3 Lessons I Learned From Jen Sincero’s Book Badass Habits

When I heard that Jen Sincero was writing a new book I instantly knew this was a book I wanted to read. When I learned that it was about habits, I instantly knew that I needed to read it. I placed the book, Badass Habits, on preorder and counted down the days until it was released.

You Are A Badass was the first personal development book I had ever read and I was excited to read more from one of my favorite authors! After reading her newest book I have to say that it did not disappoint. 

Sincero filled Badass Habits with personal stories, humor, testimonies from other people, incredible insights, and a whole lot of focus on the importance of loving, appreciating, and becoming your authentic self. I learned so much in this book. They all center around three main points that I want to share with you today.

3 Lessons I Learned About Habits From Jen Sincero’s Badass Habits Book

1. To Be Successful With Habit Creation, You Have To Form A New Identity

This was one of my favorite parts of Badass Habits. I know it sounds extreme, but the way that Jen Sincero explains it makes perfect sense.

She makes a point of stating that we focus too much on what we are changing, and not enough on who we are becoming by creating this habit. If we don’t address the parts of our identity that holds us back from sticking to a habit, we will never be successful in creating this habit. It’s all about shifting our identity.

This doesn’t change the whole of who we are, but it does help us get closer to who we want to become. Becoming a person that values working out and living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t change the fact that I am someone who loves listening to music, being creative, and obsessing over notebooks and planners. My new identity simply adds to that to form the person that I want to become, my authentic self—I look at it like a puzzle piece.

 How can you shift your identity to better serve your new habit? 

2. Expect Mess-ups, But Don’t Let Them Derail You

Mess-ups can be hard. In a perfect world, they wouldn’t happen at all. However, no one is perfect.

We would be fooling ourselves if we thought that creating a new habit, or breaking a bad one, was going to be easy. It will be hard, you may mess up a time or two, but it’s only quitting if you stop completely.

Pick yourself up and go for it again. You can do this!

3. Be Purposeful In Your Habit Creating, or Breaking, Journey

Developing new habits, or breaking old ones, is all about intentionality. Tuning into your thoughts, beliefs, and actions, and creating routines and spaces to help you stick to the process will help.

In her book, Sincero discusses all of this, along with topics like triggers, confidence, and gratitude. It all comes from a 21-day challenge. By being purposeful in this journey you are telling yourself, and the world, that this habit is important to you.

The 21 Day Habit Challenge

As I mentioned above, the basis of Badass Habits is about a 21-day challenge. After reading this book I have decided to take that challenge on. As I’m writing this Jen Sincero announced on Instagram that she is doing/hosting a challenge on January 8th, so that is when I plan to start as well.

You can do this challenge at any time though, as many times as you want/need to. 

The habit I decided to form is setting aside 30 minutes each day to work out. I used to be consistent with working out. I was getting back into a routine of things in 2020 but I slipped up and got inconsistent again.

Then I started developing bad headaches, some even migraine level, daily in late November. That stopped my workouts completely.  

I need to ease back into working out to be successful with this. I’ll also have to be intentional with listening to my body. If my headache is bad, maybe I just take a walk or stretch, instead of dancing or a YouTube video.

Here are a few other key components of forming this habit that I learned from Badass Habits.

• My Mantra: My headaches do not get in the way of me doing some sort of physical exercise for 30 minutes a day.
• The Set-up: I’m going to habit-stack by adding my workout to my morning routine. After I drink a bottle of water in the morning I’m going to move straight into my workout. In addition to habit stacking, I plan on creating my workout routine the night before, laying my workout clothes on my chair in my room, and setting a reminder on my phone.
• My Deadline: To give myself a deadline I will be doing a DietBet challenge. If I meet the goal percentage I’ll get some cash. This is a fun way to both stick to my habit and get paid as well.

Will you be doing this 21-day habit challenge with me? Let me know in the comments if you are and what your habit will be.

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