Pod Insights Change Wired How to never forget taking supplements and do any habit. How coaches build habits from day 1. About this episode Forgetfulness isn’t a character flaw - it’s a design problem. When your mind is crammed with small reminders, you burn the fuel needed for creativity, focus, and complex thinking. We walk through a simple, 3-step blueprint to make good habits effortless and free up your best mental energy. The key is treating habits like brain software: write a clean script and it runs without fail. Ready to build habits that don’t fail and reclaim your focus for high-impact work? Share this episode with som...
Transcript 0:09 Speaker 00 Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your partner in personal collective change and transformation, your executive health and high performance coach 360, and just someone with a lot, lot of passion, obsession and drive for helping myself and builders and strivers, people who really want to do their best, want to create some positive impact, want to change the world in some way, and want to live the most extraordinary life experience. So people like yourself can use, unlock more of your potential and live the most extraordinary life experience.
0:52 Speaker 00 And today, guys, I wanted to share with you a little story that will help you to see how a lot of times we think that we fail, or we forget things, or we are not capable or competent in some way, where the solution, actually a better solution, is building better systems, the ones that don't fail, and so that we can dedicate our thinking, our skills, our talents towards something that truly matters. What am I talking about here? And by the way, by the end of today's podcast, it's going to be a short one, you're gonna understand the sense of habit a little bit
1:36 Speaker 00 better, and I'm going to simplify it to you, and going to present it to you like learning about writing a code to create an application that does a certain task. And when you do it according to the rules of the systems or a programming language, it works. And when you don't follow the rules, it doesn't. So habits are actually like that. They're like these little programs that your brain creates, and when you help your brain to create them in the right way, they run your Your life without fail. And hopefully you create the right ones so they run your life into the right direction.
2:19 Speaker 00 Right. So by the end of this podcast, you're going to understand how to build habits that stick with you faster. And how to stop blaming yourself for forgetting things. And also get more energy for thinking, problem solving, creativity, getting into focus and flow to make things happen. So let me start with a story. So today I woke up and I opened up one of the cabinets where I store my supplements. And to get my electrolytes to go and work out, to put it in my water. And I opened up the cabinet and I was almost shocked, like with disbelief.
2:59 Speaker 00 There were my supplements, my pills that I was supposed to take last night with my dinner. And to help me realize why I was so shocked is I.
3:13 Speaker 00 The last time I forgot to take my supplements was like, I don't even remember when it was. It might have been 10 years ago, literally. And so when I saw those evening supplements that I didn't take. It felt like so unreal and not out of this world, almost like seeing an alien. And I realized at this point that I built a lot of systems in my life that I don't even now think about. That create this consistency that I sometimes pride myself in. And that consistency isn't even my, something I worked on.
3:54 Speaker 00 I got really good at building systems, but then the consistency and not forgetting things takes care of itself. And to give you an idea also, how I realized that, you know, I got good, so good at building systems that I don't even notice those systems and how they run my life. So usually in my older place, I would have those supplements right where I would have my dinner. And so whenever I would start my dinner, I would see those supplements and I would take them. And now I moved in a temporary place between different apartments and I don't have the same setup. So my supplements are in a cabinet and nowhere near the place where I usually have my dinner.
4:40 Speaker 00 And so when I had my dinner, it didn't pop into my mind at all that I was supposed to be doing something else. And I forgot about it so completely that again, when I looked at it this morning, I was in a complete amazement and shock that they were still there. But it also was really, really good news. It made me realize how many things I don't hold in my mind, which allows me to totally forget about the rest of life and dive deep into focus and flow to work on and think through and solve for things that actually matter in my life.
5:24 Speaker 00 And researchers and scientists who study our brain, you're a scientist and anyone, you know, who studies our brain, they learned that we have this working memory capacity. Basically, working memory is that temporal space, like a kitchen counter, where you can store a very limited amount of information to interact with when you're working on solving problems or figuring things out or on creative stuff. And so the most stuff you put there to store temporarily, like not forgetting certain things, the less you have available for the work that matters to you, like your projects,
6:05 Speaker 00 whether that's in your life or in your business or something that requires more problem thinking and more of your creativity. And so when you have a lot of random stuff stored there, you cannot access the full capacity, which will allow you to do more complex thinking. And so me forgetting my supplements was really good news because realized I don't hold it in my brain. You know, David Allen, the creator, the author of Getting Done System, who helped.
6:35 Speaker 00 Executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, business owners, to create systems for productivity with small and big companies, managing a lot of people or just themselves with a lot of responsibilities. So he helped all these individuals and teams and companies all over the world to build bulletproof systems. So everything that needs to happen, happens. And he has this beautiful saying, your brain is for, or your mind is for creating ideas, is for having ideas, not holding them. He also has another saying, your head is a crappy office. It does not have this filing and cabinet system easily accessible and neatly organized.
7:20 Speaker 00 And so if you want to, A, stop forgetting things, all the small little things that make your life work. And B, if you want to be more creative, if you want to get easier into focus and flow at the same time, not forgetting again those important things, then building the right kind of systems is what will allow you to do just that. That's what systems are for, for holding all these small little things, not in your head, but outside of your head. So you could do the most complex and genius thinking you're capable of. But there is another point that I wanted to bring to this podcast.
8:03 Speaker 00 Is that habit building, things that you want to do consistently, day after day after day, or on a weekly, weekly basis. Habits, they are again like apps, like programs that your brain creates. And they follow very good, well researched formula, that when you use it and you build your habits, your little program software for the brain to automate things. When you use this formula, you build habits faster and you build this autopilot consistency without having to struggle with forgetfulness and willpower. And so what is the formula and how do you use it? How do you, do I use it all the time to build habits from like day one?
8:47 Speaker 00 Until, you know, once in a decade, something happens that throws my system out of bounds. And now I know that I had a system that was working all this time. So what is the formula for habit building?
9:00 Speaker 00 Cue, action, reward. So if you wanna build your brain's program, your habit, you're gonna have a cue, something in your environment that will remind you to do that thing, to launch your app, to launch your habit. Then you have action, which is a sequence of steps that has to be repeatable and has to be the same in order to be automated. That's how you automate things, you make them the same. And so there is a cue, there is a series of steps of actions, and there is reward. Some good thing that you're getting out of it. You're gonna feel good about getting this thing done, getting the result, getting the pleasure, getting the reward, just feeling good about making it happen.
9:44 Speaker 00 So cue is the first necessary step. Without the cue, the rest won't launch. It's like not pressing the button that launches your app to do certain thing. Before, for example, you wanna use your Duolingo, you have to press the button, otherwise it won't launch. So the same with your habits. And so if you think about my evening routine, what was missing on that night is that cue, is that push of a button that didn't launch this sequence of events, which is me taking my supplements. And so now I get smarter and I put out my supplements on my nightstand.
10:27 Speaker 00 So I will remember about those supplements one way or the other on the same day, because they're out there right now staring at me. And unless, I don't know, I won't be able to see anything, then I will not forget them for sure. And so very often, when I work with clients, they get into this mode of blaming themselves, or blaming yourself, guys, that you forget things, that you are forgetful, that your brain doesn't work that well, or you've never been good with memory. But you know what? Even if your memory... Isn't that great, which actually also a trainable thing.
11:08 Speaker 00 You still can run your life on autopilot and easily build habits when you follow this formula. Cue, action, reward. So now, when you look at your habits, when you look at things that you forget to do, and you do it quite regularly, you ask yourself, like, what is the missing piece? Cue has to be present. Your brain has to know when to launch that app. So it's got to be visual, it's got to pop up in your environment. You've got to figure out a way how to make it visible, how to make it salient. So you remember without having to remember about it. And then the action has to be the same. So simplifying it, making it really the same every time as possible.
11:53 Speaker 00 That will bulletproof this whole program. And then you work. You know, when I start working with clients on different habits that they don't necessarily like at first, like, let's say, you're not into exercise, but you want to exercise because, you know, it's, it needed for good health. I always remind them that in order for the habit to stick, you need to figure out how to start liking it, getting some pleasure or getting some satisfaction out of it. Even if it's small, acknowledgement of like progress of you sticking with it, you've got to get some personal satisfaction. Instead of feeling, oh, you know, this, I did this, but I hated it the whole time and I hate the whole process.
12:35 Speaker 00 So that feeling of dissatisfaction is really bad for not building your habits. In fact, if you want to quit a habit, make yourself feel really bad after finishing that habit and you'll be able to quit that habit really, really fast. And the opposite is also very true. In order to build a habit, you need to learn how to make yourself feel good about finishing that habit, not in months by rewarding yourself, I don't know, with anything, but right then and there, because your brain does not make those long-term associations all this well, especially when it comes to building habits. So again, back to the formula, if you want to build. Habits fast.
13:15 Speaker 00 And if you want to stop forgetting and stop trying to train your memory and keep in your mind all these little things that make your life complete and make your life work. If you want to do all of that, first remember this formula, very simple three step formula. Cue, action, reward. And then ask yourself about any habit, any action that you are trying to build. Or maybe you want your people on your team to do something or in your family to do something. Then ask yourself, are you helping them to build this simple formula? Cue, action, reward. And analyze every single action that either you or somebody else in your environment fails to do.
13:58 Speaker 00 Ask yourself, do they have a cue? Do they have a simple, repeatable, easy to do sequence of steps of actions? And then reward.
14:10 Speaker 00 Is it in some way rewarding to them? And if not, how can I help them? How can I help myself to make it rewarding? And that's it for today, guys. Before we, before you jump off to do amazing things, create more positive impact and live your most extraordinary life and build more habits faster. Please do share, review this podcast. Share it with at least one other person who might be struggling with some habits, some routine. They keep forgetting things. Share this podcast with them so they are, they can be aware of where they can be failing instead of blaming themselves for not being perfect or not being adequate with, you know, memory or building habits. So share that with them. Also rate, review.
14:55 Speaker 00 It helps this podcast to reach even more cities. We are already in 11,000 cities. It helps this podcast to reach even more countries and create more positive impact altogether. So please help me with that. And till next time, keep building systems that run your life. So you can dedicate more of your thinking, more of your talent, more of your genius to things that matter, not just to taking supplements.
15:23 Speaker 00 Thank you guys for tuning in, thank you for listening and till next time. By the way, the next one is gonna be a good one. We're gonna learn about student mindset skills that professional athletes use to win tournaments and come back after the most crushing defeats. We're gonna learn how to master your internal game, so external world has no chance but to obey your successes. So till next time, keep growing.
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