Creating Lasting Habits

Like any behavior change, sustainability comes with building habits, and the same is true for sleep. We've gone over like a whole host of different skills, and all of them are important. Some will resonate with you more than others, but I think two things are important. The first is they build upon each other. I really think of this whole course as more of a recipe than a menu. Sure, you can kind of choose some of the ingredients, but if you leave out the eggs, for instance, whatever you're making is not gonna bake the right way, and that's true here too, that they build on one another. I would like to try the muscle, the progressive muscle relaxation. I think I see a lot of benefit in that. Of all the things we've talked about, the worry window is the most exciting for me. I would love to try that out, like I can do that today. The second thing is that this is the beginning, not the end, right? You can practice these things in short bursts and maybe get some gains, but when you make it habitual, when you kind of put in the work and continue to do it, you're likely to see continued improvement in your sleep, the longer that you focus on refining and enhancing these skills. Coming to terms with the motivation of like why? What is my motivation to sleep besides just being a normal person? But I just wanna be a good person. It seems so simple, but probably a very effective tool that will help me in the future. Sometimes your sleep may go off the rails, may get worse with a stressor or something else going on in your life, and the skills that you've gained here can be used then. I have tried to do habits, and I will do it for like a week consistently, and then I drop off and fall off. It's important to have compassion for yourself. A lot of people have dealt with sleep problems for a long time, and it can be easy to get down on yourself when new things you try don't work right away or you are able to be consistent and then slip up. Those aren't gain that are lost, and we can always get things back on track. Now we'll try an exercise that will show you how to build lasting changes. There's no greater feeling than realizing you're on your way to make positive changes in your life by starting a new habit. Out with the old and in with the new. But sometimes once the thrill of starting a new habit wears off, it can be easy to lose sight of our goals, especially when we get distracted or busy. Like right now, a goal of mine is to incorporate more moments of rest throughout my day and really my life. This means having to prioritize certain things over others, like less screen...