Use Cognitive Dissonance To Your Advantage

I’m breaking down one of the most underrated mindset tools that can radically shift your fitness journey and personal development: cognitive dissonance.

If you’ve ever said “I want to be strong and healthy” while skipping your workouts or ordering Uber Eats three nights in a row—this episode is your wake-up call and your cheat code.

I’m teaching you exactly how to turn that inner conflict into fuel for your transformation. You’ll learn how to use fitness as a tool for identity-shaping, build discipline from a place of embodiment, and align your daily habits with the woman you’re becoming. We’re talking journaling prompts, affirmations, vision boards, and creating your higher self archetype.

FREE Affirmations for Cognitive Dissonance 

Transcript

 Welcome back to The Fitness of Jade podcast, and today I'm gonna be talking about cognitive dissonance and how to make it work for you. And hopefully the sound quality in this episode is fine because it is school holidays and in the living room. Lily is blasting music currently listening to new rules.

So yeah, hopefully we can't hear that in the background, so let's. Get started. So obviously the point of this podcast is for you to glow up, grow, and have an authentic life through movement, wellness, and fitness, how this can help you in obtaining all of the above. And the best way to do this is using some of the tips that I'm gonna discuss in this episode to your advantage.

And before I deep dive into this and give you some hacks that will literally change your life, I'm gonna tell you exactly what cognitive dissonance is. This is the psychological discomfort that you feel when your actions don't align with your beliefs or your identity. A simple example of this is that I want to be healthy and strong versus I skipped my workouts all this week.

So this internal tension then motivates us to resolve the inconsistency, whether you resolve it in a healthy way or not. That's the real, the real crux of the issue. And you either do this by challenging your beliefs or changing your actions, and that's how you do it in a positive way. If you use cognitive dissonance in this way, in a self-aware that way, which reinforces your values, this is where the glow up comes.

This is where the honey comes from, the beehive, and you start to become your dream self. To start, you need to figure out what are your beliefs and what's your identity like? What consists of your identity? Grab a piece of paper, a journal, a mind map, something, or even just brainstorm. And figure out what your values are or what you want your values to be, and also things, behaviors that you kind of attribute to your identity.

If I had to choose five of my own personal core values, I would say that mine would be honesty. I. Growth, love, respect, and adventure. And if I was doing it from the fitness with Jade, business values like a business perspective, the core values for my business are power, discipline, healing, embodiment, and sustainability.

So in both my personal life and in my business, I use fitness and wellness to embody these core values and make sure that I'm living my life and operating under these frameworks. Fitness is your tool to becoming the person that you want to be. Like I said, brainstorm five core values that you either have or you want to obtain, like you want to work towards.

And that's where we can start using cognitive dissonance to grow these values, lean into these values, or create these values. In terms of identity, I know that I have made fitness a part of my identity, and that is a way in which I was able to shift my previous behaviors into something that worked better for me and allowed me to grow and better myself as a person.

I guess other external or behavioral things I attribute to my identity would be my daughter. Being a mother, that's obviously part of my identity. That's a facet of my identity to have fitness, being a mother. Part of my identity too would be an ex-police officer. I know I still have that tied into myself.

It's something I actually wanna start getting rid of. Um, but I feel like you kind of get indoctrinated in that workforce. That's something that I want to remove from my identity. But yes, I have police, daughter fitness, and the other two things I would have to say in terms of my identity would be. The way that I present, the way that I, I would say clothing, like making sure I'm always dressed up and presentable.

That's definitely a part of my identity. I like to always be overdressed rather than underdressed. That's definitely a big, big part of my identity. And then the fourth aspect too, would be a little bit like a nerdy side. So I love video games. I love books. Yeah, books and video games are my little outlets.

That are very opposite to everything else that I kind of attribute to being me. So those would be my five things. Uh, so come up with your five things to what you kind of tie into your identity. Obviously this isn't necessarily you as a whole, but just five things that we can possibly work towards or change by using core values.

So once you've got all that put together, whether it's in your brain or you've written it down, I suggest writing it down. Definitely. But anyway, once you've got that all together, let's go through some ways to form this cognitive dissonance and how to use it to your advantage. Because if you don't believe that you want to be healthy, uh, you believe you want to be unhealthy, then we have nothing to work with and I'm basically just wasting my breath and I don't want that.

I don't wanna waste my time. My time is precious. So the most effective way to reduce dissonance is to modify one's behaviors. And basically just start exercising more regularly. Like it sounds very, very simple 'cause it's, it's simple in the physical sense. The mental sense is where you've gotta turn it around.

So a person who believes that exercise is important but then avoids it may feel guilty or uncomfortable. There's dissonance. So there are two ways in which we can try and squash this. The first way is to just simply start exercising. And then the second way is to find justifications for not exercising, which a common one I know of would be like, I just don't have time.

But then you go and sit on the couch and binge watch your favorite show. So we don't want the ladder, we want the former. 'cause if you have the ladder, you're just going to this cycle and you'll never changing. You're ever growing. You are literally on the couch being that potato that we do not want to be.

Okay, so how do we stop the latter, the potato from happening? The first thing we are gonna do is commit to ourselves that we are gonna start to run. We are gonna start to eat healthy. We are committing something, a micro habit, some goal that aligns with the values that you are brainstormed, that have aligned with the identity that you want to create.

Start affirming and curate this strong persona. 'cause if you fake it. You will start making it fake it till you make, it's a real thing. If you truly believe that you are this person, that you are this healthy, vibrant goddess, you will become that. Start affirming by saying, I'm the type of woman who prioritizes her thickness.

I'm becoming the best version of myself through movement. Here's how you can use cognitive dissonance intentionally. Like I said, we need to create that strong identity and start affirming so you're skipping your training and eating in ways that don't fuel your goals. This discomfort then pushes you to act into alignment 'cause we love being aligned with your desired identity.

And I've created a free list of affirmations, and it's linked below in the show notes. If you need some help to come up with some ideas, heaps of affirmations that you can just copy and say to yourself to start creating this identity, to create this cognitive dissonance. So then when you feel like you are not doing enough, you pick up your game and you go and do it.

So other than affirmations, uh, other tools that you can use, uh, things such as vision boards, whether it be physical or on Pinterest, dressing or acting the part that you want to play. So going to get that cute active wear. And feeling yourself, like vibing yourself, being like, yes, I look like an athlete, or, yeah, I look like a gym bunny.

Dress the part dress who you wanna be throwing out all your junk food and rearranging your fridge. Then it's like aesthetically pleasing. Like those organization tiktoks everywhere that you see, like a housewives wet dream. Start doing that. Like do something. So then you actually become that girl and this reinforces the image of the woman that you are becoming, which intensifies the dissonance when your behavior doesn't match.

And it's not about shame, like I said, it's about alignment. Once we have the image of the woman that you're becoming, you created your archetype. Name her step into that energy. Give your future self a name and identity. It can be something simple and corny like discipline me or goddess mode me. Or literally just that girl come up with something.

Give her like a, a female name like Jessica or I don't know, Audrey or something. Like, name this person that you're going to become and then ask yourself, what would that girl, what would Audrey do right now? Would she snooze her alarm or would she get up and romanticize her morning walk? Would she go and get that Machu latte?

Would she be that Pilates girl? Would she be that runner who's like nuts and waking up at 4:30 AM like, that's not me, but like it could be you. You could be Audrey. Okay, so why it works When you personify this version of yourself that you're becoming, you've created this emotional distance from your old habits, and it becomes easier to embody the new ones, turning cognitive dissonance into the game that you can win because we want you to win.

That is why we are here. That is why we are using dissonance to become your dream person. You're gonna be that dream persona. Now we've gone through affirmations, do identity based journal prompts. So other than affirming, do journaling daily. Okay? And here are some prompts. Here's some like sneaky prompts you can use.

But again, come up with your own. So how did I show up as her today? How did I show up as Audrey? Write down, like today, I went for that run at 4:30 AM today. I didn't eat that Mars bar today. I went for that walk with my dog. Just something that's how I showed up and became her. Another good prompt is what's one thing that I did to align with the woman that I'm becoming, or what would the highest version of me do in that moment?

So there's a couple of journal prompts for you too, but there's heaps of them. Google them. Google them. I might even create a list too for the journal prompts at a later date, but for now, I do have that list of affirmations, so don't forget to click and save that. Okay, so you've created your dream identity.

You've created your archetype. You've created Audrey, you've started journaling, you've journaled, you've done affirmations, and you've done journal prompts. Then you need to anchor into a bigger why, and this goes beyond fitness. So you need to figure out why you're becoming Audrey. Why are you becoming this goddess?

Why are you becoming that girl? So I guess examples of a bigger why could be I train because I'm showing up for my daughter and I'm showing her what strength looks like. I eat to nourish my body that's building a business, raising babies and chasing a finish line, something like that. Or I'm building my dream body so that I'm physically capable of being in a good space when I'm old and decrepit, like, 'cause it'll stop you from getting decrepit.

Come up with a why that resonates with you. And once you have a why, it allows your identity to have a purpose behind it, which then sustains consistency. And consistency is key. It's key. Okay, so I know there's a few steps. There's a few steps, but then you need to curate the environment around you to reflect your identity.

So, like I said, clear out that fridge. Do your vision boards, do your affirmations. Stick some of those affirmations on the mirror. I've seen some cool products where you can literally print out affirmations and stick 'em on your bathroom mirror. Perfect. You want your environment to reflect that girl. Once your environment reflects that person, it is harder for you to fall back into your old habits.

'cause you can't just go and reach for the easiest thing that's not there. Okay. So you've done all these amazing steps that I've told you about these things that work. They do work, but I. There will be setbacks. Okay, babe, let's be real for a second. There's going to be setbacks, and you need setbacks without shame.

Growth is not linear. It's up and down it. You need to go with the flow. Remember, we're feminine, we flow, we flow, we flow, we flow. Setbacks are inevitable. And here's one thing, it doesn't make you broken. Okay, as a person, everyone has setbacks. Even the most successful people have setbacks, and it also makes you human.

So part of stepping into your empowered magnetic feminine energy is knowing that healing progress and alignment don't happen in a straight line. And there will be days that you feel like that girl glowing, strong in sync with your dream self. And then there'll be days where you're just, you're just not.

You're just not it at all. Okay? And that's okay. We don't punish ourselves for dips. We just ride the wave. We flow through it. That's the feminine. She doesn't resist. She learns to dance with it. You are dancing, loving life. We aren't chasing perfection. We're chasing awareness, integrity with the version of ourselves that we are becoming.

And sometimes you'll notice yourself acting out of alignment, which is, you know. Cognitive dissonance and maybe you skipped a workout. Snapped at someone, spiraled into a comparison, ate from emotions instead of hunger, or found yourself back in an old pattern with an X. Okay, just pause, breathe. Don't shame yourself.

Just study it. Be curious. Be like, why? Why? What made me do this? So instead of spiraling and becoming the cluster, that is Justin and Hailey Bieber. Reframe it as data and ask yourself what caused the dissonance? What triggered the reaction? What pattern is repeating here? What boundary support or system was missing that could have helped me stay aligned?

Cognitive dissonance. That little inner tug where something doesn't feel right, isn't proof that you've failed. It's actually a really good sign because it means you're aware and it means you're evolving and it means that your higher self is tapping you on the shoulder, being like, Hey girl, this is not us anymore.

So the voice inside isn't criticizing you, it's guiding you. And this is why cognitive dissonance can be so, so good. Okay, so I guess here is a personal example of when I have had some type or form of cognitive dissonance and I feel like I started to train a lot differently, um, when I started High Rocks.

And a big part of me wanted to do that to feel empowered and to reclaim. A little bit of myself back because I was at a stage in my life prior to that where I was partying a lot in terms of going out, been drinking every weekend, and I felt like every, in everyday life, like, so in terms of like just using, going out and drinking as like your form of escape and happiness.

And I was sick of it 'cause it was making me feel unfulfilled and I then turned to training for oxes. Uh, because I thought it would give me some form of empowerment, but then at the time when I'd first started and I was training, I expected myself to be at a better level. And I, even though my reason for training was empowerment, I could find myself thinking in my head that, um, I'm not doing good enough.

I'm not performing good enough. Um, my times, my hierarch times on each station weren't good enough. And then also comparing myself to the people that I was training with too. So comparing myself to Daniel and then Beck and Jake, who I was also training with and being like, well, if they can do this, why can't I?

And then my thoughts that were going through my head weren't empowering. They were the complete opposite of the reason as to why I was training. So then I had to reframe and make sure that I was actually acting the way that I wanted to, because the whole point of it was to become empowered and to do that instead of punishing myself and things weren't going the way that I wanted them.

So this dissonance allowed me to see that if I let those thoughts creep in, it is taking away my power and that. Like my episode on external validation and trying to prove yourself. It's just not helpful and it's not gonna get you anywhere and it's not gonna make you be that girl is it? It's really or really not.

So instead of focusing on, you know, what everyone else is doing, uh, just focus on yourself and just be happy that you are showing up. 'cause my behavior, my patterns, which was going out and doing those training sessions consistently. Also, you know, upping the load and upping the intensity of them. I was doing everything right.

It's just that these weird negative thought patterns were making me believe that I wasn't. And that's not what you want. You want to be your own biggest fan, you know, you want you to be your best support. And if you have thoughts like that and you let them win, if you let the cognitive dissonance win, you are only giving yourself a disservice.

Okay, so here's where it all gets really powerful, and one of my favorite mindset shifts from James Clear's Atomic Habits is this. So every time you repeat a behavior, you cast a vote for the type of person that you want to become AKA, your dream identity. So think about every single action, no matter how small is a vote to who you're becoming.

Not for perfection, not for some unrealistic version of you, but your next level self, your persona that you've created, the woman you are becoming. So when you do your morning walk, that's a vote when you prep your meals or put your phone down to stretch or choose to journal instead of spiraling. That's a vote.

And when you say no to something, it drains your energy and yes to something that makes you grow. That is a huge vote. Claps all around, love that for you. So even when it feels small, even when it feels like it doesn't count, it does because these habits are building your identity. So here's some more affirmations I'm going to include in the free PDF.

But also, you know, we're not limited to these. So I'm the kind of woman who follows through. I'm the kind of woman who takes care of her body. I'm the kind of woman who knows that rest is productive. I'm the kind of woman who leads herself. And let these types of affirmations be your mirror, your habits, reinforce them, your actions, anchor them.

And over time these tiny decisions add up. They build evidence that you are. That persona that you are her, you're that girl. And this is how we embody feminine energy and step into self-leadership. It's not about pushing or forcing, it's about showing up with intention, with consistency, and obviously a little bit of softness too.

And honestly, there's been times. When I've been feeling horrendous, like horrendously low and just horrific and I showed up, I know that every single time, even through like her a bad breakup or I don't know, things were happening with work, I always, always made time to go for that run to go to the gym to do my training program.

There was never a time that I have really ever lapsed on that, and I can't really recall a time. So I know that I am consistent. When it comes to training and when it comes to moving my body and doing that for myself, and I feel like if I didn't, I would be in a really dark place and I wouldn't be the person that I am now.

Uh, I feel like it's definitely something that I've lent on to get myself through really tough times, and it comes with heaps of benefits. Like you get the mental clarity that you want, you get that outlet that you want, your body looks and feels amazing, like there's all these benefits from it. And it's just showing up and doing those little micro habits every single day that leads to this person that you can create.

I even know that through points in my life when I've experienced trauma and I'm talking like actual real trauma. Yeah. Going for that run and doing all of that probably saved my life in some ways. In terms of, I. Instead of spiraling into like a deep dark depression or something like that, it kept me going and it showed me that I am resilient and I can really handle anything.

I'm not scared of anything that really comes my way. I'm quite confident that I. Even the lowest of lows I'll be able to get through. Yeah, I know for a fact actually I would be able to get through. Yeah. Nothing can hurt me. So I definitely think that these micro habits and the consistency is so, so important and it does, it creates this confidence in yourself.

Uh, that is irreplaceable. Having said all of that, and I know that for me it's been quite easy to stay consistent, but that's 'cause obviously somehow in my past I've managed to create those little micro habits, those promises to myself. Um, but I do feel like you need some self-compassion in this process.

As I said, you will stumble. The cognitive dissonance will, you know, win in terms of the unhealthy side of it sometimes. And don't let that turn into self hate. We don't want you stuck in guilt and think that you know you're a horrible person. We don't want you to bully yourself. We want you to speak kindly to yourself when you fall short to remembering that it's a process, not perfection, and give yourself credit for your effort.

So here's some little mini glow up rituals I would love for you to start doing if the cognitive dissonance starts to kick in and you are wanting to say, I don't have time, or, that's not me. So instead of doing that. Here are a couple of things that you can do. Here are some rituals that might help you.

So the first one would be to create a playlist and dance it out, like get some of that energy out and that might even motivate you to just go for a run. I know when I have a banger playlist, I'm like, oh, I could seriously run so far right now. Do that. Rewrite your limiting belief in your notes app. Just open those notes.

We all know that us girls have unhinged notes, so let's rewrite some limiting beliefs and put some healthy notes in there. Uh, another good way is to voice memo yourself, voice memo, your higher self, your dream identity, and then also just repeat affirmations like I've got me, I'm still becoming her. And this little micro mini glow up ritual will keep you in motion instead of marinating in Gil.

So keep stacking those micro moments, those habits, and remember that cognitive dissonance is the tool to create your dream itself. You wanna know what your values are, how you identify, and then use the cognitive dissonance to lean into those values and identities. Okay? Create that persona. Become her, become that girl.

And do you have to start on Monday? Start whenever. Start right now. Just start it. Okay. Use the affirmations, use the journaling. Use all those tools I've spoken about. Okay. Over the next seven days, I want you to show up as your persona at least once a day and journal about it. Use the affirmations that I've given you, use some other ones.

I don't care. Use something and tag me if you are in. All right. Let me know what you're doing. Let me know how you go with the seven days 'cause I'm very intrigued. I would love to know who your personas are. Tell me who you are becoming. I want to know, tag me at Jade Palmer, at DM me. Whatever you wanna do, just let me know.

'cause I would love to be a part of your journey. I. And for those that are interested, I've actually got a little bonus content episode for my paid subscribers, which is Step Into That Girl, which is a guided visualization, which kind of goes hand in hand with this episode. So if you're keen on that, make sure you sign up so you can have a listen.

But otherwise, I hope you have a fantastic day. You make sure you alike rate and review the podcast and I will see you on my socials. Bye.