How To Build Habits That Actually Last
At least 90% of people are more likely to fall back into their old habits and patterns than they are to stick with new behavior.
Behavioral change is hard. No doubt about it.
Why is that? What are the biggest reasons for a habit to fail? And what can we do to make a positive change easier?
Problem 01: Trying to change all at once.
Solution 01: Choose one thing and do it well.
The notion among behavior change researchers is that you should focus on changing a tiny number of habits at a time to actually stick to it. And by a small number of habits, they meant habits no more than 3. Moreover; they referred to tiny habits. How tiny? Habits like brushing teeth twice a day, doing one pushup per day, or saying something motivational after waking up from the bed every morning.
Personally, I prefer to work on one habit at a time until it becomes a routine. Charles Duhigg, in his book “The Power Of Habit”, talked about the frameworks that build a habit. Those include a cue, routine, and a reward.
Suppose you want to wake up early every morning. Whether it is at 5 or 6 AM, you would set an alarm for it and then would like to wake up when that alarm rings. After waking up from the bed, you would either do some quick workout or do the work that you wanted to finish. Here, the alarm is the cue, waking up from bed is the routine, and the reward is the satisfaction that you will get after the breakfast or workout.
Now, that’s just the framework of the habit. It is not enough for you to stick to the habit. You will start doing the habit, and you will do that good, but after a couple of days, you will feel unmotivated, and eventually, you will give up on your habit. That is when another thing comes up, which is known as “Habit Stacking”.
Remember when your parents used to tell you to wash your hands before eating? Now, whenever we eat anything, we make sure that our hands are clean. This is habit stacking where one habit is put over another.
