081: Developing Good Habits for the Long-Haul

The New Year is right around the corner. Do you have any resolutions in mind? Are you going to start exercising, eating healthy, become more organized, read more, etc.? If so, you’re going to need to learn how to develop these good habits, building them into your routine in a way that encourages long term sustainability.

We all have ambitions to do and be better, we briefly become hyped up to crush our goals and then usually lose motivation and give up along the way. It’s REALLY easy to become irritated and discouraged. The question I want to explore with y’all today is: how do you develop good habits and make them stick?

One of the biggest misconceptions about forming habits is that it only takes 21 days to fully develop. ACTUAL scientific research shows this wildly inaccurate belief simply isn’t true. Forming a habit is a dynamic situation dependent on the individual, the nature of the habit being formed, environmental factors, genetics, etc. We struggle to adopt new habits because we, (1) don’t understand how habits are structured, and (2) you’re attempting to accomplish too much too quickly! 

Understanding how habits are formed is essential. In psychology, habit structure is broken down into three simple components: the cue or trigger, the action and the reward. The difficulty in forming new, positive habits like we mentioned earlier (exercising, eating healthy, etc.), is that the rewards are not instantly visible or tangible. 

Quote: In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently. - Tony Robbins

A recent study proved that it takes 66 days on average to form a new habit and that some people can take up to 250 days to form the same habit. What holds true across the board is that repetition and consistency are ESSENTIAL. 

1) What signals can I incorporate into my environment to prompt me to act? 2) Which barriers that are preventing me from taking actions can be easily removed?! 3) How can I effectively self-incentivize and reward myself in a healthy and productive way, and be encouraged to keep progressing?

Eliminating excessive OPTIONS is key to allowing yourself to form positive habits more easily. Why do you think Mark Zuckerberg always wears the same grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and black loafers?! Why does Steve Jobbs always rock the classic black turtleneck, blue jeans and dad sneakers

IF-THEN PLANS are another component of forming habits, related to the idea of cues and triggers to encourage consistency. IF-THEN PLANS are best utilized when stacked on top of existing habits. 

A good chunk of the habit-forming process is contingent on your mental conditioning. That’s why my last piece of advice is to start small. Start with a habit so easy that you CAN’T SAY NO! 

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