'Badass' author Jen Sincero eyes habits in new book: Here's how not to fail

Jen Sincero is at it again, firing up readers with a new installment in her popular "Badass" series. This time, the USA TODAY best-selling author has turned her eye to improving behaviors with "Badass Habits: Cultivate the Awareness, Boundaries, and Daily Upgrades You Need to Make Them Stick" (available now). Sincero tells USA TODAY her other works – which include titles "You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life" and "You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth" – "laid the groundwork" for "Habits." "This is the roll up your sleeves and let's get her done now that you've spent the time working on all this other stuff," Sincero says."Habits" highlights the important role of identity when shifting your habits, addresses potential obstacles and includes a 21-day guide for modifying behavior. But the book is not intimidating – it's an easy read, an intentional outcome on Sincero's part. "What I'm always interested in doing in all of my books is really delivering the material in bite-sized chunks and cutting out any superfluous stuff," she says. "We just want results here."With a new year right around the corner, there may be some habits you desire to adopt or quarantine behaviors you're looking to shake. Or perhaps reflecting amid the pandemic has inspired you to make changes to be your best self. With that in mind, we had to ask Sincero for tips for you, dear reader – OK for ourselves, we also asked for ourselves. The interview has been edited for clarity:  has helped Chiefs CB Charvarius Ward battle anxietyis No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list, sells record 1.7M copiesJen Sincero: I think it's that we just look at the surface, instead of going deeper. I talk a lot in my book about (how) habits are more about who you're being than what you're doing. ... You've got to really identify and bust yourself on how you're thinking, how you're speaking, who you believe you are, what you believe is possible for yourself and start there, and it'll make the actions much easier to stick to.Sincero: If you identify, for example, as a smoker and then you decide you're going to quit smoking, you do all of the things, right? You stop hanging out with people who smoke, you get rid of cigarettes. Maybe you got a nicotine patch. You do all this stuff, but you're still identifying as a smoker who's quitting. It's very different than if you identify as somebody who doesn't smoke. If you're trying to quit but you're still a smoker you're still thinking about, 'Well maybe I'll just have one puff.' ... If you're a nonsmoker, you don't really think about smoking. It's not really on your radar. Identifying as somebody, it cuts out the negotiation process.'Let Us Dream' backs George Floyd protests, blasts virus skepticsyou should read, from Abi Daré to Zora Neale HurstonSincero: Taking 5-10 minutes to sit down and be like, 'OK, how could I make it so much easier for me to stick to this diet?' And really