Successful people are creatures of habit – of habits that foster their success. Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast entitled, Creatures of Habit explores the practice of habituating beneficial behaviours and reducing detrimental ones. In this podcast, he invited author James Clear to discuss his book, Atomic Habits. Clear chose this name, because he writes of making tiny changes in behaviour, the benefits of which compound exponentially. So many points expressed in this podcast discussion resonated with me as a therapist helping people to establish new, healthy ‘voicing habits’, but I will share only a few of the most relevant:
1. “True behaviour change is identity change.” Clear relates ‘behaviour’ to habits, both good and bad. Regarding establishing new, good habits, he explains,
“A habit is not a finish line to be crossed. It is a lifestyle to be lived.” The idea here is that your habits are part of your identity. He provides the following illustrations, “You know the goal is not to finish the marathon, the goal is to become a runner. The goal is not to read thirty books a year; it’s to become a reader… Once you have this new narrative to tell yourself, once you have this new way to look at yourself, you’re not really even forcing yourself to do it any more. You’re just acting in alignment with the type of person that you see yourself to be. And this is probably the ultimate reason why habits are so important.”
I have found the establishment of habits to be crucial to success. In my first career as a professional singer, I established the habit of a morning voice warm-up. After being up and about for three hours or so, I would begin my practice, which consisted of a second, short vocal warm-up followed by singing. I rested my voice with work on language (Italian, German, French, Czech pronunciation and rhythm). After lunch, I would resume singing. Always during practice, I made it a habit to continuously drink a variety of beverages to maintain hydration. These habits secured vocal health and facilitated meeting deadlines for performances. Later, when I turned my attention to voice therapy, I found the establishment of study habits crucial to my ability to go to university whilst supporting my children through secondary school, maintaining a household and trying to be a good partner to my husband. Good habits allowed me to fit it all in.
2. “A habit must be established before it can be improved upon.” This concept is particularly important when considered in relation to goals. I usually speak to my clients about the goals they have for themselves and goals they want to work toward with voice therapy. James Clear has given me pause to reconsider how I address goals in therapy. It is important to have goals, but more important is the system or process that is established in order to reach them. As Clear states, “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your process.” The ‘process’ here is the habit of practice. The discipline of prioritising dedicated time for voice work in your everyday life - for building the fundamental skills necessary to be the person you want to be. (see my post, Wax On, Wax Off) Basically, you have to habitually show up. Once the habit of showing up for work is established, then the work itself can be improved.
3. “It’s easier to build a new habit in a new environment.” Particularly pertinent today, because the COVID-19 pandemic has enforced a new environment on most people. Whilst many key workers are facing the most stressful and difficult days of their working lives, workers in non-essential roles are sequestered at home with little to no opportunity to pursue their usual activities. As such, those people have a brand new environment in which to establish new, healthy and beneficial habits. They may be harder to maintain in the future, but the benefits gained now may carry on for long afterward.
I’ve used the ‘new environment’ to begin this blog, for which I will continue to make time. I’ve embarked on providing remote voice therapy, which I suspect will carry on even after the restrictions are relaxed. I’ve begun cooking more and experimenting with recipes and I have moved my main meal to the middle of the day. I will certainly strive to continue with this healthier way of eating, if only just a weekends. Who knows, I may even find a way to continue with my new body weight exercise regime.
The take-away? Establishing good habits promotes personal growth. The thing to remember is, “habits are the evidence” that you are the person you want to be.