Healthy Habits - Self-Improvement Month Interview

September is National Self-Improvement Month, but behavioral specialist Corbin Bruckshaw thinks most people are starting in the wrong place.

 

His take: piling on new routines and productivity hacks before understanding why you don't follow through just sets up the next failed streak. Skip that step, and self-improvement becomes a loop: set a goal, fall off, blame a lack of discipline, repeat.

 

Corbin is the founder of Let's Get Human, where he works at the intersection of behavior, mindset, money psychology, and values alignment. Kansas City born and Dallas raised, he's spent over a decade studying why people struggle to act on what they say matters most.

I had a chance to interview him about self-improvement and how to make it stick!

Why doesn't knowing what to do always translate into actually doing it?

Knowing and doing are two very different things. We can know what to do, but unless the goal is in alignment with our highest values, we will need external motivation to make forward progress on something. When we are living in alignment with our highest values, we are intrinsically inspired from within to act. 

Why is it hard to stay motivated if goals don't actually fit in with values, and how can people modify goals to improve the connection?

Every human being has a hierarchy of values, what is most to least important to them. If you are having a hard time staying motivated, you likely set a goal that isn't actually important to you and does not align with your hierarchy of values. Human beings are designed to procrastinate, hesitate, and feel frustrated around things that aren't actually that important to us. We are equally designed to be disciplined, reliable and focused in the areas that are most important to us. No one has to remind us to do things that are authentically important to us. You can either shift your values to align with the goals you set, or shift your goals to align with your values to increase the probability of achievement. 

How can we build goals around the life that we actually want, rather than just "optimization" tied to what others think should be done?

The first step in this is understanding what is actually important to you. Not what you say you want, but what your life actually demonstrates you value. Once you have given yourself permission to be really honest with yourself about what you want, you can then begin to build a life around your highest values/priorities. 

How can we build habits instead of just copying another person's routine?

Values are the single most important driving force in Human Behavior. Habits become significantly easier to incorporate when you can clearly see how what you are doing helps you achieve what you value most.