The process of habit formation is broken down into 4 steps. Once you know what they are, you can manipulate them like levers to design habits that are going to serve you and in turn break down the habits that no longer do. 

Habits are basically your brain's process of putting things on autopilot. Your conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time but your subconscious mind is taking in ALL the information around you constantly. 

Think back to when you were learning how to drive. At first, it took a lot of conscious effort, right? You had to think about each individual step until you got better and better. The more you practiced it the more natural it became and the more your brain began to create shortcuts to where eventually you could drive while also putting on your makeup … (be safe out there!)

I can remember times when I worked a 14-hour shift, drove home, and had no idea how I got there (crazy, right?). 

These examples show how something that used to take a lot of effort from our conscious mind was handed off to our subconscious mind. It's a way to conserve energy so that your brain is able to use that energy on more important things.

The 4 Steps To Habit Formation

Keep in mind, this is a process that is always going on in the background like your heart beating.  

Step 1-  Cue (aka something to notice)

Most of the time it’s a visual cue but any of the senses can be involved. Imagine you have a bowl of cookies on the kitchen counter, and your brain notices it, that cue then brings us to step 2..

Step 2: Craving

The craving is dependent on how your brain interprets the cue. So if you enjoy eating cookies and you ate them throughout your childhood to comfort yourself after a tough day, then you might see the cookie and desire this craving for comfort. 

Step 3 - Response: 

This is the actual action that you take such as picking up the cookie and eating it.

Step 4- Reward: 

This is about satisfying the craving and the stress is relieved. 

Now that you have a better understanding of the 4 steps, you can break them down and manipulate them to make smart habits OR to make the habits that aren’t helpful more challenging for you to follow through with.

If you want to learn more about habits and how to make changes, check out the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, it’s awesome!

If your goal is to get leaner and build sexy curves, I can help with that structured plan. Oh, and you won't have to give up cake either or carbs or any food you don't want to give up. Learn more about my 12 Weeks to Fitness group coaching program here.