How to build good habits?

Habits can be good or bad, but each of them works on the same principle. According to habit researcher Charles Duhigg, each habit consists of 3 components: a stimulus, an action, and a reward. First, there is a stimulus that triggers a specific routine, or action. Your habit may be smoking, the stimulus that triggers it may be a stressful situation at work, and the reward may be the apparent peace that the smoker feels while indulging in his habit. Duhigg calls this mechanism the habit loop.

Although breaking bad habits and building good ones is not an easy task, it turns out that we can use the mechanism of how habits work to work on our development and replace habits that are harmful to us with healthy ones. How to do it? Here are 9 tips that we have developed based on two bestselling books on building habits – The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear.

#1. Define your goal precisely

Before you start building your new habits georgia mobile phone numbers database you need to think about what your goal is. Define exactly what is important to you and what you want to achieve and focus on your priorities. Once you are aware of your motivation, take a look at yourself and pay attention to the negative habits that are taking you away from your goal and the positive ones that will help you achieve it. Now you know which habits you need to eliminate and which ones to build. Write them down and start working on them.

Be specific. If you don’t define your goal precisely, you’re setting yourself up for failure from the start. Studies have shown that goals like “meditate regularly” build good or “lose weight” are too abstract. A poorly defined goal makes it harder to verify your achievement and measure results. So remember to make your goal specific and define what you’re going to do and how often. For example, “I will meditate for 15 minutes a day,” or “I will exercise 3 times a week.” 

#2. Be patient

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Good habits are built slowly. According to British researcher Phillippa Lally , for a behavior to become automatic, it has to be done for at least 2 months. If you want to make long-term changes to your behavior, you have to be patient.

The lack of visible results can be discouraging, but just because you don’t see the results right away doesn’t mean they aren’t there! If you put a penny in the piggy bank every day, you won’t be able to save up for a vacation in a week, but what if you keep this habit up all year? One intense workout won’t make you an athlete, but half an hour of exercise 5 times a week is a different story.

#3 Start Gradually

Changing an existing habit or creating a new one can be overwhelming, so it’s worth starting small. Don’t set unrealistic goals that you’ll abandon after 2 days. Consistency is key when it comes to building habits.

James Clear, a prominent habit researcher and author of Atomic Habits, suggests starting with changes so small they’re laughable. Choose a build good goal so easy you can’t help but do it . Want to start exercising regularly? Exercise for one minute every day. Want to write a book? Start with one sentence a day. There’ll be time to increase intensity later our clients have taken off in their campaigns. the first step is regularity. Prove to yourself that you can maintain your small resolution for a month, and after that time your new habit will be strong enough to start thinking about increasing intensity.

The rule of small steps has a second positive effect. The hardest part of any task is starting it. Once you start writing your obligatory one sentence, you will likely get inspired and write a whole page. If you motivate yourself to do one squat, it will be easier to do the next 30.

#4. Automate

Remember that first time behind the wheel, when mastering the steering wheel, gearbox, gas, brake and clutch pedals at the same time seemed impossible? And now? When changing gears, you don’t think about pressing the clutch, you just do it. That’s how a habit works — it’s something you do completely automatically guinea lists without taking a second to decide . Your brain knows that when you change gear, you have to press the clutch. You can use this mechanism to build your new habits. To make a behavior permanent, make it so that it doesn’t require a conscious decision from you. Want to listen to audiobooks? Put them on every time you get in the car. Want to drink more water? Always have a bottle on hand. Set fixed times or situations in which you will perform your new habits and be consistent until they become automatic.

#5. Combine habits

Want to establish a new habit? Use an existing one! Some activities take a little longer to become habits, but you can help them become habits by pairing them with other repetitive behaviors. By pairing the desired behaviors with an existing habit, you can make the new behavior automatic more quickly . You’ll get the best results if you pair the desired, not-so-attractive behaviors with those that you enjoy and that provide you with positive emotions.

Is your goal to read more? Read every day with your favorite morning coffee. Want to start exercising on a treadmill? Do it while watching an interesting movie. You are more likely to repeat a behavior if you enjoy doing it. After a while, running on a treadmill will start to remind you of the pleasure you get from watching a movie, and this will effectively encourage you to exercise in the future.

#6 Replace a  build good habit with a good one

You now know that every habit consists of a cue , a behavior, and a reward . Use this knowledge to reprogram your behavior! Is your bad habit of going out for a cigarette during your break at work? Think about why you do it. Chances are, your real need is to socialize with other smokers, stretch your legs, or get some fresh air. Once you identify your cue and reward, you can change your routine to one that won’t be harmful to you. Next time you have a break at work (cue), replace your cigarette with a walk with a coworker, or instead of smoking, go to the local store and get yourself a coffee (new routine) that will allow you to take a break from the computer and talk to your coworkers (reward).

Of course, developing a new routine takes time and determination, but if you correctly identify the motivation behind your bad habit, you can find a healthy alternative. Don’t give up if you don’t succeed right away and experiment – if a walk doesn’t help you get over the urge to smoke, try a different routine.

#7. Plan

The average person makes about 35,000 decisions a day. Most of them are trivial. What to eat? Which tie to wear? What route to take to work? If you’ve noticed that the later it gets, the harder it is for you to make good decisions and stick to your resolutions, you’re not alone. It’s definitely easier to decide to have a healthy breakfast than to skip your evening chips in front of the TV. This is because of decision fatigue. Having to make more decisions makes you more tired and it’s harder to break bad habits.

How to help yourself? Reduce the number of decisions you have to make each day by planning out the regular elements of your day in advance. Want to improve your fitness? Instead of choosing between the elevator and the stairs every day, make a decision once and for all and act as if the elevator doesn’t exist. Do you tend to watch trashy TV shows? Find a worthwhile podcast or interesting series to replace them.

#9. Don’t give up

Changing habits is a long-term process. Don’t give up if you stumble. This isn’t poker, it’s not an all-or-nothing game, if you neglect your resolution one day, just come back to it the next day. Remember that the goal is worth it because good habits will bring you many benefits in the future.