Change Academy Brock Armstrong & Monica Reinagel

In this special extracurricular episode, we are sharing a little peek inside the year-long Weighless Program (https://weighless.life/enrollment) that you often here us talk about.
What you’re going to hear is actual content from that program that we thought would be a great complement to the stuff we do here in Change Academy. This content is part of a year-long curriculum in which we help people create and strengthen the mindset, habits, and lifestyle that lead to weighing less without dieting.
The reason we are sharing with you now is that our next group is going to be starting on October 8th 2021. Enrollment only opens a couple of times a year so if this is something that you have thought about doing, we didn’t want you to miss it! All the information on that program is at https://weighless.life/enrollment 
Whether you are interested in the Weighless Program or not, we think that this particular topic is relevant and useful to all of our listeners and we are happy to share it with you now.

We encourage you to identify things that aren’t working (or could be working better) and design solutions. But sometimes, we end up designing solutions that are unnecessarily complicated or costly.
We may even lose sight of our original objective and end up designing a “solution” that doesn’t solve the original problem at all. In this episode, we teach you how to notice when you are losing focus so you can get back on track.
Takeaways:
- Designing solutions that are unnecessarily complicated or costly may cause us to lose sight of our original objective.
- Sometimes our brain distracts us from working on the bigger issue by dazzling us with something that seems like it will help but doesn’t actually move us closer to our goals.
- Asking ourselves questions like: what is my current focus, what am I trying to create, or what is my real goal, can get us back on track.
S- implify your plan before you complicate it into oblivion.
Lab Experiment:
- Think about a system or solution that you’ve designed that’s complicated or costly. It could be for your business, for your home or family, or something personal. It could be one you’ve already implemented or one you’re just thinking about.
- Identify the problem that this system was originally intended to solve (or what goal it was intended to achieve).
- Ask yourself (and/or your team): Does that problem (still) need to be solved? Has the original goal been abandoned or achieved?
- Is there a simpler way to solve the problem or achieve the goal?

The things we do on a routine basis impact how we see ourselves. And the opposite is also true: How we see ourselves can influence how we act. 
In other words, our habits and our identity are closely tied to one another. 
In this episode, we talk about how to make sure that connection between our behavior and our identity is working for us and not against us. 
Takeaways There’s an important difference between acknowledging a trait or circumstance that you’d like to change and allowing it to define you. It can be easier to persist in a new behavior (or set of behaviors) if we work on building an identity that supports it. Linking your behaviors to your core values helps to reinforce positive habits and identity  Who we associate with can have a powerful effect (either positively or negatively) on our progress toward our goals.  Lab Experiment Try this CBT technique (called STOPP)
1. STOP: If you hear yourself using terms to describe yourself that seem limiting, stop.
2. TAKE A BREATH: Breathe in and out a few times slowly.
3. OBSERVE: What am I really saying about myself? What do these words or terms cause me to think about myself? 
4. PERSPECTIVE: Consider the bigger picture. Is this an important fact about me? Could there be a different way of presenting this aspect of myself? What would someone else say about you if they were asked?
5. PRACTICE: Don’t just do this once. Replacing a well rehearsed identity will take time, so don’t give up!

In this extracurricular episode, we’re sharing a preview of an upcoming workshop on incorporating more movement and fitness into our daily routines. Even if you’re an avid exerciser, it’s still easy to end up sitting for long stretches of every day. And finding those hidden opportunities to sneak more movement into our daily routines can make the difference between ending the day stiff and cranky or finishing the day feeling flexible and energized!
We’re hoping this little snippet - about using a morning movement routine to both warm up your body and set your intentions for the day - will whet your appetite for more and that you’ll join us on August 19th for a full-length live workshop where Brock will show you how to squeeze more movement, fitness and fun into every day...no special equipment or clothes required. You don’t even have to break a sweat. The workshop is free but requires pre-registration, which you can do by going to changeacademypodcast.com/sitless

This episode was suggested by a listener named Liz: 
“I have clients that I fear will let go of their habits when they don’t have me there to hold them accountable. How do you coach someone to create that accountability for themselves or hold themselves accountable?”
Takeaways Being more accountable to someone else than you are to yourself can be a red flag that either your goal is off or your reason for doing it is missing. When you can align your goal with your identity and values, you can become someone who acts a certain way whether they feel motivated or have external accountability or not. Cultivating more awareness of the intrinsic rewards can make you less dependent on external rewards (although you can still enjoy those as well). You don’t need to stay motivated in order to succeed. You just need to stay committed.  Lab Experiment When you find yourself searching for motivation, stop and ask yourself instead “Why is doing this thing or achieving this goal important to me?” 
Next, ask yourself “What’s required of me right now? Who do I need to be in this moment in order to become who I want to be in the future?”
Imagine how you will feel after taking that next step–even if no one else knows you did it. Will you be glad you did it? 
If so, simply commit to taking that next step, whether or not you feel motivated. 

Molly is the host of the Breaking the Bottle Legacy podcast, in which she shares her own experience with changing her long-standing drinking patterns and creating a healthier and more peaceful relationship with alcohol. 
As you’ll see in this episode, Molly’s approach to behavior change aligns perfectly with what we talk about on the Change Academy, and can be applied to all kinds of behaviors and changes. 

You’ll find the Breaking the Bottle Legacy podcast wherever you listen and Molly’s book of the same title will be available soon on Amazon.com