How to hack your habits to make healthier choices easier

Let’s be honest, sticking to healthier habits can quickly feel like a daily battle. What if there was a way to hack your habits?

You start with a burst of motivation, vowing to conquer the gym and eat nothing but chicken, broccoli, rice and kale.

But then reality sets in. Work deadlines loom, social gatherings bring pizza and fries along the ride, and suddenly that chicken and broccoli kale salad loses its feasibility.

Why the struggle?

Because healthy choices often require effort and there is no way around it. Even with the best coach to support you, the best workout and nutrition plans, you still have to do your part of the job.

Easier said than done as when you face a decision on health and fitness – or any decision for what is worth it – in your brain two main systems compete to choose:

• The Reflective System: This is the logical planner, the voice reminding you about the benefits of exercise and a balanced diet. This is a slower system
• The Automatic System: This is the impulsive “go-getter,” the one screaming for that slice of cake…or two (although, is it always bad to have that slice? read more here). This system is fast to act

I guess you can imagine which has the higher chance of victory? Yep, the automatic system is faster and craves instant gratification. That’s why healthier choices, that require a certain degree of effort and planning, often get pushed aside: “I’ll start focusing on my nutrition tomorrow“.

But here’s the good news: there’s a way to outsmart your brain and hack your habits to make healthier living the easier path to choose. 

Enter the power of the “nudge.”

The Nudge Theory: Turning Effortless into Advantage

The Nudge Theory was invented by University of Chicago economist and Nobel Laureate^[source] Richard H. Thaler and Harvard Law School Professor Cass R. Sunstein, first published in 2008.

Nudges are subtle environmental changes that subtly push you towards a desired behavior. They trick your automatic system into making the healthy choice the easy, automatic one. The original way to say that you can hack your habits with very small, almost unnoticeable, changes.

Think of it like this: you wouldn’t drive along the road in every direction without control, right? Following the white lanes to make sure traffic is not pure chaos is a Nudge that you follow unconsciously regularly.

Nudges for your health and fitness work the same way, they help you hack your habits making healthier choices the most convenient and natural path to choose.

If you look around you, you’ll see nudges at every corner of your daily activities.

Nudges in Action: Making Healthier Your New Default

How can you actively hack your habits? How to unleash the power of the nudge? Here are 6 practical ways to make healthier living considerably easier:

1 – Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Excessive and uncontrolled snacking could be making it a lot harder to lose fat and having you feel frustrated with lack of progress. While some snacks do have a place in your nutrition (and mental health), keeping those tempting chips and cookies tucked away in the back of the pantry might help you regulate their quantity in your diet.

The extra effort to go search and reach for them becomes a nudge for your automatic system to say “nah, I’m good, getting that candy bar is too much of a pain.”

2 – Prep Like a Pro

Spending an hour on Sundays chopping veggies, prepping healthy snacks, and portioning out meals can go a long way in helping you stay on track.
Having these grab-and-go options makes healthier eating a much easier choice throughout the week.
Think about it this way: when you come back home late and you still have to have dinner, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind:

1. 1. Mindfully cook dinner from scratch
   2. Order a delivery
   3. Eat whatever you have at hand quickly as you’re hangry?
      
      

      Nudge your way out of the situation: have options ready. The less you have to stress to think what to have for dinner, the easier it’s for you to make better choices automatically.

3 – Befriend Your Food Scale:

Keep it readily available on the counter. This way it becomes a natural part of preparing your meals, taking the guesswork (and potential overeating) out of portion control.
If you don’t have to go and look for the scale (what drawer was that already?) 50% of the work is done, it’s already there shiny waiting for you. Just press ON

4 – The Gym Bag Spotlight:

Place your gym bag where you can’t miss it – by the door, on the back of a chair,  in the middle of the living room, in front of the TV, anywhere it becomes a constant reminder to be consistent with your workout plans.

Bring it to work with you (like I do) so on the way back home that extra bag is a reminder to stop by the gym to lift.

5 – The Clothes Call:

This goes hand in hand with the point above. Pack your gym clothes the night before.  So when you’re late in the morning you can’t say you didn’t have time to pack. Having your workout gear readily available removes a mental hurdle and makes hitting the gym a much more easier choice.

6 – Got Water?

If you struggle to drink enough water during the day (I’m guilty here) have a full bottle of water on the desk right next to your keyboard. It’s right there for you to drink it.