How to Create Long-Lasting Habits: Quick guide
We are what we repeatedly do. Our habits determine if we will be successful, fit, healthy or unhealthy, and so on so on. Whatever you want to become, you need to change your habits accordingly. If you want to become healthy, you need to choose habits that will lead to a healthier life. The great thing is that we have this under control, and we have the power to build new habits and break bad habits. Now, you may think so why are most people stuck and don't change their habits or change them for just a short period of time.
There are many things involved in the failure of adopting new habits. For example, people usually want to make a revolution and not evolution. Many of them wait for the 1st of January to completely revamp their life and personality, which can be overwhelming, so they give up. The second common reason is that they don't want to change for themselves. They want to do it because of others, and it is not coming from inside. The third one is that they don't have a framework for how to start the change. You need to understand that building and keeping new habits is an everyday and neverending job. On the other hand, when you learn it, building new habits will be easy for you.
One of the best resource about habit-building is James Clear and his book Atomic Habits. If you want to dig deeper, I highly recommend reading this book. In this article, I want to give you guidance to start building your new habits right now. There is no change without action. So let's dive into this.
Steps for new long-lasting habits
I will go through essential areas that will help you to build long-lasting habits. It is what I use and what helped me to create new habits for myself. For example, I started with cold showers, quit drinking alcohol, started running, and many more because of this technique.
Decide who you want to be
As I mentioned earlier, we are what we repeatedly do. So knowing what you want to be will give you the power to change what you repeatedly do. Take your time with yourself, sit down and write down who you want to become. You can start broader vision and then narrow it down. For example, if you want to be fit, then ask yourself what does it mean. It can be that you can run 5 km or that you change your body composition, that you become more flexible etc. It is up to you. Take the time and dig deep.
Choose the habits
If you have an idea who you want to become, now is the time what are the habits that will take you there. Write down what are the main pillars to achieve your desired goal. For example, if you decided to be fitter, part of that would be eating healthier, exercising, recovering, etc. Each of these also has a sublevel, so eating healthy means not eating much white sugar, eating vegetables, etc. Play with it.
Start Slowly
Ok, now you know what will take you to the place where you are aiming. Choose one or two habits to start with. You want to start slowly and not get overwhelmed. Picking 20 new habits won't do any good. So choose the most important one.
Use Four Laws of Behavior Change by James Clear
James presents in his book these four laws of behavior change. It is a simple set of rules for creating good habits. They are:
Make it obvious
Make it attractive
Make it easy
Make it satisfying
Let's use an example that you want to build a habit of running.
Obvious - You set how many times you want to run a week and plan where and how long you will run to achieve it.
Attractive - If you have a passion for podcasts, audiobooks, or anything that brings you joy and you can do it while running, it will help you so much to stick to the habit.
Easy - Reduce any friction. It means preparing your running gear one day before the run and, if you start from scratch, buying all the equipment you need. Put your run into the calendar. Make it as easy as possible. The worst is decision paralysis when you don't know which shoes to use, where to run etc.
Satisfying - Track your progress. Building new habits can be seen like running against the wall, but if you measure your pace, how many kilometers you run, and how much you have done, it will help you make the habit stay.
Create a streak
For me, streaks are the best way to keep doing a habit long-term. I simply track my new habits, and after some time, they become automatic. You can use the app Streaks or simply write them down on your notepad. Trust me; you don't want to break the streak. It will keep you on track.
Habit stacking
Habits stacking is simply adding a new habit to an existing one. A simple example is that you can stretch while brushing your teeth or ride a bike while watching Netflix.
Find an accountability partner or community.
Having a partner or supporting community can be a massive boost for your habit building. When you meet a group of people, they often look very similar. If you want to become a runner being in a group of other runners will have a massive impact on your success.
Start now
You can plan forever, but without starting right now, nothing will be done. So it is better to start now than waiting for the perfect moment. There is no perfect moment. If you start today, you are closer to your goal than if you start tomorrow.
Summary
These are easy steps to help you to change. I do all of these, and the more new habits I have implemented, the easier it is to add new ones. You will become a habit-building machine with strong willpower and discipline. It is just like training your muscles. I have never thought that I will be able to swim with icebergs, but because of a habit of taking a cold shower every day, it was easy.
Good luck on this journey.
If you have any questions, DM YOGAGANG or sent me an email.
Martin