Have you ever noticed that one positive habit seems to spill over into other areas of your life? In this episode, Kristi explores the concept of Keystone Habits—the small, foundational routines that create a ripple effect, naturally improving multiple aspects of life. Drawing from Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit, she explains how habits are formed through a cue, routine, and reward, and why understanding those components is the key to changing behavior.

In this week's Communication Tip, Kristi revisits one of the foundational concepts of courtroom communication: information tells jurors what happened; emotional expression tells them why it matters. She explains the difference between being emotional and communicating emotional meaning through an intentional emotional profile—aligning voice, face, body, and breath to match the significance of the message. When attorneys communicate meaning—not just facts—they reduce cognitive load, improve memory, and help jurors better understand and retain the case.

LISTEN HERE...

Key Takeaways

• Habits develop through a cue, routine, and reward, allowing the brain to automate behaviors and preserve mental energy.
• Keystone habits are foundational routines that trigger positive changes across multiple areas of life.
• Jurors don't just need facts—they need emotional meaning attached to those facts in order to understand and remember them.
• A well-crafted emotional profile helps jurors organize information, reduces cognitive load, and increases clarity throughout trial.

Favorite Moment

"Information tells jurors what happened. Emotional expression tells them why it matters."

Links & Resources

Keystone habits: Setting off chain reactions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovqfg4uWrTE&t=494s

https://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/

https://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-habits-that-transform-your-life-2015-8

Download Kristi's FREE GUIDE to 10x Your Communication Impact: https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/opt-in-a73db0af-170f-425d-95d6-dfad8837db8a

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hellooooo!!! Hello Foster Fam! Hey, if you haven't already, be sure to leave a 5-star rating and a quick review of the podcast on whatever platform you listen on. I know you hear this all the time from online "influencers" — "smash that like button," "like and subscribe"— but it really DOES help with reach and helps others be able to find me online. Another way to help people find me is by sharing an episode with a colleague. After listening to this episode, before you close your app, just grab the link and email it off to someone on your trial team. They'll appreciate it.

We're continuing this week on the topic of motivation and habit building. Mostly because it's a particularly present theme in my life right now, so I'm sharing with you the things I'm learning and things that are inspiring me as a neurological tool to lock it in for ME...and you...but mostly me. hahaha!

I mean, I'm kind of kidding. But don't you also think that it's just good to revisit where your motivation comes from and how you build your habits every once in a while? We all go through slumps, and summertime is kind of a slump for me. I think September and January are naturally more driven months—with school starting, and then new year's resolutions. Maybe April or May there's another little surge thinking of all we want to accomplish during the summer. But...y'all...it's August. I'm in a slump. But...that's okay. I'll rev up soon. In the meantime, there's good learning, evaluation, and self-examination. So, come along on the journey with me.

So, last week I talked about motivation, and Mark Manson's concept of Do Something—just get into some quick action. Do the TINIEST thing and then watch how your brain goes, "Hey! Good job us! Maybe we could do this other thing while we're at it." And, so you start building up simply because you decided to do SOMEthing.

This week, I came across an interview, it may have been more like a chopped down presentation, that got me doing more of a deep dive and researching this idea of Keystone Habits. Are you familiar with this? Keystone habits are different from other habits and I'll get into that in a sec.

First, I think it's good to talk about what regular habits are and how they're formed, and why we need them. Side note...I've been on a bit of a personal development journey that started with my general wellness, but has branched into emotional regulation, and into future self mindset growth. So, I've been thinking about how habits form and what habits I need to be developing. Which is why I was really taken with this interview/presentation thingie.

It was with Charles Duhigg, the author of the book Power of Habit, which i've linked in the shownotes. I've also linked the full youtube video for you. He defines a habit as a decision that you have stopped making but that your brain keeps taking action on. He gives the great example of backing your car out of the driveway. It's a pretty complex action where you're looking at reflective images, assessing distances and speed of other cars, and monitoring potential blind corners. But, then, suddenly, none of those things take any real effort at all. You just do them naturally and then your brain is freed up to think on other things; maybe choosing music, or asking the kids if they packed their homework, or deciding on a lunch spot.

I remember when I first was learning to drive a stick shift, and I thought, "oh my gosh, will I EVER not have to think about ALL THESE THINGS? Listening for the engine to know when to shift, balancing the clutch WITH MY LEFT FOOT with the right amount of gas I'm giving with my right foot, learning the pattern of the gear-shifter-thingie. I mean...it felt so complex and that was just operational, that wasn't even factoring in the decision making for navigating traffic and rules of the road, etc. BUT...suddenly, one day I realized, I just was doing all that naturally, without a thought at all, and able to turn on the radio, make a hands-free call, select a podcast, change out my glasses to sunglasses, or put on lipstick without compromising the integrity of the movements or taking any safety risks. Driving a stick shift had become a HABIT.

Now, he goes on to say that habit formation MUST happen for the survival of the species, essentially. You HAVE to be able to make some actions automatic so that your brain can do other things. We need, as he says, "Mental capacity for other things." Mercifully, because we have a basal ganglia, we're able to form habits so not EVERYTHING we do has to be a DECISION.

So, the 3 parts of a habit, he teaches, is the CUE which gets things going, then a ROUTINE which is the actual behavior, and then a REWARD which is how the brain learns to remember that habit. And, even though we're so focused on the behavior that we want to change or develop, it actually is the cue and the reward that we need to focus on if we hope for any change to occur.

Duhigg then talks about how cues, most of them, fall into 1 of 5 categories: time of day, particular place, certain emotion, the presence of certain people, or a behavior that has become ritualized. So, first, figure out what's cueing you. He gives the example of wanting a cookie at about 3 in the afternoon.

But then, looking at the actual reward is the next step. In his example, he questioned if the reward was addressing hunger, in which case he could have an apple instead of a cookie. But he realized that it was the social interaction he got when he went up to the cafeteria each day. Once he figured out the cue and the reward, he could then start to change the behavior (eating the cookie) that he didn't want to keep doing. Pretty cool. Knowledge is power, folks!

Okay, so then, what are KEYSTONE HABITS? Keystone habits are small daily routines that set off, or spark a chain reaction, that naturally improving other areas of your life. So, like developing the habit of exercising regularly. Often times, when you start exercising you end up eating a healthier lunch, or you create a better morning routine or sleep habits. Exercise is then a keystone habit because it's setting off the chain reaction of all these other potentially habit-forming behaviors.

I've totally seen this in my own life. As I mentioned earlier, I've been working on my general wellness, which means that last summer, I decided i wanted to be an outdoor exerciser. I wanted to be a committed walker...year round, rain or shine. It wasn't long after I started walking regularly, that I ALSO entered into my bean and lentil era. I started intentionally increasing my fiber and protein in my diet, which then made me talk to my naturopath about supplements, and made me connect with a nutritionist for additional changes that might influence my metabolic make up. CHAIN REACTION.

I've also been in the habit of doing a daily plan for YEARS, meaning that, sometime in the evening, I write down what I'm planning to eat the next day, what chores I'm planning to do, what exercise or activity I'll do, and then the timing of when I have client calls, appointments, or social engagements. I write it all down. This then is a keystone habit then sets off my bed time routine, or just the timing of when I go to bed each day, which then influences when I get up, and it keeps me focused on priorities throughout the day instead of reacting to distractions.

Are you starting to identify what might be some keystone habits in your own life? Maybe it's meditation or journaling, or maybe it's making your bed each day that sets off a chain reaction, or maybe it's exercise, like me. I'd love to hear about your habits, especially because I'm still just learning about all this in a more intentional way. Your habits might spur some good critical thinking and evaluation for me, so please share. Find me on LinkedIn or IG/FB, or email me at [email protected]

—BREAK—

Today, I want to talk about something that warrants revisiting from time to time, because it's really the crux of your whole courtroom communication strategy. The core idea is this: Information tells jurors what happened. Emotional expression tells them why it matters.

I'm gonna say that again to just let it sink in...Information tells jurors what happened. Emotional expression tells them why it matters.

Now, some of you will hear that and a barricade will go up. Just check in with yourself. Are you having a reaction to that statement at all? Are you feeling any resistance to it in your body? Go ahead and just say it out loud if you are. Identify it.

Now ask WHY you're reacting to it. I think, and you can tell me if I'm wrong here, but I think it's because you are resistant to being emotional in the courtroom. The courtroom is a place for professional decorum and formality. It's the "arena," it's the "battlefield." It's where you are on high alert, where you need to be more cunning than your adversary, where you need to skillfully take down your opponent with cutting accuracy. You can't afford to be emotional. Sure, you need to be approachable to build rapport with the jury, but you can't be too soft, or lose control.

Is that resonating with you?

So, let me make a critical distinction here that you need to understand. BEING emotional is not what I'm asking for. So...slowly start taking your barricade down. The key isn't to "add emotion." The key is to accurately match the emotional profile to the meaning of the information. It's to use your voice and your other nonverbals to infuse emotional MEANING into your words. Why? Because when you simply say the words flattly, without a corresponding emotional profile, you create incongruence, which leads to cognitive dissonance with your audience, and that reduces or, at the very least, jeopardizes your credibility.

Okay, so what do I mean about an emotional profile? An emotional profile is the whole nonverbal package that you create—your voice, your face, your body, and your breath—in order to capture the intended meaning behind your words.

And, I'm not necessarily talking about WHAT you say. You are masterful at crafting your language to have metaphors and other connection points, and I know you think that's strong enough. in a workplace liability case, you don't just list all the safety steps they should follow, you wrap up by saying, "When every one of these steps happens, workers go home to their families." In a personal injury case, you don't just say, "She can no longer garden." You actually try to communicate the loss. "For forty years, every spring, she planted flowers. This year...she watched someone else do it."

So, it's not WHAT you're saying. It's HOW you're saying it. You've likely written it out, which, as I've said in other episodes, I'm totally okay with. That's a valid way to process and organize your talking points. But then you deliver them as if you're reading them. You're NOT reading them, I know that. But if you're not applying an emotional profile to your words, you are not giving them meaning.

Use your face, body, breath, and voice to capture curiosity, as if you're inviting the jury to discover something surprising. Don't just present evidence as obvious, invite discovery. Instead of stating safety rules as matter-of-fact, create an emotional profile of reassurance and calm. Communicate security and what having safety rules in place represents. For the client who has lost their independence, or mobility, communicate grief without saying "this is sad." Represent the loss with an emotional profile that matches the information. Soften the facial expression...slow your pace...drop to a softer volume...and breathe. Hold space for the impact of the loss.

Now, this isn't just for dramatic effect. This is where neuroscience gets really practical. Facts alone are harder to retrieve later. Facts attached to emotional meaning become easier to recall. They need a cognitive filing system, and the emotional profile that infuses meaning into your facts gives them organizational structure.

So, in your opening statement...you're not simply telling the jury what happened. You're teaching them how to emotionally organize the evidence they'll receive. Every major section of your template should have a dominant emotional profile. The emotional journey needs to mirror the informational journey.

In closing...this is where emotion should become even more intentional. Not louder, not bigger, not more dramatic. More focused. Instead of just repeating facts...reconnect jurors with what those facts mean. Give them the tools they need to recall the human significance of their verdict.

Your emotional profile helps answer juror questions before they even consciously ask it. When your face, voice, breath, and body all reinforce the meaning of the information, jurors don't have to work to interpret your intent. This frees up their cognitive energy to understand the case instead of deciphering your delivery.

Creating responsible and well crafted emotional profiles isn't just about persuasion—it's about reducing cognitive load. The easier it is for jurors to understand how they should interpret information, the more mental capacity they have left to learn, remember, and deliberate.

Align emotional expression with your information, because emotion tags memories and powerfully influences decision-making. Communicate in a way that helps jurors learn.

And until next time...keep fostering your voice.