Habits. We all have them. However, people are strange. That’s just the reality of the matter. We’d love to think that we’re rationale and logical, but the evidence is to the contrary. It shouldn’t really matter if we want to start something on January 1st or on March 15th or any other random day.
But to our mind, new beginnings have significance. So thousands of people vow to start going to the gym. Thousands of people quit smoking. Thousands of people start new reading plans. And… most fail. They fail pretty quickly, and honestly I’ve been in that crew. People who have started a new something and then abandon it pretty quickly. But there are other things that I haven’t abandon, and the question is why not?
Answer: Preparation and using habits. (Kudos to John Townsend for his writing in this area – here’s his blog)
Before you can start a new habit, you need to answer some key questions:
Questions to Create Strong Habits:
- Why am I starting this new habit? How does it move my life forward? Can I envision my life with this new habit as a part of my identity?
- When will I start my new habit? You need a trigger. As soon as you wake up, what will you do? As soon as you get off work, where will you go? As soon as the kids are asleep, what do you do first?
- Who am I doing this with? Community is habit reinforcer. Training for a marathon? Don’t do it alone. Get friends together for a run every Sunday morning, followed by a massive breakfast burrito? Now you’ve got something to look forward to.
- Where are you going to track your progress? Doing something forever for no apparent reason isn’t very inspiring. Keeping track helps you build momentum, and will give you motivation when you’re dry.
- What’ the reward? You need rewards to create strong habits! Will you buy yourself something – a new coffee mug after you reach your goal, or a nice dinner out after you achieve your goal?
- How can you cheat. I love starting my reading plans on the 26th of the month, so that when the 1st of the month starts, I am already way ahead of all the people who are starting on the 1st! It’s ridiculous, I know, but that’s the beauty of the human mind. So complex, and so easily tricked!
Habits are a bit like super powers. They compound, and they can give you a huge return on investment if they’re focused on something positive for long enough. The opposite his also true however – they give you huge negative impacts if left unchecked.