3 Easy Tactics That Will Help You Build New Habits
How many articles have you read on how to be healthier, happier or more productive?
At first you’re enthusiastic. The ideas are inspiring and the promise of a better life is alluring. You want to act on them.
So you swear to yourself that, starting tomorrow, you will drink more water, go for a run or spend less time on Facebook.
But tomorrow comes… and your daily routine remains the same.
I think this is a common problem that both you and I can relate to.
A couple of months ago, my job held a communication workshop. Like so many of these events I’ve attended in the past, it was great: the presenter was knowledgeable and charismatic, the suggested tactics were useful, and all the participants were excited to learn and participate.
But after it was over, I had a sense of déjà vu. I already knew that within a couple of weeks I would forget everything.
It’s not that the ideas presented weren’t valuable — my concern was that I probably wouldn’t apply them.
I didn’t want to miss another chance, so I decided to act. My goal was to convert the useful things I’d learned into daily habits.
The topic of habit formation has been a particular interest of mine for the last couple of years. I’ve read many books and countless articles, and they have helped me to improve my daily routine. Even though it’s been a challenge, I was able to successfully build habits like waking up early, meditating every day, exercising regularly, and reading two books each month among others.
From what I’ve learnt, there are a variety of things that distinguish people who are able to stick to new habits from those who don’t. I found the three techniques listed below to be the most important.
1. People who successfully create new habits have a clear goal and a detailed execution plan.
Having a goal is great — but knowing exactly what to do to reach it is key.
Psychologists make this important distinction with the terms “goal intention” and “implementation intention.” Your goal intention defines what you want to achieve, while your implementation intention specifies the how, when, and where.
So if your goal is to start running, your implementation intention should specify the time and day and distance of your runs.
If your goal is to lose weight, your implementation intention should outline your daily meals and exercise routine.
In my case, I wanted to improve my communication skills by being a better listener. As my implementation strategy, I decided that anytime I was speaking with someone and I was unclear about what they were saying, I would restate their ideas in my own words. That would push me to be a more active and attentive listener.
2. People who stick to their habits start small — embarrassingly small.
One of the reasons we typically give up on a new habit so quickly is that we dive into it too aggressively.
Exercising every day might sound like a great plan, but if you haven’t done it for a while, it is probably not. The initial excitement and motivation will carry you through the first week or two, but for the habit to stick you need to build willpower — and willpower is like a muscle.
To build a big bicep, nobody starts with a 50lb dumbbell. They start small and increase the weight slowly and consistently.
Instead of pushing yourself to go to the gym every day, start with just one day a week. Is that too easy? That’s the point.
Make it too embarrassing to quit. In the early days, you should judge your success by the consistency with which you stick to a routine.
And after a couple of weeks of successful execution, then you can increase your workout routine to two times a week, then three, then four.
As for me, I set a goal to consciously restate the points in a conversation only once a day. Simple, right? Just one conversation, once a day, and my daily goal would be reached.
3. People who build long-term habits track their progress.
Management expert Peter Ducker is often quoted as saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” In other words, you won’t have a good understanding of your progress if you are not tracking it.
Tracking can be as easy as counting on a piece of paper the number of times each day or week that you completed your habit. It doesn’t have to be a complicated chart in an Excel sheet. Simply something that shows you how much you are progressing each day by sticking to your implementation intention.
By doing this, if you ever skip a day or two it won’t be the end of the world because now you will have a record of consistent progress.
Take a piece of paper and list the days of the week on it. Now all you have to do is to mark the days when you successfully completed your goal. At the end of the week, you can calculate the average and compare it week over week to get a better understanding of how much you are improving.
That’s exactly what I did to track my progress. I just put a simple post-it note next to my computer at work to record if I reached my goal every day.
By taking the steps above, I was confident that I would act on the useful tips I learned in the workshop.
So, next time you come across an article that inspires you to create a new habit, keep the above points in mind. All you have to do is to choose your goal and implementation intention, start as small as possible and track your progress as you go along. I believe it will help you to improve your daily routine and, subsequently, your life.
