Reassess & Refine: Why Your Habits Need to Change

Ever feel like you “fell off” your routine?

You didn’t. You probably just outgrew it.

On this week’s episode of , I’m talking about something we don’t say enough: different seasons of life require different habits, different standards, different energy. Losing motivation doesn’t automatically mean you’re lazy. Sometimes it means the old version of you doesn’t fit anymore.

Consistency isn’t doing the same thing forever.
 Consistency is staying committed to growth — even when the routine needs an update.

We get into:

• Why burnout and boredom are actually feedback
• How your body signals misalignment before your brain catches up
• Why goals don’t change your life (systems do)
• How to design your environment so success is easier than failure
• And how to do a monthly “systems audit” to see what’s working… and what’s quietly draining you

If your sleep is off, your energy’s weird, your workouts feel forced, or your habits just aren’t hitting the same — this episode is your permission to pivot.

You’re not inconsistent.
 You’re evolving.

And your systems should evolve with you.

🎧 Listen now if you’re ready to stop forcing old routines to fit a new season.

#Habits #SelfGrowth #PersonalDevelopment #SystemsOverGoals #WellnessRoutine #BurnoutRecovery #Productivity #Mindset #HealthyHabits

You can write to me at: Questions@MindBodyMethodPodcast.com

You can follow me at @JoshGrimm_FITNUTCOLLECTIVE

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Mind Body Method. The podcast where health and fitness go beyond the weights and the workouts. I'm your host, Josh Graham, and every week we'll dive into what it truly means to build strength, not just in your body, but in your mind and your life. From movement with purpose to building a resilient mindset, this podcast is about empowering you to thrive in every aspect of your life, inside and outside of the gym. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hi, welcome back to the Mind Body Method Podcast, and I'm your host, Josh Grimm. Speaking from personal experience, I've learned something that took me years to understand. And every season of my life has required a different version of me. Because of that, every season has required different habits, you know, different routines, different priorities, and of course different standards. So for a long time, I used to beat myself up whenever I lost interest in something that once made me disciplined. I thought maybe I was becoming lazy. I thought losing motivation or something was wrong with me. But eventually I realized that wasn't true. You know, I wasn't becoming less disciplined. I had simply outgrown the version of myself that needed those habits. That realization changed the way I took at growth forever. And many people believe that consistency means doing the exact same things forever. I don't. I believe that consistency means staying committed to your growth, even when that growth requires changing your routine. And that's a big difference. Many people confuse evolution with inconsistency, and they're not the same thing. If your goals have changed, but your habits haven't, usually you'll feel the resistance. And the routine that once energized you begins to drain you. The morning ritual that once made you feel grounded starts feeling more forced. And the workout you once couldn't wait to do suddenly feels like an obligation on your calendar. That doesn't automatically mean that you've become lazy. It may simply mean that your life is asking something different of you. And I think that's where a lot of people get stuck. You know, they spend months trying to force themselves back into a version of life that they've already outgrown. So instead of asking why I don't have the motivation anymore, ask yourself a different question and rephrase it. Who am I becoming now? What is changing in me now? Your habits should support the person you're becoming, not the person that you used to be or that you're used to being. Growth is rarely loud, and sometimes it looks dramatic, sometimes it doesn't. A new career, a new relationship, a new friendship, a move across the country. But more often, growth is incredibly quiet. You start valuing peace with improving yourself. You become less interested in impressing people and more interested in protecting your energy. And you become more selective with your time, more intentional with your relationships, more intentional with your friendships, more aware of what actually deserves your attention. Those aren't dramatic changes, those are internal changes. And internal growth eventually demands external adjustments. And that's why I believe that our wellness routine isn't just about fitness. It's a reflection on our identity. The way you train, the way you eat, the way that you recover, the sleep that you get, the way you think, your mindset shifts, and all of those things communicate something about who you believe you are. If your identity changes, but your routine doesn't, eventually you'll experience that friction. That's not failure, that's internal feedback. And one of the biggest lessons I've learned is that our body speaks long before our mind is willing to listen to it. Burnout doesn't happen overnight. Neither does the boredom. It starts suddenly. We start noticing it. We skip one workout, you skip two workouts, not because you're tired, because it no longer feels meaningful to you. And you may stop journaling, you may stop meditating, not because you don't believe in reflection, but because maybe you've reached a place where another practice serves you better. But you begin sleeping longer, you need more recovery, right? Wanting more walks outside the gym than hours inside the gym. Most people immediately judge those moments. I think we should just become more curious about them instead. Because your body is incredibly intelligent. And if you spend your life ignoring what it's trying to tell you, eventually it's going to speak louder. And sometimes exhaustion is exactly that. You're exhausted. But sometimes exhaustion is your mind telling you that you've been climbing a mountain that no longer belongs to you, no longer that you want to climb. And that's worth paying attention to. I also think we become too attached to routines because they worked before. We mistake familiarity for effectiveness. Just because something helped you six months ago doesn't automatically mean it's what's best for you today. That's difficult for people because routines create certainty. We know what to expect, they make us feel safe, but growth has never happened inside of our comfort zone, right? Growth asks us to continually evaluate ourselves. Not from a place of criticism, but from awareness, self-awareness. You know, I ask myself often, if I were starting today, would I build the same routine? And that's a powerful question to ask yourself. Because if the answer is no, then why are you still living it? Why are you still doing it? You know, maybe your life looks different now. Maybe your responsibilities have changed, maybe your life has changed, maybe your priorities have matured. And if that's true, your wellness routine deserves the permission to evolve with you. I've always believed that wellness should fit into your life in some way or another. Your life shouldn't have to fit into your wellness routine. And that doesn't mean lowering your standards. It means becoming more intelligent with your standards. Maybe your 60-minute workouts become 35 more focused minutes. And maybe instead of six intense training days, you recover better when you do four. Maybe your meditation becomes a walk without your phone. Maybe your nutrition shifts from restriction towards more nourishment. And those aren't signs that you're giving up. Those are signs that you're paying attention to what your body needs and what it's asking of you. One of the healthiest mindset shifts we can make is moving away from chasing outcomes and moving for moving towards gathering the feedback from our body. When we're younger, success often looks external, right? More muscle, less body fat, a better physique, a better mile, a heavier squat, a heavier deadlift. And those goals are fine. You know, I've chased many of them myself throughout my lifetime, but over time I found something much more meaningful. And I want to know how my life feels. Am I sleeping well? Am I recovering well? And am I showing patience in difficult conversations? Do I recover faster from stressful situations? Do I have energy throughout my day? Am I waking up happy? Am I fully present about the people I care about around me? You know, those questions matter far more than a number on a scale. Real wellness should improve your life, not just your appearance. I also think we need to kind of normalize changing direction. There's this belief that successful people never pivot, right? And I don't buy into that because the strongest people that I know adapt, right? They don't quit, they adapt, they adjust, they change their beliefs, and they reassess, they refine, they know what maturity looks like, and that's it. They don't stubbornly stay the same. They intentionally become better. And one of the greatest forms of self-respect is giving yourself permission to become someone new without apologizing for it, you know, to yourself or to anybody else, without explaining it, without trying to convince everyone around you that you're making the right decision. Because growth doesn't require a permission slip, you know, it requires honesty. So every month, take an inventory. Ask yourself a few simple questions, you know, what's serving me, what's draining me, what's exhausting me, what habits still align with who I'm becoming, and what habits belong to a previous version of myself because there's going to be a difference. Those questions have changed the way I look at my life because awareness always comes before transformation. And I want to leave you with this on this topic. Don't mistake evolution for inconsistency. You're allowed to outgrow your habits. You're allowed to rewrite your routines, you're allowed to pursue different goals. And as long as those changes move you closer to becoming the man or woman or person that you know that you're capable of coming, then your wellness routine will not allow you to feel like you're in a prison. You know, it's supposed to be a vehicle, a vehicle that continually carries you towards greater strength, greater peace, and greater discipline and alignment towards the goals that you want. Right? Wellness isn't about becoming someone else, it's about continually becoming more of who you really and truly are. So it's time for you to discover that. So now let's talk about the systems to bring you there. So once you've accepted that you're becoming someone different, right, the next step is creating systems that support that new version of you. Right? And this is where most people sometimes give it backwards. So they become obsessed with setting bigger goals, bigger goals that seem unobtainable. I want to lose 20 pounds right away, I want to build more muscle by summer, I want to start a business by the end of the year, I want to read more books, I want to journal more, I want to meditate every single day. Those are all very worthwhile goals, but goals don't change your life. The systems do, right? You have to have a system in place. Goals simply give you something to aim towards, which again is great. But systems determine whether you ever get there, right? Think about that. And think about it this way: imagine two people who both want to get stronger in the gym, right? They both have the exact same goal, the same outcome they want to reach. One waits until they feel motivated that day to go and go to the gym. The other has a training schedule on the calendar, meals prepared, gym clothes packed the night before in their gym bag, and maybe even an accountability partner or a coach expecting to see them at the gym. Which one do you think succeeds? It isn't the person with the bigger dream, it's the person with the systems and the better system in place, right? That's because systems reduce the number of decisions that we have to make, right? And the fewer decisions you have to make in our in our very busy worlds, our very busy lives, the less opportunity there is for emotion to interfere. I've learned over the years that discipline isn't about having this extraordinary willpower, it's about removing unnecessary choices, and that's huge. If I know that I'm training tomorrow morning, my clothes are laid out the night before or in my gym bag, right? If nutrition is important to me this week, my meals are already planned, prepped, and in my fridge. If I want to read more, that book that I want to read is sitting on my nightstand instead of my phone being there. Those aren't acts of motivation, those are systems. And the beautiful thing about systems is that they continue working even on days you don't feel like showing up. They will be there tomorrow because you step them in place. None of us feel motivated every single day. I certainly don't. And I know I can rely on the systems I put in place tomorrow. The people we admire aren't more motivated than anyone else. They simply created environments that make success easier than failure. And that's a very important direction to go to. Your environment is either pulling you toward your future or quietly pulling you back towards your past. Look around your life, look at your calendar, your work calendar, your social calendar, look at your kitchen, look in your fridge, look in your pantry, look at your workspace. Was it cluttered? The people that you spend time with, are they giving you value? The conversations you have with these people, the conversations you have with strangers, even the content that you consume every day on social media, all of it is reinforcing something. And the question will be is it reinforcing the person that you're becoming, right? The person that you want to become, or is it the person that you're trying to leave behind, right? This is why I believe that every season deserves its own system. And the system that built your career may not be the one that protects your peace. The system that helped you lose weight may not be the same one that helps you maintain a healthy relationship with food. The system that served you while you were 25 years old may not be the one that's going to serve you when you're 45 years old and what your body needs for that. And that's okay. You're not supposed to keep the same system or blueprint forever. Strong people don't become attached to routines, they become attached to principles, the principles surrounding them. And the principle is consistency, consistency in the system. The system is simply the vehicle that delivers it. That's why I encourage people to perform what I call a personal systems audit every few months, a check-in with yourself, ask yourself some really honest questions. What habits are moving me forward? Which habits are keeping me left behind? What habits have become automatic in a positive way? What habits don't work for me, don't work for my lifestyle? Where am I relying too heavily on motivation? What decisions can I eliminate? What can I prepare for in advance that I'm not doing already? What obstacles continue showing up that I can remove altogether? You know, success usually isn't about adding more, it's about creating less friction and figuring out what's working and what's not. So less resistance, right? Less wasted energy. And when your systems are aligned with your goals, the progress will become quieter, right? You stop negotiating with yourself every single morning about what I want to do. You stop waiting to feel inspired. You already have the system in place. You simply become the kind of person who does what needs to be done because your life has been designed to support that behavior. You designed it that way with a system. And that's real discipline. Not forcing yourself to do hard things every day, but building a life where doing the right thing becomes the obvious choice, right? Speaking from personal experience, my goals and habits have never stayed the same over the years. I'm 46 years old and they've changed drastically since I was in my early 20s. Every meaningful season of my life has required a different version of me to show up. When I was younger, my focus was proving myself. I wanted to build more muscle, work harder than anyone else, chase accomplishments, and constantly feel like I was moving forward. Yeah, those goals have served me, but they also built discipline. They taught me consistency. They gave me the foundation to have the confidence to move forward with what I want. Eventually, I did notice something though. The routines that once fueled me started feeling heavy. Slowly started feeling heavy. Not because I had become lazy, not because I had lost discipline, but because I had become someone different. I was growing. And for a while, you kind of fight that feeling. You feel that maybe something is wrong with you. And you try forcing yourself back into routines that belong to a previous part of your life. And you think that if you could become more motivated, everything would just quit again. And it just never does, right? If you are actually in forward mantum. The truth is much simpler. You outgrow the systems that built the last version of yourself. And I think many people find themselves in exactly that place. So they assume they lost the motivation, but they just didn't have the right systems in place to continue to do what they need to do. So think about giving yourself a systems audit. Check in with yourself every few months, every season, depending on whatever it is that you need, and create a system. Help someone create a system and for you and that system. And you will notice a big difference in what it is that you're trying to achieve. So I want to say thank you for listening to My Body Method Podcast. As always, every Wednesday. I'm excited to say that we are going into a new season of the podcast starting in early September. You'll see some changes here. Stay tuned, look forward to it. It's going to be really, really interesting and exciting to go into this new direction. So wherever you're watching, listening to My Body Method Podcast, subscribe, like, share with your friends. Any questions, DM me on social media or email me questions at my body method podcast. And my Instagram is Josh Grimm underscore fit.collective. See you on Wednesday. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Welcome to MindBody Method, the podcast where health and fitness go beyond the weights and the workouts. I'm your host, Josh Grimm, and every week we'll dive into what it truly means to build strength, not just in your body, but in your mind and your life. From movement with purpose to building a resilient mindset, this podcast is about empowering you to thrive in every aspect of your life, both inside and outside of the gym. So let's get started.