Are YOU a Badass?!
On today’s episode of “Karen Likes to Read A Lot,” I present to you one of the most amazing books on habit formation that I’ve ever read...Badass Habits by Jen Sincero.
The tagline is “Cultivate the awareness, boundaries, and daily upgrades you need to make them stick,” and let me tell you, this book REALLY delivers.
Jen Sincero has been around for a hot minute, and while I haven’t had a chance to read all of her books (yet!), this one made a huge impact on me. As a work from home mom of two, I needed to get some basic habits set up and implemented around my house, or the chaos was going to be unbearable.
I’ve read a number of books on habits, but none motivated me like this one does...her writing is so inviting, friendly, and supportive, yet Jen is also willing to call out your BS excuses. She shows you how your life CAN improve, and helps you do the work to get you there, all while having fun.
Little copywriting tip for you: when you write in an authentic and engaging way, your “voice” will always connect you with your ideal target audience - those that are primed, ready, and just waiting to make contact with you and your products, so they can give you their money and tell all their friends (and blog readers) about you.
Okay, now off my copywriting soapbox…
The biggest thing that struck me, besides her generally fun and delightfully salty tone, is the section she has on identity...I had never given much thought to how my self perception influenced my habits. Spoiler alert: it makes a BIG freakin’ difference.
Hate to do it again, especially so soon, but here is hot copy tip #2 for you - if you can find a unique mechanism that makes old(er) information seem vibrant, fresh, and interesting, you have a great way to differentiate your message from the stories and ideas that people have been hearing FOREVER. THAT can make a BIG impact on how they perceive you and your business. Finding and utilizing this “unique mechanism” approach for my clients is one of my favorite copywriting techniques.
Back to the book...again…
I'd like to talk a bit about two of my favorite quotes from Chapter 1:
“Shift your identity to match the habits you are adopting.”
“Our ‘realities’ are determined by how we habitually perceive ourselves and our worlds.”
I love the idea behind them both! Her whole point is that you have to identify yourself as the person who has already adopted the habit...you have to BECOME the non-smoker in your mind and identify with that persona as you begin the process of trying to quit smoking.
You have to already see yourself with clean healthy lungs, fresh smelling clothes, non-nicotine stained fingers and teeth. Adopt the identity of a person who would never smoke, because…Hello!!! Self?? A a non-smoker would likely never pick up a pack of cigs and start. This mindset shift sets you up for success!
Take my Monday for example. I’m writing this at 7:12am. I’ve been up since 6, and I’m getting two hours of work done before the kidlets get up. It is also our first day of homeschool for the year (yes, I am a God-less Mom-monster who makes her kids start homeschooling in July, don’t hate me! I give them the whole month of December off!).
I don’t like waking up early. I pretty much hate it with a fiery passion usually reserved for people who kick puppies, but I have this awesome identity of myself. An identity I have been crafting over the past year (with the help of this book)...
Basically, there is this super awesome lady who lives in my head.
She has an amazing business doing what she loves - helping connect people who have some type of problem, with the business owners who can offer them helpful and effective solutions to those problems.
Her house isn’t always clean (Pro tip: if you want a clean house, may I gently suggest you not live with children, and avoid adopting long haired cats and adorable fun-sized “shelter special” dogs, who turn out to be ¼ Siberian Husky, and who have spent the past four weeks “blowing their coat”).
She does her “best” to keep up with the house and garden, while feeding her family of hobbits multiple times a day. She also homeschools the mini-hobbits, and makes sure they don’t actually turn into the feral, rabid goats that she often likes to tell people they act like (goal is to keep the feral goat/human kid ratio 40/60…some days, she succeeds!).
Thing is, if this awesome lady in my head wants to do all this stuff, she needs to get her a$$ out of bed at 6am so she can start her day, write her blog post, do some admin work, make some back to school pancakes, and get on with it.
Since I already have this identity established in my head, while it sucks, I get up at 6am and do “the things” because that is what the Karen in my head, the Karen I WANT to be, would do. Having an identity already established for myself makes it easier to perform the habits I need to help me become the person I already think I am. It's kind of circular logic, but man-o-man, does it work.
There are some other amazing parts of the book - she has a whole section on using boundaries to establish your habits which is also < insert French chef’s kiss here > awesome! Plus there is an entire 21 day guide to implementing a new habit that holds your hand as you create your new identity and establish your emerging habits and boundaries.
All in all, Badass Habits is one of the best books I have ever read, and definitely the best niche book on habits. I hope you get a chance to check it out, and I’d love to hear what you thought of it in the comments below.
Now, If you’ll excuse me, my children have discovered that I am expecting them to study geography this year (The Horror!!!), and I have a mini-insurrection on my hands I need to quell...wish me luck!
