It’s Not Always the Habit You Think

When we think about bad habits, we tend to jump straight to the usual suspects—drinking, smoking, overspending, mindless scrolling, or numbing out in one way or another. So when a new client sat across from me recently and told me, “I don’t have any bad habits,” I nodded.

No drinking. No smoking. No compulsive shopping or binge behavior. On the surface, he was doing everything “right.”

But then I asked him a simple question:

“What’s your habit of thought?”

And I watched it land.

That was the moment something shifted. While he didn’t have the external habits we often label as unhealthy, his internal habits—the thoughts he repeated, believed, and lived by—were running the show.

And they weren’t kind.

They were the quiet, consistent whispers that said:

• “I’m not where I should be.”

• “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get this right.”

• “Something must be wrong with me.”

  
  

No cigarettes. No wine. But a steady stream of self-doubt, fear, and pressure? That’s a habit, too.

Our lives are shaped not just by what we do, but by what we think. The patterns we run in our minds day after day—those thoughts become the lens we see life through. They become the energy we bring into our relationships, our careers, our choices, and our future.

So if your life isn’t working out how you want it to…If things feel off but you can’t quite point to a specific “bad habit,”…Start here:

What are you rehearsing in your mind on repeat?

What if that was the real habit?

The good news? You can change it. You can shift the inner narrative. You can stop rehearsing defeat and start practicing peace, presence, confidence, and trust. That’s the work I do with my clients every day. Not just breaking external habits, but transforming the internal ones that keep us stuck, even when everything on the outside looks okay.

Because the mind is the root. And when you change the root… everything else begins to shift.

XXOO,

Leigh

💛 If you’re ready to take a deeper look at the habits that don’t show up on the surface, I’d love to help. Let’s change the story. Let’s clear the path. Let’s get things working again—from the inside out. Book your session at LeighKubin.com