What It Takes to Form a Good Habit
This is the time of year when we all start making “New Year’s promises,” which is a fancy way of saying that we will try to form better habits. Here are some tips to help you maintain your habits beyond January .
Blast From The Past is a weekly feature on Lifehacker in which we bring old but still relevant posts to life for your reading and hacking enjoyment. This week we are reviewing how to keep these resolutions.
Often our New Year’s promises are that we promise ourselves to form good habits this year: whether it’s something serious, like “I’ll eat better” or “ I’ll keep my computer in reserve ” or “I” I’m going to start using dental floss every day. ” However, very often these habits end up disappearing rather quickly. Here are some ways to make your decisions become a habit, rather than just another joke in the trash.
Make sure your life is ok
While there is a certain charm in forming good habits in the idea of “no better than now,” the point is that your willpower is limited. Psychology Today recommends waiting until your life has improved (at least partially) before forming a new habit. If you are stressed, working on some other form of personal growth, or otherwise not pursuing your daily routine, it will be much more difficult for you to maintain a good habit.
Focus on One Good Habit
We will not sugarcoat this: developing good habits can be tricky. Habits are deeply rooted in our behavior, which is why it is so difficult to give up a bad habit. Likewise, it takes a lot of time and effort to develop a good habit before it becomes automatic. If you’re trying to take on too much at once, you’re probably setting yourself up for failure. So focus on one good habit, even if it’s a small one, and move on to the rest later.
Work on it gradually
While your goal may be to do something every day (like exercising), it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve this goal right away. It takes time and willpower to prepare yourself, so don’t berate yourself if you miss the days early on. Start building up this healthy habit gradually to form a more successful habit.
This means setting goals for yourself. If you can set a new goal every week or so, you can motivate yourself without overwhelming yourself. Try exercising for just two to three days in the first week, then set a slightly higher goal for the next week, and so on. As you get used to exercising throughout the day, it will become easier for you to work towards your ultimate goal of exercising every day. Once you’ve done that, keep up the good work – the more consistently you stick to it, the more you will want to keep going .
Combine this with other established habits or routines.
eHow recommends combining your desired habits with other habits or routines you already have. Let’s say you want to floss every day. Flossing is one of those habits we neglect more often because we forget, not just out of laziness. Place the floss in a prominent place next to your toothbrush and every time you brush your teeth, grab the floss and scan quickly. Likewise, if you want to start taking vitamins, stick a bottle in a coffee mug so that every time you go to make coffee in the morning, you can take a multivitamin throughout the day.
Get an accountability friend
We’ve talked about this before , and it’s old-fashioned but rewarding: find a buddy to help you be accountable. When you’re alone, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to go to the gym every day or start eating better, but if there is someone else around you with whom you can exercise or eat often, you are more likely to keep up. these actions.
It takes time
When you choose this ultimate goal, it may seem a little overwhelming to you (“I want to play sports every day … for the rest of my life ”). However, once you make solving a problem a habit, things become much easier because it becomes a routine.
You’ve probably heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but this is not necessarily the case . Depending on the habit (and the person), this may take longer. Do a trial run to get rid of the flaws and keep motivated until this behavior becomes a habit, which can take a couple of months. Eventually, you will find that things get easier. This habit will become automatic instead of forcing yourself to do it.