Great job on making a goal to build better habits and actually doing it!
The first step in any personal transformation usually starts with motivation—rampaging through the streets at 5:00 AM in the morning, running three hours a day, or eating kale for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, within a couple of weeks, the willpower is gone, old habits take over and motivation is lost.
Most resolutions fail because they are not sustained by systems, they are sustained by will power. Resolute Power is a limited commodity that gets exhausted easily during stress, fatigue and as the human mind undergoes daily decision-making. Dramatic overnight changes are not the way to bring about lasting personal change. Rather, it is the casual consequence of well-rehearsed and mild habits that are practiced over the course of months and years. Knowing how habits work can help you create a habit that seamlessly fits into your lifestyle and leads to long-term success.
Focus your habits on who you are rather than what you get.
Real change is identity change. If you attach your routines to who you want to be, as opposed to what you want to do, you’ll find they are easier to keep up.
Getting from What You Want to Who You Are
Outcome based goals are all about your desired outcome (e.g. 20 pounds lost or 30 books read). Habits of identity, in contrast, are habits of being a different kind of person. Actions which are congruent with self-perception are very low effort to maintain. Think “who does get what I want?” A healthy person drinks water instead of soda, a focused writer writes 1 paragraph each morning. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to embody.
Focus on Systems Over Goals
Goals provide direction, systems provide results. The winning athletes and the losing athletes may have the same objective – victory in the championship. The only difference is the day-to-day training they do. Take the time to improve processes day after day instead of a far away goal. Do you love the process, the results follow.
- Make Habits Inevitable by Starting Ridiculously Small – Ehsan Mushtaq
When implementing a new behavior, the first problem is getting started. You need to muster up a lot of mental energy to turn things around, and to do it, you need to make it small.
Use the Two-Minute Rule to finish the task.
If the behaviour is difficult to change, make it a smaller version that requires less time to do, so that you don’t have to overcome the resistance in your brain. Don’t try to read an entire chapter, just read a single page. Rather than running three miles, put on your running shoes and go outside! When an action becomes automatic, it’s much easier to increase the length of it than to start it from the very beginning. Come First!Learn to come first!
Lower the Friction of Desired Behaviors
Humans always do that which is easiest. If you are looking to play the guitar, don’t keep it in a closet case put it on a guitar stand in the center of your living room. Take the middle steps out of your intention and action. On the other hand, add friction to unwanted behaviours, such as moving your phone to another room, or hiding snacks behind better choices in the pantry.
- Rebuild Mental and Physical Brains by Building Muscle and Connecting with Nature
New habits don’t stick without reminders. Automatic trigger is provided by tying actions to existing routines.
The Power of Habit Stacking
Do not tie the new habit to a random time of day, but rather to a habit you already do without thinking. The bottom line of the habit stacking formula is:
Once I [Current Habit] I will [New Habit].
For example: “When I have my morning coffee, I will take a few minutes to list my 3 most important things to do today. You free up mental resources that you would normally use to decide when to do something, by piggybacking on the existing neural pathways.
Curate Environmental Cues
All habits start with a cue and our environment provides the cue. To increase water intake, simply have a full bottle right on your work surface. In the morning, place a journal and a pen on the bed in front of you if you want to journal before bed. Make good choices easily visible and easy to start in a redesigned space.
The rapid recovery and the tracking of progress are the four factors.
There is no such thing as perfection, which often can impede growth over time. It is what happens when a routine is disrupted that is important.
Use the “Never Miss Twice” Principle
You don’t have to miss one day of a habit or trend, but you do start a competing bad habit if you miss a couple days in a row. If you can’t show up as you normally would on a day when you have to work or handle an emergency, make an effort to appear in a less-than-normal fashion. If you can’t do 10 minutes of exercise, then do 10 pushups. When you do something small, you still make an appearance, even if you’re feeling bad.
Track Consistency Visually
When someone makes a successful step forward, there is an immediate psychological reward, which reinforces the steps taken. Our brains crave feedback and an “X” on the wall calendar or a simple habit tracker is enough. It gives a real ‘feel good’ factor when you see the unbroken streak and you feel good enough to press on.
The final rule is: “Trust the Law of Compounding.
Self improvement is like compound interest. Slight gains of 1% a day feel insignificant in the short term, but significant in the long term. Throw away the thought of quick and radical change! Do small things, make supportive environments, be flexible and forgiving for minor mistakes, and give yourself time to transform simple habits into life-long changes.
