10 Ways to build good habits that work

The most successful people don’t rely on motivation. They rely on habits. World class athletes, top business leaders, and high performers create simple routines they can repeat every day until success becomes automatic. The key is to make good habits enjoyable, start small, and stay consistent. In this episode, I’ll share 10 practical ways to build habits that stick so you can improve your mindset, your health, and your performance one day at a time.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast, where host Mike Hartman, a performance coach and former professional athlete, brings his passion to help athletes and workplace athletes achieve their dreams and goals while being mindful of everything else in life. Mike also uses this platform to share his targeted assessment application, healthy mindset course, meditation and goal setting technique for the athlete and workplace athlete. We're glad you're here. Now let's dive headfirst into this episode of the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast. Here's your host, Mike Hartman.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

And what made me think about doing this podcast is uh a friend recently sent me a video with him, and I think his grandson is a year and a half old. And what they were doing, they were singing the ABCs. But the year and a half old was smiling, he was laughing because it's the way they were doing it, they were going A, B, C, and it was a really good way to teach and learn. So, what's gonna happen as my friend, his name is Marty. I don't want to mention his grandson's name here, but at such a young age, he's learning good habits already and having fun with it. And that's one thing I definitely learned in being a professional athlete. I remember when I was young, I always focused on different things, like okay, I have to be so productive today, I have to do this, I had a set schedule, I knew everything I was gonna do. I knew I was gonna walk out of my house and turn right, turn left to the car, get there, do a stretch, did my training, then we would do on-ice training. And when I was young, I'd go to Windsor, Ontario and skate with Adam Graves and Warren Reichel and a lot of friends. Uh Ty Domey was out there, and just we had a really great skate. Then we would go for a little dinner after, and it was a it was a lot of fun. But that was a that was habitual. Uh it's like a ritual has to be habitual. So that was my ritual. Then at sometimes at night, I'd go for a five or six mile run and uh then have my watermelon because I didn't like to have uh too much ice cream, or I treat myself to a yogurt. And it was a crazy schedule. Yes, it was a good habit, but it sometimes I look back, I really wasn't having the fun I should have. So if I had to redo things over, I would make it so it's fun. So, Marty, what a great uh video you sent me. And it had me thinking because I knew we were gonna talk about habits, but I think that was amazing. Uh, Marty was also a coach, he uh he coached uh junior hockey, he was a Division I assistant coach. So I not because you know, I don't think they did the ABCs because Marty was coaching that level, but I think he understands how to relate to to people and get the best out of them. That's one thing he did do, and that was a great example in that uh adorable uh video you sent me. We loved it. So when we saw it, so some of the the one of the things that that I want to talk about is make it fun, make your habit fun. If you get up and you say, I have to work out today, I have to do this, I have to do that, eventually it becomes you might get bored with it. So people stick with what they enjoy, and I'm just getting back into my own workouts. So now I'm at a point where I'm on the five over five months of after having my sepsis issue and what I went through, and I'm finally back doing stuff. But what I like to do is they say, Well, you have to do three sets or three to five sets. I was doing almost a Tabata workout where I was doing just one set of 40 different exercises, and I loved it. It kept me moving. Somebody might say, Well, that's not the uh the correct way to do it. I wasn't over-training, I wasn't overusing, I know I'm not gonna do the same thing the next day. I know my body was gonna recover and I'll have more of a conditioning day. So do something you love to do. And the other thing is focus on showing up. What happened? Marty's uh grandson, a year and a half old. I think his time is going so quick, I'm not sure if he's a year and a half, it might even be uh almost two. I can't I can't keep up anymore. But focus on on showing up, don't worry about being perfect, just keep showing up. Consistency always is uh beats intensity in my eyes, especially coming up with good habits. So even if you're just starting to get back into training, fitness training, good example. Just show up. If you work for corporate America, start doing little walks. Don't force yourself to do it. Or even put it in your calendar and say, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna put on my headset, uh, I'm gonna listen to uh some music, listen to a podcast. And and to me, that will help you. I love listening to music when I do things. I just that's what I love to do. I shut the TV off and I listen to music, or even when I'm doing my yoga, I'm gonna listen to yoga music. To me, it gets me going. And uh start small. You don't have to come out of the gate and do what somebody else does. A lot of people like to what compare themselves to other people. Smart start very small, small daily actions really uh turn into big results over time. And I always look back, even to you know, the thing that I went through is I said, okay, I can't wait to get back, I can't wait to do a little bit more. And guess what? I did. I was I came back a little bit too strong. My chest was sore, I couldn't sleep at night because what happens when you have open heart surgery? You start worrying about your chest, and I did. The doctor said you went a little bit too hard, you have to slow down. So start small. Uh, stop saying I have to replace it with, I have to get to it. Uh, that type of thing, you know, that to me um is adding more pressure to yourself. So just keep it simple, have that attitude and bring your energy and when you're ready to do it, great. I never liked working out at nighttime. I know I'm talking a lot about fitness, it's a lot. There's so many different ways to have good habits, but I started getting back and I started riding the bike after dinner. Sometimes people will say, Oh no, you can't work out at night. You're gonna get tired. But I loved it. I felt good. Actually, I was sleeping better. So, what works for one person may not work for the other. And be proud. And I think number this is number five. Be proud of what you're doing. We say that in professional sports or even a big win in corporate America. Celebrate your progress, don't wait until you reach the finish line. Okay, I I want to lose 20 pounds and I'm not gonna do anything until I do that. I want to be a beast. Well, recognize every step forward and be grateful for that. The other thing is I always believe in, especially a world-class athlete will tell you this. They always connect their habits to their purpose. A lot of athletes believe in recovery, uh, no matter what. The definition of life to me is the ability to recover. The definition of fitness is the ability to recover. Uh, after you're in the hospital, I've done a lot of talks on that. Recovery is so important. So when you know why something matters, you're gonna spend more time doing it. It's much more easier and it helps you stay committed. Number seven is build routines instead of relying on motivation. Motivation might be good for uh 10 minutes. I I did a lot of speaking engagements uh in the hundreds of speaking engagements over the years. And one company, uh automotive company, and not Kia, not the one I've done a lot of work with, but another group brought me in and said, You're gonna motivate my team today. And I said, Ah, I said, I I don't, I'm not really a motivator. Oh, come on, it's the end of the month. You have to motivate my people here. And I said, I go, I'm gonna do it in a different way because everything just isn't about motivation, because motivation comes and goes. Great habits are here to stay because they're scheduled. You schedule your habits. Surround yourself with positive people. Somebody will say, Oh, you'll never do that. You can't do that, it's impossible. I just saw something on Martin St. Louis, and they said he was too small, he was never gonna make it. And I didn't know he had so many things going against him. Uh, he couldn't skate for being small, there were just so many things. And what happened? He became a great NHL uh player. Uh he he went on be beyond that, but but focusing on being around good people, and I always try to do that now in my life. I try to eliminate the negativity in my life, and you got to remember that habits are contagious. Spend time with people who inspire you to become better. Don't be around people who are setting you back. Those people are really what they're doing, they're just telling you how negative they are. And one thing I could do, I learn every day. I listen to many podcasts, I used to read a book a month. I I know it's uh now I now I listen to more audiobooks than anything else because I spend time in a car and I don't have a lot of time to read a book a month, but I used to read a book a month and I wanted to learn every day, learn from my competitors, learn from people. I I used to watch uh NHL players even when I when I played, and my favorite story is when I was 19 years old, it was super exciting. Uh I didn't even have time to get nervous, especially the first 10 games. I was playing on adrenaline, and I remember going to the Montreal Forum the first time and just watching some of the practices. And I go, Oh, this is cool. And I had to remind myself I'm gonna I'm gonna be playing that night. And the other time was I'll never forget this, uh, going to Edmonton when the Edmonton Oilers were amazing, with Marc Messier, who's my hero in life and good friend, um, watching him play out there and watching um uh Wayne Gretzky and Kevin Low. I ended up playing with all those great leaders, but I was like, holy cow, I wanted to watch practice. I almost forgot I had to get in there. We had a team stretch. I was enjoying being in what we call our hockey underwear, watching these players, and they all, what they were doing is creating good habits for themselves. So I was learning from them. They were all passing the puck hard, they were skating hard, they were, they were laughing, they were having fun, and they they what were they doing? It was almost contagious, like holy cow, look at this. These guys are having so much fun, and they there's a reason they were the best team in the NHL at that time as well. And become the person you want to be, don't just chase goals and build the habits of a person that that you want to become. Do something you love. It exercising or doing, even if you're a you know, you're uh you're an athlete, do it because you love it. And I I keep listening to these different interviews, and I heard Wayne Gretzky say it. He said, Boy, you Wayne Gretzky put a lot of hard work in. He says, I never looked at it like that. Never looked at it as hard work. I just loved it. I loved my sport, I love playing hockey. And I heard Brett Hall recently say, and I'm starting to enjoy listening to him. Bret Hall said he didn't like hockey. Uh, he hated everything about it except the games. And that was okay. And he was one of the best scorers in hockey. He didn't like to train, he did it because he had to do certain things, but he got into good habits because he had to do it. Now that's a different story. He's a world-class athlete, but he loved the games. He didn't like the long flights, the bus rides to the airport early in the morning. Um, he didn't like, but he loved going out there and hearing the the crowd like cheer when he's out or the visiting team. He loves disappointing the the visiting crowd, scoring big goals and doing things he did. So to me, it was always still, you have to create those good habits. I know Brett Hall had a train, he did his training, he didn't love it. And maybe it's uh it's I'm telling you something where oh Mike's speaking out of both sides of your mouth. Sometimes we don't have a choice uh of what we have to do, but if you love a part of it, that's what it is. If you love exercise, do that part of the exercising that you love to do. If you have a hey, I love this part of my fitness program. And the difference is sometimes is you may not be trying to be a world-class athlete. You're just trying to develop good habits in your life to stay healthy and fit, taking walks, doing things. Where sometimes a world-class athlete is uh is a pretty tough, really a tough job because you have to do certain things at certain times, at the same time, create good habits for ourselves. But I'm gonna end, I'm gonna say another thing. I think it's harder to be an everyday person that goes to work than to be a professional athlete, and I'll tell you why. Maybe not harder to make. I'm not talking about the numbers, but the one thing I learned is we had time off for recovery to learn good habits, to develop good habits, to recover during the summer. So you might have an eight-month hockey season, and then you're gonna have the rest of the time off to you go back to training camp, but you're training, you're developing good habits. Where you might in corporate America, you might have to put a little bit more work into it because you're on a real tight schedule and it's year-round, and you may have a total of three weeks off during the year to actually go on vacations and do things and recover. So it's even every bit is hard. So I'm not saying becoming a professional athlete is easier. I think I'm not saying it's harder, I'm saying it's even easier to develop those habits. But so if you really work at it and you have fun doing it, I promise you you'll have great results.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

We're so glad you joined us for this episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast with your host, Mike Hartman. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe, and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcast. That helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate it. To dive deeper and learn more about the Healthy Mindset program, or to get in touch with Mike, please visit our website, Healthymindsetapp.com. Thanks again for listening, and we hope you'll join us again in the next episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast. Until then, be well.