According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day.
Understanding how to build new habits (and how your current ones work) is essential for making progress in your health, your happiness, and your life in general.
But there can be a lot of information out there and most of it isn’t very simple to digest. To solve this problem and break things down in a very simple manner, I have created this strategy guide for building new habits that actually stick.
Even more detailed information is available in my free guide, Transform Your Habits, but the basic principles mentioned in this article will be more than enough to get you going.
1. Start with an incredibly small habit.
Make it so easy you can’t say no. —Leo Babauta
When most people struggle to stick with a new habit, they say something like, “I just need more motivation.” Or, “I wish I had as much willpower as you do.”
This is the wrong approach. Research shows that willpower is like a muscle. It gets fatigued as you use it throughout the day. Another way to think of this is that your motivation ebbs and flows. It rises and falls. Stanford professor BJ Fogg calls this the “motivation wave.”
Solve this problem by picking a new habit that is easy enough that you don’t need motivation to do it. Rather than starting with 50 pushups per day, start with 5 pushups per day. Rather than trying to meditate for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating for one minute per day. Make it easy enough that you can get it done without motivation.
Further reading: Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals
2. Increase your habit in very small ways.
Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
—Jim Rohn
One percent improvements add up surprisingly fast. So do one percent declines.
Rather than trying to do something amazing from the beginning, start small and gradually improve. Along the way, your willpower and motivation will increase, which will make it easier to stick to your habit for good.
Further reading: This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened
3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.
If you continue adding one percent each day, then you’ll find yourself increasing very quickly within two or three months. It is important to keep each habit reasonable, so that you can maintain momentum and make the behavior as easy as possible to accomplish.
Building up to 20 minutes of meditation? Split it into two segments of 10 minutes at first.
Trying to do 50 pushups per day? Five sets of 10 might be much easier as you make your way there.
Further reading: I’m Using These 3 Simple Steps to Actually Stick with Good Habits
4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.
The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.
—Kelly McGonigal
Top performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just like everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as quickly as possible....
More ideas at the link. Read it all there.
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