure. Your habits can literally change your brain for better or worse.

While your good habits grow your brain and make it stronger. Your bad habits harm your brain and make existing neural connections in your brain weaker.

If you don’t sufficiently challenge your brain by learning new skills it will eventually deteriorate and shrink with age. If your brain doesn’t get proper nutrition, exercise, rest, and hydration it can’t function properly.

And anything that happens to your brain will directly affect your health and your intellectual ability. By tracking the impact your habits have, you can make better life choices and learn how to grow your brain.

This is where a mindset tracker can be a useful tool.

How to Use a Mindset Tracker

A mindset tracker measures whether you did a habit like a habit tracker. Each day you complete a task you just cross it off.

But it also measures your brain health similar to the way a profit and loss statement (P&L) measures the health of a business. The best part is it does that automatically so you don’t have to do anything else. It is that easy to use.

Successful entrepreneurs use a P&L to determine if they are profitable or if they are bleeding cash. Over time a business that does not have a healthy P&L will run out of money and close its doors. It is an essential tool entrepreneurs use every day to make better decisions.

While a P&L deducts expenses from revenues to determine net income, a mindset tracker deducts bad habits from good habits to arrive at net growth. By measuring whether your daily habits are growing your brain or harming it, you can make better decisions to optimize your brain health.

A healthy brain will keep you mentally sharp and improve your learning, memory, and cognitive function. On the other hand, an unhealthy one can decrease your quality of life and lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Every decision you make will impact your brain. So choose your habits wisely.

I created the mindset tracker below to help you make better choices. Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

Step #1: Add Habits You Want to Track

First, add the habits you want to track. You need to include the habits you want to build at the top of the tracker and the habits you want to break at the bottom.

For every good habit that you want to build you probably also have to break a bad habit. A person that wants to walk 30 minutes daily but watches too much television needs to give up screen time for walking. A person that eats fast food often and wants to eat healthier will need to give up a burger for a salad.

You can track as many habits as you need to but manual tracking should be limited to your most important habits. It is better to consistently track a few habits than struggle to track 10 or more habits.

Step #2: Mark an X if You Do the Habit

Every day that you stick with a habit you just mark on X on the calendar. You also need to mark an X if you do a bad habit that you want to avoid.

The objective is to get your calendar filled with as many good habits (green) as possible and to avoid bad habits (red).

By providing the brain with more oxygen, exercise helps your brain grow.

Step #3: Review Progress Each Month

Daily exercise also protects the brain from aging and neurodegenerative diseases by making it stronger. And best of all it’s free.

4. Get Plenty of Quality Sleep

Sleep deprivation and busyness used to be considered a badge of honor in our society especially among entrepreneurs. But in recent years more people are realizing that lack of sleep leads to impaired judgment and poor decisions.

In fact lack of sleep can harm your brain and lower your resistance to stress. Researchers also believe that depriving your brain of sleep impairs your ability to focus and learn efficiently. 1

Your brain needs sleep as much your body needs water and food. According to neuroscientists, sleep restores the brain and can help improve your learning, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and creativity.

Getting at least 7 to 8 hours of regular quality sleep boosts brain health and is critical to cognitive function. It also gives your brain a deep clean by flushing out toxins that build during waking hours. 2

Your mind needs sleep to think. Without enough of it you can’t form or maintain the neuron connections that let you learn and create new memories. 3

So instead of working harder focus on the quality of work you do.

5. Enjoy a Big Bowl of Vegetables

According to the CDC, 90% of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Instead, ultra-processed foods make up over 50% of what we eat. Half our total calories come from foods that are low in nutrients and high sugar, oil, and salt. 4

Eating vegetables is not only essential to maintain a healthy weight but we need them to boost brain function and keep the mind sharp. Research shows that green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, collards, kale, and broccoli improve memory and slow cognitive decline.

Vegetables also prevent many chronic diseases. They are full of disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that actually help you live longer. People who eat 7 or more daily portions of fresh vegetables reduced their overall risk of death by an incredible 42 percent. 5

Vegetables pack a powerful punch and are irreplaceable. Eating them is one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy and give your mind the power it needs.

By using the 50 Percent Rule you can make eating vegetables a habit.

6. Do What Gives You Passion

Everyone is different. Your talents and passions are unique to you. And doing what you love will not only make you happier but it will also change your brain.

Research shows that when you perform activities you enjoy you have less stress, a lower heart rate, a better mood, and a positive attitude. Learning something new also challenges your brain and helps your mind to grow stronger.

During a recent study, neuroscientists observed that people who are passionate about what they do are more motivated and willing to work harder. Doing what you love is important since mastering a skill is difficult and it takes time.

Passion is what gives you the fuel to stay the course during difficult times. When you push yourself to overcome challenges it forces your mind to think and grow.

Practicing new and challenging activities that energize you also make you mentally stronger.

7. Build Strong Social Connections

Feeling socially connected is more important than ever today. Especially since loneliness increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.

Research shows that strong social relationships are crucial to your brain health. In fact, getting together with friends protects you from depression, boosts your memory, and strengthens neural connections in your brain.

Loneliness has the opposite effect and can hasten cognitive decline due to a lack of intellectual stimulation.

Take some time off and spend it with friends. It is good for your brain.

Power Up To Grow Your Mind

Your mind controls your thoughts which are the beginning of everything you do. All your beliefs, actions, and habits start with a thought. And together they become your destiny.

Growing your mind is the first step to master your habits.

Think of your brain as a light switch. Whenever you turn on the power your conscious mind is fully awake and engaged. When you turn the switch off your mind is on autopilot and your subconscious is working on habits formed.

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Footnotes
  1. Lack of sleep impairs a person’s ability to focus and learn efficiently. Hedy Marks (August 2021), Sleep Deprivation and Memory Loss. [↩]
  2. Cerebrospinal fluid (blue) flows through the brain and clears out toxins through a series of channels that expand during sleep. Maiken Nedergaard (October 2013), How Sleep Clears the Brain.[↩]
  3. Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories.  NIH Publication No. 17-3440c, Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep.[↩]
  4. Ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5 percent of calories. ScienceDaily (October 2021), Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods.[↩]
  5. Seven or more portions produced a 42 percent decline in the risk of death. Lenny Bernstein (April 2014), Mom was right: Eat LOTS of veggies. They’re even better for you than fruit.[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide

7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Mind Every Day

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Mind Every Day

Your brain is like a muscle and it will become stronger the more you challenge it. By making learning a lifelong habit, you can grow your mind and fulfill your full potential in life.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset to explain how you can develop your talents and skills through experience and hard work. The fact is there is nothing about you that is fixed.

Your brain is always changing in response to experience and its environment. It is designed to become stronger and more powerful. Whatever skill you want to build, you are born with the ability to master it.

How to Challenge Your Mind Daily

Your mind grows when you challenge it. Nerve cells in your brain called neurons create new connections every time you learn a new skill. The more you practice a skill the stronger these connections become.

Connections in your brain strengthen with practice to help you learn and master any skill. The key to reaching your potential is to make a commitment to acquire new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis. A mindset focused on growth and continuous learning will help you to become stronger and more confident.

Here is a list of 7 powerful ways you can grow your mind every day:

1. Read for 30 Minutes a Day

A commitment to lifelong learning can transform your life. Reading 30 minutes a day might seem insignificant but this is a habit that increases intelligence, minimizes brain decline, and might even help you live longer. A recent study found that readers live an average of two years longer than non-book readers. 1

I mostly read non-fiction books to learn new things and gain the knowledge I need as a writer and entrepreneur. And though my passions and interests might be different from yours, there are many great books and choices we have today on just about any topic.

Find great books worth reading that interest you, fuel your passions, and give you wisdom each day. The knowledge you acquire will expand your mind and might transform they way you think about the world.

2. Start a Side Business You Love

Have you ever dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur? It is possible to grow a successful side business while keeping your day job. In fact building a business will challenge your brain and help your mind grow in ways a job can never do.

One of the best decisions I made was to start a business while working full-time. In 2014, I began my journey to create a fitness and weight loss center for kids and teens. It was not easy but building my business constantly challenged me and helped me to grow as an entrepreneur.

If leasing a location is too risky, you can use the power of the internet to build an online side business. Nowadays, there are many options to earn money online with minimal expenses.

You can even start small with the free time you have and scale as you learn.

Just don’t be afraid to turn your passion into a business. The truth is no entrepreneur has all the answers and most figure things out as they go.

Creating a business is full of risks and uncertainties. But if you approach the journey with a growth mindset, mistakes and failures along the way are simply opportunities for you to learn from and grow in your knowledge.

Even if you start small, building a business will push you to become an expert in your field and learn things that a job can’t teach you. And often the best way to reach your potential, find purpose, and transform lives is to do what you love.

Starting a side business might help you do that.

3. Develop a Daily Exercise Habit

Regular exercise not only gives you more energy and makes you stronger but it also improves your mind in many ways. According to neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki, the most transformative thing you can do for your brain is to exercise.

Suzuki points out that exercising for only 30 minutes a day makes your brain perform better and helps you become smarter by improving “cognitive abilities, such as learning, thinking, memory, focus and reasoning.” 2

Daily exercise also protects the brain from aging and neurodegenerative diseases by making it stronger. And best of all it’s free.

There is no need to become an athlete or pay for an expensive gym membership. You only have to exercise regularly and incorporate aerobic and strength training into your daily routine to get all of the brain-changing benefits.

Studies show that aerobic exercise like running, brisk walking, swimming, and cycling gives your brain the oxygen it needs to promote cell growth. While lifting weights helps to protect the brain from degeneration and memory loss. 3

Convert your garage or a spare room into a gym and your body and mind will thank you for it.

4. Get Plenty of Quality Sleep

Sleep deprivation and busyness used to be considered a badge of honor in our society especially among entrepreneurs. But in recent years more people are realizing that lack of sleep leads to impaired judgment and poor decisions.

In fact lack of sleep can harm your brain and lower your resistance to stress. Researchers also believe that depriving your brain of sleep impairs your ability to focus and learn efficiently. 4

Your brain needs sleep as much your body needs water and food. According to neuroscientists, sleep restores the brain and can help improve your learning, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and creativity.

Getting at least 7 to 8 hours of regular quality sleep boosts brain health and is critical to cognitive function. It also gives your brain a deep clean by flushing out toxins that build during waking hours. 5

Your mind needs sleep to think. Without enough of it you can’t form or maintain the neuron connections that let you learn and create new memories. 6

So instead of working harder focus on the quality of work you do.

5. Enjoy a Big Bowl of Vegetables

According to the CDC, 90% of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Instead, ultra-processed foods make up over 50% of what we eat. Half our total calories come from foods that are low in nutrients and high sugar, oil, and salt. 7

Eating vegetables is not only essential to maintain a healthy weight but we need them to boost brain function and keep the mind sharp. Research shows that green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, collards, kale, and broccoli improve memory and slow cognitive decline.

Vegetables also prevent many chronic diseases. They are full of disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that actually help you live longer. People who eat 7 or more daily portions of fresh vegetables reduced their overall risk of death by an incredible 42 percent. 8

Vegetables pack a powerful punch and are irreplaceable. Eating them is one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy and give your mind the power it needs.

By using the 50 Percent Rule you can make eating vegetables a habit.

6. Do What Gives You Passion

Everyone is different. Your talents and passions are unique to you. And doing what you love will not only make you happier but it will also change your brain.

Research shows that when you perform activities you enjoy you have less stress, a lower heart rate, a better mood, and a positive attitude. Learning something new also challenges your brain and helps your mind to grow stronger.

During a recent study, neuroscientists observed that people who are passionate about what they do are more motivated and willing to work harder. Doing what you love is important since mastering a skill is difficult and it takes time.

Passion is what gives you the fuel to stay the course during difficult times. When you push yourself to overcome challenges it forces your mind to think and grow.

Practicing new and challenging activities that energize you also make you mentally stronger.

7. Build Strong Social Connections

Feeling socially connected is more important than ever today. Especially since loneliness increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.

Research shows that strong social relationships are crucial to your brain health. In fact, getting together with friends protects you from depression, boosts your memory, and strengthens neural connections in your brain.

Loneliness has the opposite effect and can hasten cognitive decline due to a lack of intellectual stimulation.

Take some time off and spend it with friends. It is good for your brain.

Power Up To Grow Your Mind

Your mind controls your thoughts which are the beginning of everything you do. All your beliefs, actions, and habits start with a thought. And together they become your destiny.

Growing your mind is the first step to master your habits.

Think of your brain as a light switch. Whenever you turn on the power your conscious mind is fully awake and engaged. When you turn the switch off your mind is on autopilot and your subconscious is working on habits formed.

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Footnotes
  1. Compared to non-book readers, book readers had a 23-month survival advantage. Bavishi, Slade, and Levy (September 2016), A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity.[↩]
  2. Exercising is one of the most transformative things you can do to improve cognitive abilities. Wendy Suzuki (October 2021), A neuroscientist shares the 4 brain-changing benefits of exercise.[↩]
  3. Lifting weights has been able to slow and even halt degeneration. Vivienne Reiner (February 2020), Strength training can help protect the brain from degeneration.[↩]
  4. Lack of sleep impairs a person’s ability to focus and learn efficiently. Hedy Marks (August 2021), Sleep Deprivation and Memory Loss. [↩]
  5. Cerebrospinal fluid (blue) flows through the brain and clears out toxins through a series of channels that expand during sleep. Maiken Nedergaard (October 2013), How Sleep Clears the Brain.[↩]
  6. Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories.  NIH Publication No. 17-3440c, Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep.[↩]
  7. Ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5 percent of calories. ScienceDaily (October 2021), Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods.[↩]
  8. Seven or more portions produced a 42 percent decline in the risk of death. Lenny Bernstein (April 2014), Mom was right: Eat LOTS of veggies. They’re even better for you than fruit.[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide

Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind with Self-Talk

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind with Self-Talk

Your subconscious mind never sleeps and is working right now. Everything you do in life depends on its programming. Any negative programming your subconscious receives is a brick and each brick helps to create an impenetrable wall.

Unfortunately, if you are like most people, you have already heard the word “No” over 100,000 times. Without knowing it, your parents, caregivers, and teachers told you “No” when you were growing up. And every “No” is a brick that built this wall and made it stronger and taller.

Your dreams and hopes lie on the other side of this impenetrable wall of “No”.

The fact is your subconscious mind has a direct impact on your thoughts, behavior, and habits. How it is programmed will determine what you think and do in life. The best way to break through the wall that holds you back is to reprogram your mind for growth.

Identifying Your Negative Self-Talk

What you tell yourself and accept from others to be true affects your behavior. Your programming determines your success or failure in anything you do.

Programming -> Beliefs -> Actions -> Habits –> Results

To reprogram your mind you must first identify negative self-talk.

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Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide, Productivity Guide

How You Can Get Rid of Self-Limiting Beliefs

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
How You Can Get Rid of Self-Limiting Beliefs

When shopping at a grocery store for the first time, your brain is completely alert and focused. Your conscious mind is actively looking for everything on your list.

Through a process of trial and error your brain will learn the most effective way to take action. Over time as you continue shopping at the same store it gets easier to find everything you need on your grocery list. You can stop using your conscious mind and start to make decisions with little thought or awareness.

This is why stores reshuffle their products at least once per year. They know most repeat customers are on autopilot. Changing the store layout is the best way to force customers to go down every aisle so they can buy more products. 1

The fact is when our conscious mind is not forced to work our actions are controlled by our subconscious mind. Our automatic mind is always creating habits through repetition which allows us to process information quickly and without much effort. Our brain can then focus on doing new tasks since routine tasks become easier to do. This is how we master the world around us.

Scientists estimate that up to 95% of our brain’s power is controlled by our subconscious. It is constantly retrieving data, storing it, and processing it.

This is why we spend most of our lives doing things we barely think about.

Our Data Bank that Stores Everything

Our subconscious mind is a huge data bank with unlimited capacity that stores everything that has ever happened to us.

Your brain is wired by every thought, belief, and habit that is stored in your subconscious. Anything you think and do in life depends on that wiring.

According to world-renowned expert on self-talk Dr. Shad Helmstetter, most of us have received negative programming that is now hard-wired into our brain. And those seemingly harmless words we have accepted as true “build up inside our subconscious minds, word by word, and thought by thought, eventually creating a brick wall of failure we often don’t see, much less how to fix.”

In Helmstetter’s book What To Say When You Talk To Your Self he writes:

“During the first eighteen years of our lives, if we grew up in fairly average, reasonably positive homes, we were told “No” or what we cannot do, or would not work, more than 148,000 times. If you were fortunate, you may have been told “No” only 100,000 times — however many, it was considerably more negative programming than any of us needs.”

Your success or failure in anything is dependent on what you tell yourself and what you accept from others to be true. To create lasting change, you need to first get rid of any negative programming and rewire your brain for growth.

The Power of Your Subconscious

All your beliefs, memories, experiences, habits, and skills are stored in your subconscious mind. It is your data bank that controls your daily life as you eat breakfast, drive to and from work, go shopping, brush your teeth, and sleep.

Your automatic mind is always at work creating new habits through repetition. This allows you to process information quickly and without much effort. It is also how you master the world around you. And why you spend most of your daily life doing things you barely think about.

All of your self-limiting beliefs are also stored in your subconscious mind. These beliefs are thoughts that you affirm over and over again and take to be true.

You created most of these negative beliefs without knowing it during your childhood. And these thoughts affect who you are and what you do every day.

The reality is your subconscious mind is designed to repeat past behavior and avoid change. If you don’t believe you can change and grow, you will probably not take any action.

Start by Capturing Every Thought

The best way to grow your mind and master your habits is to first learn how to capture every thought and not treat them equally.

Your thoughts are the beginning of everything you do. All your beliefs, actions, and habits start with a thought. And together they become your destiny.

Thoughts –> Beliefs –> Actions –> Habits –> Destiny

Any negative self-talk that’s telling you why you can’t do something or that you are not good enough to do it needs to be captured and analyzed.

Negative thoughts get in the way of learning and hold you back from reaching your full potential. By carefully monitoring your thoughts, you can rewire your brain for growth and overcome self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back.

Start by identifying any self-limiting thoughts during your day: “You are never going to change! Why try when you always fail? This is a waste of time.” This kind of self-talk comes from the negative programming that you received during your childhood and is now a part of your fixed mindset.

Unfortunately, everyone experiences self-doubt and insecurity but you can’t move forward when you believe in thoughts that hold you back.

Pave the Way for Future Learning

Your programming, what you tell yourself and what you accept from others to be true, will affect everything you think and do. To create lasting change you need to remove any negative programming and rewire your brain for growth.

Make a conscious effort to capture self-limiting thoughts, stop them, and replace them with more empowering thoughts. Tell yourself “there is no such thing as failure only learning” and “I believe in myself” to overcome negative self-talk.

Your mindset is your superpower and learning how to get rid of limiting beliefs is key to achieving your full potential in life. What you think will determine your success and failure in anything you do.

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Footnotes
  1. But mostly, it’s about getting customers to go down every aisle. Jeff Campbell, Why Do Grocery Stores Change the Layout?[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide, Productivity Guide

Mindset: Your Superpower and How to Grow It

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
Mindset: Your Superpower and How to Grow It

On a hazy Saturday morning in October 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human in history to finish a marathon in less than two hours.

A day after his historic record, Brigid Kosgei broke the women’s marathon world record by more than a minute. And a few weeks later newcomer Joyciline Jepkosgei won the NYC marathon beating superstar Mary Keitany who was trying to win for the fifth time. 1

Kipchoge, Kosgei, Jepkosgei, and Keitany were all born and raised in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Runners from this region seem to be “superhuman” and have dominated long-distance running since the 1960s. Many scientists wonder how do they do it? How did Kenyans from the Rift Valley region achieve unparalleled dominance in long-distance running?

Genetics alone can’t be the answer. Runners from the Rift Valley win over 50% of all long-distance races and they make up just 0.14% of the world’s population. 2

Besides marathon running is hard work and one of the most demanding sports in the world. Runners can run out of energy, suffer dehydration, or get injured on their way to the finish line. There are many things that can go wrong.

Running as a Need and a Way of Life

One reason the Rift Valley has so many world champions is that people there develop the habit of running long distances as children.

Like most kids born in rural Kenyan villages, Kipchoge discovered running while in primary school. While growing up, running long distances for him was simply a way of life just to make it to class on time. Kipchoge said, “You don’t know you are running because it is a must.” 3

Jepkosgei too spent most of her childhood running, “I would run to school in the morning, run home for lunch, run back to school and then run home again – each and every day of the week.” 4

Runners born in the Rift Valley develop the habit of running as children. But it takes a lot more than a habit to become a champion. What truly makes this place so special is that world champions like Kipchoge return there even after becoming famous and earning millions.

The Mindset to Become a Champion

Athletes like Kipchoge can live anywhere in the world but choose to live a simple way of life in the Rift Valley training and mentoring young runners.

Meeting these athletes transformed Kosgei’s life. She said, “My school was 10km from home and sometimes to avoid getting late I would run. On my way, I met athletes who were training and said to myself: I can be like them.” 5

Kids born in the Rift Valley are raised in an environment where everyone learns to run as a necessity. Over time running becomes part of their identity. And they soon believe it is possible to be the best in the world.

They are not superhumans after all but regular people like you and me. What sets them apart is that they developed the mindset of champions as children.

“Right Mindset + Good Habits + Focus = Potential”

This means you and I can also fulfill our potential in life with the right mindset, good habits, and focus.

Mindset is More Important than Talent

According to Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck, the way we think about our skills and talents affects what we achieve in life.

If you believe that your abilities can be developed through effort and learning then you have a growth mindset. On the other hand, your mindset is fixed if you believe your success is accomplished solely based on your talent and little effort.

In Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success she writes:

“In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time.

In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching, and persistence. They believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it.”

People that have a growth mindset put in the time necessary to learn a new skill. They accept that failure is a part of the learning process and see mistakes along the way as lessons to learn from and master.

Likewise, if you are going to fulfill your purpose in life you must also first believe that you can be successful by working hard and developing your talents. Change the way you think and you will be able to grow your mind.

Your Brain has the Ability to Grow

The brain is an amazing organ more efficient than a supercomputer. It contains about 86 billion nerve cells called neurons that are constantly changing and making new connections.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your mind grows when you develop your talents and skills through effort, learning, and experience. 6

Even if you grew up believing that your intelligence, talents, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot grow you can develop a growth mindset.

Neurologist Dr. George Wittenberg explains, “We used to think adults can’t form new brain connections but now we know that isn’t true. The adult brain is like a muscle and we need to exercise it.”

The more you challenge your brain the stronger it will become.

Challenge Your Brain to Grow It

Your brain is designed to adapt to a challenging environment by creating new and stronger connections. Neuroplasticity refers to its ability to change and grow as a result of experience.

The more you challenge your mind by learning new skills, the more powerful it will become. Tiny connections between neurons multiply and get stronger every time you try something new. 7

This is why adult animals living in a challenging environment are better at solving problems and learning new things. In fact, scientists found that adult animals who lived with toys and other animals had a 10% heavier brain than animals who lived alone without any toys.

While testing humans, scientists also found that “learning causes permanent changes in the brain.” People who learned how to juggle and practiced for a long time grew the parts of their brains that control juggling skills. The visual and motor areas of their brains got larger with new and stronger connections. 8

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Your brain cells lose their function if you don’t use them.

If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It

The phrase “Use it or Lose it” was coined by neurologist Marian Diamond to refer to what happens to the brain if it is not exercised. Her research shows that the brain continuously shrinks and expands depending on our experiences.

When brain cells are not used they lose their function. If you don’t sufficiently challenge your brain by learning new skills it will eventually deteriorate and shrink with age.

Having a growth mindset will help your brain stay healthy and continuously develop your skills and talents.

By making learning a lifelong habit, you can give your brain the exercise it needs and achieve your potential in life just like the kids born in the Rift Valley. Read this article to learn 7 powerful ways you can grow your mind every day.

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Footnotes
  1. Brigid Kosgei destroyed the women’s world record at the Chicago Marathon. Faith Karimi (November 2019), The reasons why Kenyans always win marathons lie in one region.[↩]
  2. Rift Valley region is the most populous with a total population of 12,752,966. Census 2019: Rift Valley most populous region.[↩]
  3. You don’t know you are running because it is a must. Tom Reynolds (April 2020), Eliud Kipchoge: The humble home life in rural Kenya behind remarkable athletic success.[↩]
  4. Going to school and coming home was all about running. Simon Hart (October 2021), With London Marathon win, Jepkosgei writes the latest chapter in her road running success story.[↩]
  5. On my way I met athletes who were training and said to myself: ‘I can be like them. Celestine Karoney (October 2019), Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei: School dropout, mother of twins and world record-holder.[↩]
  6. Brain plasticity or neuroplasticity refers to the ability of our brain to change throughout our life. Betsy Ng (January 2018), The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation.[↩]
  7. A typical healthy human brain contains about 200 billion nerve cells. ScienceDaily (November 2010), Stunning details of brain connections revealed.[↩]
  8. New research shows that the brain is like a muscle – it changes and gets stronger the more you use it. Health & Science, You Can Grow Your Brain.[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide

The 50% Rule to Build Healthy Eating Habits

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
The 50% Rule to Build Healthy Eating Habits

Do you know which country has the highest obesity rate? If you guessed the US it’s close. Over 40% of Americans are currently obese and the US has the highest obesity rate among developed countries. But that number pales in comparison to Nauru’s 71% obesity rate. 1

The Nauruan Diet and Obesity

A century ago most of the people on the island of Nauru were fit and ate mostly fresh fish, coconuts, fruits, and vegetables. Today, the average Nauruan weighs over 220 pounds and has a BMI between 34 and 35.

This drastic change in the health of the people of Nauru is due mainly to one thing. They can’t farm and grow their own food. Decades of phosphate mining destroyed 80% of their land so Nauruans have to import everything they eat.

Unfortunately, the people of Nauru live in poverty and importing fruits and vegetables is too expensive. They are forced eat cheap imported foods that are high in sugar and fat such as white rice, instant noodles, and canned foods. 2

Even though Nauruans want to eat healthier they are stuck in a vicious cycle of obesity and death. 80% of the deaths in Nauru are now due to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease. These diseases are preventable but most Nauruans have few options.

We Choose Not to Eat Vegetables

Vegetables are low in calories and provide key vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need. Health experts and doctors all agree that we need to eat them daily and they are an essential part of any nutrition plan. But according to the CDC, 90% of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. 3

Unlike the people in Nauru, many of us have year-round access to fresh fruits and vegetables. We are able to eat what we want, whenever we want it.

Most of us also know that eating vegetables is a healthy habit that is necessary to be fit. And yet we choose not to eat them.

We need to ask ourselves: Why don’t we eat enough vegetables if we need them to be fit and stay healthy? What exactly do we eat that is making us gain weight?

Our Addiction to Ultra-Processed Foods

Fruits and vegetables were once grown on farms and preserved in root cellars or pickled. They used to be the main staple of most meals.

But during the 1980s ultra-processed foods started gaining popularity in supermarkets across the US. We began to buy these convenience foods in large quantities to help us save time. We did not realize that these foods are not only terrible for our health but also very addictive.

Today ultra-processed foods make up over 50% of what we eat. Half our total calories come from foods that are low in nutrients and high sugar, oil, and salt. 4

Due to this drastic shift in our eating habits, the US obesity rate jumped from 15% in the 1970s to over 40% today. And this number just keeps rising! 5

According to clinical psychologist Ashley Gearhardt, ultra-processed foods have artificially high levels of fat and refined carbs that are as addictive as cigarettes. This is why when you sit on your sofa to eat chips, donuts, candy, ice-cream, cookies, and pizza, you simply can’t stop eating. 6

On the other hand, vegetables are unprocessed and don’t have the addictive qualities in ultra-processed foods. They can’t compete with foods that have been engineered to be tasty and addictive. Which explains why many people prefer to eat foods that has been highly processed instead of unprocessed.

This brings us to an important question: Is there anything we can do to build healthy eating habits? Is eating vegetables that important and worth the effort?

The Mighty Power of Vegetables

Vegetables are never going to be able to compete against foods that are engineered to taste great, are addictive, and are highly marketed. But they are packed with everything you need to stay healthy.

In fact, not eating enough vegetables can have serious consequences on your health including weight gain and fatigue. A recent study shows that people tend to eat 500 calories a day more and gain more weight on a heavily processed diet than an unprocessed one. 7

Vegetables also prevent many chronic diseases. They are full of disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that actually help you live longer. In another recent study, people who ate 7 or more daily portions of fresh vegetables reduced their overall risk of death by an incredible 42 percent. 8

Vegetables pack a powerful punch against diseases and are simply irreplaceable. Eating them is the best way to stay healthy, get fit, and lose weight.

The 50 Percent Rule

The best approach to change your eating habits and eat more vegetables is to keep things as simple as possible.

The 50 Percent Rule is a non-negotiable rule I use to ensure that I consume daily the key nutrients my body needs to stay fit and healthy.

With the 50 Percent Rule you don’t need to count calories. There are also no complicated rules like weighing or measuring meals. And you do not have to keep a food journal and write down everything you eat.

You just fill up half of your plate each day with fruits and vegetables. The other half of your plate should be a combination of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. The best part is that this is not a diet and can be done permanently.

When it comes to following the 50 Percent Rule keep in mind that fruits are great but they are also higher in sugar and calories than vegetables. Therefore, it is important to limit fruits to 20 percent of your plate. At least 30 percent of your plate should be vegetables since they are more nutritious and healthier for you.

It is also best to avoid ranch dressing (or any similar dressing) on your salad since there are many healthy options including vinaigrette and lime dressings. Ranch dressing contains high amounts of saturated fat and lots of sodium which can increase your cholesterol level and risk of cardiovascular disease. 9

Develop a Weekly Plan

The most challenging part of following the 50 Percent Rule is planning. Every week I go grocery shopping and stock up on spring mix, tomatoes, onions, cranberries, pistachios, avocados, apples, and bananas. To season my salad I sprinkle it with Badia Complete Seasoning and avocado oil or coconut oil.

Likewise, you will need to devote at least an hour each week to buy all the fruits and vegetables you need. It is important to also set up your house for success.

While doing nutrition plans, I tell clients that “it is much better to plan for success than to rely on willpower. I personally love cookies and ice cream but I don’t keep any in my home. I can’t control myself around these foods. They are just too addictive!”

I have learned over the years that it is best to keep my house free of junk food. I recommend you also clean your house of tempting and highly processed foods and only enjoy them outside of your home.

Change Your Life for the Better

Some habits like flossing your teeth or going for a 10 minute walk are easy to repeat every day. Other habits like eating vegetables and exercising regularly require more effort and sacrifice.

Unlike the Nauruan people, you can choose to eat and enjoy more vegetables. A non-negotiable rule is a commitment that you make with yourself to repeat a habit even if it is difficult and time-consuming.

The 50 Percent Rule requires conscious effort and a little bit of planning. But if you can develop the right mindset and master this rule you will significantly change your life for the better.

Besides helping you live longer, a recent study shows that eating lots of fruits and vegetables increases “mental wellbeing, happiness, and overall life satisfaction.” 10

So enjoy your veggies and improve your quality of life.

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Footnotes
  1. Nauru’s 71% obesity rate. Diabetes.co.uk (January 2019), I have seen so many funerals for such a small island.[↩]
  2. The obesity and overweight problem found in Nauru may be because of the lack of proper nutrition in Nauruan’s diets. Jannette Aguirre (November 2019), 5 Facts About Nauru’S Overweight Health Issue.[↩]
  3. Only 9% of adults ate the recommended amount of vegetables. CDC.gov (February 2021), Only 1 in 10 Adults Get Enough Fruits or Vegetables.[↩]
  4. Ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5 percent of calories. ScienceDaily (October 2021), Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods.[↩]
  5. The adult obesity rate shot up beginning in the 1980s, reaching 35% in the mid-2000s. Lane Kenworthy (May 2012), Why the surge in obesity?[↩]
  6. Ultra-processed foods meet all the same criteria that were used to designate tobacco as addictive. Ashley Gearhardt (November 2021), Foods high in added fats and refined carbs are like cigarettes – addictive and unhealthy.[↩]
  7. And when given ultra-processed food, they ate 500 calories a day more than when they were given unprocessed meals. James Gallagher (May 2019), Ultra-processed foods ‘make you eat more’.[↩]
  8. Seven or more portions produced a 42 percent decline in the risk of death. Lenny Bernstein (April 2014), Mom was right: Eat LOTS of veggies. They’re even better for you than fruit.[↩]
  9. In addition to the sodium concerns, the saturated fat in ranch dressing (which comes from the vegetable oil) is also concerning. Nicole Lamarco (May 2021), How Unhealthy Is Ranch Dressing?[↩]
  10. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption was predictive of increased happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being. Redzo Mujcic, PhD, and Andrew J.Oswald, DPhil (August 2016) Evolution of Well-Being and Happiness After Increases in Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables.[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide

The Best Way to Make Healthy Habits Stick

Posted on By Jorge Martinez
The Best Way to Make Healthy Habits Stick

A rational person would assume that the country with the most gyms in the world would also be one of the fittest. The irony is that the US leads with over 40,000 gyms but only 23% of Americans get enough exercise. The fittest country in the world is actually one of the poorest and is not even in the rankings. 1

Most people in Uganda don’t go to gyms because they already get plenty of exercise during their workday. Their daily life demands they stay active and it is not a matter of choice to be fit but a necessity.

Ugandans like Jennifer Namulembwa and Abiasali Nsereko can’t afford to own a car and have to walk everywhere. They are both fit because they need to maintain an active lifestyle and their work is physically demanding. 2

Jennifer works as a cleaner in Kampala and spends over 3 hours per day walking to work. She does it five days a week but would rather ride in a car or motorcycle if she could afford one. Abiasali is also very active and spends up to eight hours a day on his feet. He is a 68 year-old Ugandan farmer who wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to milk his cows and grow all the food he eats. 3

When it comes to building new habits there is a difference between “I need to do something” in order to survive and “I want to do it” because I have a desire.

The words “need” and “want” are not the same.

The Difference Between Need and Want

In a recent survey, 48 percent of Americans don’t exercise because they are simply too busy. They “want” to exercise and believe it will help them feel happier but they are too tired, don’t have the time, or have too much work. 4

Yet the average American also spends three hours per day watching television and over two hours a day on social media. It is much easier to make excuses when you want to do something but don’t have a real need to do it. 5

The interesting thing is whether exercise is a need or a want is all a matter of perception. While most people consider regular exercise as something they want to do, people who exercise regularly consider it as a need.

This is important because what you become and do in life starts with your mind first and your actions second. Everything we do starts with a thought.

Healthy Habits are Needs and not Wants

Most people want to exercise regularly and eat healthier but are unable to build healthy habits because they rely too much on motivation and willpower. They treat exercise and eating healthy as “wants” instead of thinking of these habits as necessities.

But things have changed over the last century. People once had active lifestyles and ate plenty of vegetables.

Most people today are sedentary and eat mostly ultra-processed foods. In fact half our total calories come from foods that are low in nutrients and high in sugar, oil, and salt. 6

Most Americans did not have to deal with obesity one hundred years ago. Today over 40% of Americans are obese and this number keeps rising. Our poor nutrition and inactivity is literally killing us yet we continue to treat healthy habits as things we want and not need.

The way you think about a habit is important because to build new habits that stick you need to first develop the right mindset about those habits.

When you treat a healthy habit as a necessity it becomes easier to commit to repeating it even if life gets busy or it requires substantial effort.

This brings us to an important question: Once we determine that a healthy habit is a need how do we make it stick?

Some Habits Can Take 9 Months to Form

There are many healthy habits that you can build through repetition and a little bit of conscious effort including flossing your teeth, taking a 10-minute walk, using sunscreen, eating a piece of fruit, and getting up to stretch every hour.

For example, if you want to start flossing your teeth twice a day then take the dental floss with you. Keep it in your pocket if necessary until flossing twice a day becomes a habit.

If you want to eat more fruit buy a large bowl and place it on your kitchen island or breakfast table. Make sure to always keep the bowl in sight and full of your favorite fruits.

The trick to building habits is too make a task as easy as possible to repeat it. The more complicated a task becomes the harder it is to follow-through.

According to research by Phillippa Lally and her team published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes at least 2 months for a simple behavior to become automatic. The good news is missing a day does not affect the chance of forming a habit.  But complicated habits can take much longer to form and almost 9 months to fully develop. 7

Tasks that satisfy a need and are easy to do only take a few months to become a habit (1). And more difficult tasks take much longer to master (2). As long as there is a need, you will continue to perform a task until it becomes a habit. If there is no need or craving you won’t have enough reason to repeat a task.

However, some tasks by their very nature require too much conscious effort and sacrifice. Tasks that are not easy to do can never fully become automatic.

Why Non-Negotiable Rules are Necessary

When a task requires too much effort you will need to create a non-negotiable rule. Otherwise, you will eventually stop doing the task if you rely only on your willpower or motivation.

The greater the conscious effort or sacrifice required to complete a task, the more likely you will need a predetermined rule to continue doing it. A non-negotiable rule is simply a commitment that you make with yourself to repeat a habit even if it is difficult and time-consuming.

For example, I have been exercising regularly since I was 19 years old and consider this healthy habit a necessity. The benefits of physical activity are numerous and working out gives me energy, strength, and confidence.

However, I don’t always have time to exercise and sometimes lack the motivation or willpower. Since exercise is a priority I have several rules I use to keep me on track and help me to stick with my habit.

First, I set a rule to go running for an hour at least once a week. Second, I have a rule to do strength training at least 2 times per week but try my best to do more. And third, I take as many walks as possible during the week to keep me active since I am sedentary for most of my work week.

I also follow the 50 Percent Rule to stay at a healthy weight and get the nutrients my body needs. With this rule I don’t have to count calories and simply fill up half of my plate each day with fruits and vegetables.

“By using rules you build non-negotiable habits.”

By using rules you build non-negotiable habits. You repeat these tasks not because they are easy or automatic but because they are a necessity. This is how healthy habits stick.

How Rules and Goals are Different

Keep in mind that rules are different from goals. A goal is something that you try to do or achieve. Every goal has an end to it whether you succeed or not. 8

Rules don’t have an end and are guidelines you follow for the rest of your life.

We live in an unbalanced world and non-negotiable rules are designed to help us restore and maintain balance in our lives. That is why it is important to first develop the right mindset before attempting to master any habit.

To master your habits you need to always grow your mind.

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Footnotes
  1. The country with the most gyms is the United States with 41,370 locations. Nicholas Rizzo (October 2021), 200+ Gym Industry Statistics 2021.[↩]
  2. Jennifer Namulembwa spends an hour-and-a-half walking to work. (September 2018), Why Uganda is the ‘world’s fittest country’.[↩]
  3. He wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to milk his cows. Hilary Brueck (April 2019), Finland and Uganda are the world’s fittest countries.[↩]
  4. 48% also said they’re too busy from work and other obligations to exercise. Ben Renner (November 2019), Life Gets In The Way: Nearly Half Of Americans Want To Exercise, But Don’t Have Time.[↩]
  5. Estimates suggest that in 2022 U.S. adults will spend an average of around three hours watching TV each day. Julia Stoll (February 2022), Average daily time spent watching TV in the United States from 2019 to 2023(in minutes).[↩]
  6. Ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5 percent of calories. ScienceDaily (October 2021), Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods.[↩]
  7. The time it took participants to reach 95% of their asymptote of automaticity ranged from 18 to 254 days. (July 2009), How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world.[↩]
  8. A goal is the result or achievement toward which effort is directed. Dictionary.com.[↩]
Decision Making, Growth Mindset, Habits Guide