Transcript
Jay Shetty (0:00)
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Did you know our bodies talk to us? Those weird pains are the body's way of saying, excuse me, I need some help here. Amazon One Medical has 247 virtual care, so you can get help quickly and easily. Thanks to Amazon One Medical, healthcare just got less painful. Sometimes you just need to go to your happy place. And there's no better happy place than celebrity crew cruises. They get you closer than close to the history, culture and flavors of Europe. And now they visit more of it than ever. Their elevated Caribbean escapes keep the island bliss going between islands. From quick three and four night getaways to week long journeys and longer. There's nothing more restorative than the wild wonders of Alaska. And celebrity ships are designed to make the most of every view. Celebrity doesn't just build ships. They build the vacations you'll always remember in the places you'll never forget. Book today and see why nothing comes close to celebrity cruises. You know, the end of the year always gets me thinking, what's next? What's the next move? Because this is the time to lay the foundation for everything that's coming in 2026 for us with Joony. Shopify has been that partner that makes it all possible. The cool thing about Shopify is that it handles the tricky stuff behind the scenes. So you can just focus on building something that feels real and meaningful. You can start with one idea, one spark, and before you know it, you're sharing that spark with people all over the world. It's time to stop thinking and start doing. And there's no better way to do that than with Shopify. Use our link shopify.com j now to start getting serious about about building your future. Take it from me, it is time to start taking that idea you've had for a while and put it into action. And with Shopify, you'll have all the tools you need to ensure your idea becomes the best it can be. You can't break a habit if you still see yourself as the person who does it. If you think I'm lazy, you can't break a habit that proves you're disciplined. If you think you're disorganized, you can't build a habit that proves you're focused. If you're not on top of everything, you can't prove to yourself you have a plan. So instead of saying, I'm trying to quit, say, I'm not someone who chooses that anymore.
Kev Onstage (2:34)
The number one health and wellness podcast, Jay Shetty.
Jay Shetty (2:37)
Jay Shetty the one, the Only Jay Shetty. I could never change my habits until I did this. What if I told you that 90% of your bad habits have nothing to do with discipline and everything to do with the systems you live inside? Most people blame themselves for their habits. I'm just lazy. I'm not consistent. I always mess this up. But here's the truth. You don't have bad habits because you're a bad person. You have bad habits because you have invisible patterns that no one ever taught you to see. And once you see them, you can break them fast. Let's be honest. If you want to have a great 2026, breaking bad habits and building good habits is core to your success. We are what we repeatedly do. This is the wisdom that's been passed down for generations. Yet we rarely focus on our most repeated thoughts, actions, beliefs and values. And we think it's going to be some miraculous manifesting moment, some random thing that happens in our life that changes the trajectory of everything, when in reality, it's all about our habits. If you want 2026 to be the best year of your life, this episode is for you. If you want to break your bad habits in 2026, this episode is for you. And if you're someone who's done just setting goals and not meeting them, this episode is is for you. Let's dive in. So why can't you break your bad habits? Let's get honest. If you could have broken the habit by now, you would have. The problem isn't effort. The problem is misdiagnosis. Most people think a bad habit is a character flaw. But science shows a bad habit is usually an emotional escape. When we have a bad habit, we think it's because we're a bad person. We had bad parenting. We had a bad background. We had bad company. Now, even if you did have a lot of challenging things, the truth, I want you to realize is a bad habit is more of a subconscious response. It's something that you can train. It's not something that you're stuck with. A bad habit can be a triggered loop. A bad habit can be a dopamine pattern you've repeated. A bad habit can be an environment cue or a story you've been carrying for years. But you can change it. You can transform it. A habit is not something you have to live with because it's who you are. You are not your habits. You are made of your habits. You're defined by your habits, but you yourself are not your habits. Here's the key. You don't Fix bad habits by fighting them. You fix them by understanding what they're doing for you. Because every bad habit has a job. Scrolling equals distraction. Overeating equals comfort. Procrastinating equals protection. Overworking equals avoidance. People pleasing equals fear of rejection. Staying up late equals escape time. Your habit isn't random. It's a coping strategy. And once you understand the strategy, you can rewrite it. Oftentimes when we want to change our habits, we just think, I just want to wake up earlier. Okay, great. But what does staying up late do for you? What is it providing that you need to change the strategy? If you say to yourself, oh, I just want to stop drinking sodas, what is that habit? What is the loop? What is the trigger? What is the incentive that you turn to that for? Right? Every habit we have, you can say, I don't want to do this and I want to start this. I never want to do this again. I always want to do this. But in reality, if you don't get beneath the surface, if you don't get beneath the hood, you have no idea as to why you even turn to it in the first place. And if you don't understand why you turn towards something, you can't turn away from it. If you don't know why, every night, even when you don't want to, you turn on the TV and waste two hours. If you don't know why you do that, you can't change it. If you don't know why you choose to sleep in instead of going to the gym, you can't change it. Here's what I want to talk to you about. The four part loop that runs 90% of your habits. Every habit follows the same pattern. Number one, trigger. Something happens. Number two, Emotion. You feel stress, boredom, loneliness, fear. Number three, behavior. You reach for the habit. And number four, reward. Your brain gets relief. The loop completes. And your brain says, let's do that again tomorrow. But here's the moment that changes everything. If you interrupt the just one part of the loop, the habit collapses. That means you don't have to change yourself. You just change the loop. This is where the real transformation happens. We keep thinking, I can't change myself. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't do this. I'm just a lazy, useless person. But the reality is, we're trying to change the loop, not trying to change you. It's the loop that has become you. Therefore, if we can interrupt the loop, change the loop, transform the loop, we can change how we feel. Focus on the loop, don't focus on yourself. We over focus on ourselves and our character more than we focus on the actual trigger. So here's what I want you to do. Change your triggers. Most people try to change the habit, but your habit is not the problem. Your trigger is. Here's an example. You don't binge scroll because you want to, right? I don't think you go to your phone and go, I can't wait to binge scroll today. You binge scroll because your phone is beside your bed. You don't eat late at night because you're hungry. You eat because your kitchen is the only quiet moment you have. It's a place of escape. You're exhausted, you're tired. You didn't eat something right before. You don't procrastinate because you're unmotivated. You procrastinate because you're overwhelmed, because you're scared of rejection. So here's your first actionable redesign your triggers. Move the phone out of the bedroom. Prep your meals early schedule. Work into smaller emotional portions. Remove the cue. Remove the craving. Your environment beats your willpower every single time. Don't try to fight the habit, break the loop. Don't try to fight the habit, break the loop. Focus on the design part that you can change to shift the direction of where you're going. I really want you to think about this profoundly and thoughtfully. I'll give you an example. I know that I used to turn to sugar when I felt stressed. Sugar would get me out of that feeling. I also know that I used to turn to sugary drinks or sodas when I felt I didn't have energy. I used to think that I couldn't work out unless I had energy, not realizing that working out gave me energy. When I'm working out, I'm less likely to crave a sugary drink or a snack. Also, going even a step further, when I'm sleeping well, I make better choices. Now ask yourself, why are you not sleeping well? What are you stressed about? What's keeping you up at night? Figure out that trigger and interrupt that pattern. Focus on solving that and you'll be able to wake up earlier and sleep better, as opposed to just beating yourself up for not having a good bedtime routine. Next, replace the reward, not the habit. You can break your habit faster if you replace the reward before you remove the behaviour. Here's what I mean. If your habit gives you comfort, replace the comfort, not the habit. If your habit gives you escape, replace the escape, not the habit. Most people Try to stop a habit cold, but nature hates a vacuum. So I remember at one point I would just want to play video games. After a day of work, no activity, my brain goes dull. I just need to switch off. Instead I switched it for pickleball. Playing a sport in the evening gives me that sense of play, but it also gives me connection, gives me physical activity. I'm burning calories, I'm getting steps and getting a sweat in. Replacing the habit is better than just saying, I'm not going to do anything this evening. I'm just going to start doing nothing from now on. That's just not going to work. For example, if you say to yourself, I'm going to start eating healthy now. I'm never going to reach for the chips. But if all you have in your snack drawer is chips, if you replace the habit and now you've got healthier alternatives, that's what you're going to reach for. Remove a habit without replacing the reward and your brain will find another habit to to fill the gap. This is why emotional eating turns into binge scrolling, or why overworking turns into overthinking. Your brain is not sabotaging you, it's solving for relief. So you need an upgraded relief system. We all need relief at the end of the day. We all need relief at the end of the week. That's normal. We couldn't possibly read a book instead of watching a show. Reading a book requires effort. Watching a show requires no effort. So if you eat for comfort, call a friend for three minutes. If you know you're going to watch a show, watch something that you feel really engaged by and fulfilled by rather than disappointed when you finish. If you scroll for escape, take a 90 second walk outdoors and truly escape and feel the difference. If you procrastinate, set a five minute timer. Let yourself procrastinate, but have a deadline. If you stress and you go shopping, write about what you're feeling. Talk to someone about it. Small Replacements Break big habits.