Change Your Habits With 7 Science-Backed Tips
Create better habits with this extensive habit guide
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Will Durant
I love this quote not only for its simplicity but also for its immensely valuable message.
To change one’s habits is to change one’s identity.
We want to change many of our habits and live like our ideal selves right away.
But changing your life will not happen in a week or a month.
I know it’s not the sexy answer you are looking for, but you have to take small steps and work on your habits one at a time to truly change yourself.
And to change that one habit, you have to know exactly what you are doing.
Below I’ve prepared a science-backed guide with tips that will help you change your habits and start living the life you desire.
1 — Set Phone Reminders to Keep Your Habits in Mind
Have you noticed how all the apps are using push notifications nowadays?
They use these notifications because they want you to keep thinking about their app.
Instead of spending your precious attention on these products, use goal-related notifications for your success.
Use goal-setting apps that send you notifications for habits you want to form.
I use the TickTick app to set up constant reminders for assignments and habits but you can use any other goal-setting app in the Appstore.
2 — Use Specialized Plans Called “Implementation Intentions”
An implementation intention is simply a plan that specifically includes the place, time, and method of achieving a goal.¹
They are found to be very effective at supporting people with their goals.²
For instance, researchers trying to increase people’s habit of dental flossing via implementation intention found that people were more likely to floss and make flossing a habit if they use implementation intentions.³
So, how can you use the implementation intentions?
Let’s say you want to form a morning stretch routine.
Instead of saying, “I will stretch when I wake up tomorrow.”
Say “I will do the pigeon stretch after I wake up at 7 am in my room.”
This will make your habits much more likely to stick.
Another example, let’s say you want to eat healthier foods. You could plan that habit as “I will buy some avocados from the neighborhood supermarket after I leave work.”
Setting up your plan like this ensures you stick to the plan when you encounter the cue of a habit. In the above case, the cue was leaving work.
You can also set your implementation intention to avoid harmful habits. Let’s say you want to reduce your smoking, especially after work.
You could plan to avoid smoking after work by forming the “If I grab a cigarette, I will put it back in the package” thought.
By forming a concrete plan for an event beforehand, you increase your chance of sticking to it.
You can form your own implementation intentions by using the below formula.
If X happens, I will do Z.
Here are some examples you can mimic:
- If I eat too much at lunch, I will walk for an hour after work in my neighborhood.
- If I haven’t read 20 pages of books by 8 pm, I won’t use Instagram tonight.
- I will study for my social psychology final on Saturday in the library by reading chapters 2 to 5.
3 — Be Proud of Even the Smallest Progress You Make
We can judge ourselves pretty unfairly when we try to change our lives.
We might compare our skill level with an experienced person and think we will never succeed.
However, to truly change we need to appreciate all the progress we make, no matter how small.
Research suggests feeling negative about your actions at the beginning of habit formation makes you less likely to try that action again.⁴
So, keep a positive outlook and appreciate every inch of progress you make.
4 — Vigilantly Self-monitor
You can’t change what you can’t measure.
-Peter Drucker
For habits you want to avoid, researchers suggest people who tell themselves “Don’t do it.” when they are on the verge of doing that habit, had success in inhibiting that habit response.⁵
So, pick a single habit you want to avoid and try to resist doing the undesired action.
Also, with self-monitoring, you would find opportunities to use the implementation intentions I have mentioned. Without knowing exactly how you perform habits; you wouldn’t know how to plan a change.
5 — Look for Motivation in Your Mind and Not Outside
There are two types of motivation, Extrinsic and intrinsic. While extrinsic motivation includes external rewards such as earning a raise or avoiding punishment.
Intrinsic motivation includes internal rewards such as being satisfied with the goal you achieved or having pleasure from doing an act.
Extrinsic Motivation may seem like it can help habits, but research suggests, after the incentives stop the habit starts to disappear.⁶
Because of this, you should focus on your intrinsic motivations.
Try to enjoy the tasks you are doing to form that specific habit.
Imagine how different your life will be if you have that habit.
6 — Be Consistent
One of the most important parts of habit forming is performing the action in the habit frequently.
In a habit study, researchers examined a group of new gym members for 3 months. The people who created a gym habit were the ones that went to the gym most frequently.⁷
The insight here is that people who formed a habit of going to the gym showed up more than people who didn’t.
You have to show up for your habits.
You don’t need to work out intensely for hours to form a workout habit but you have to do it consistently.
- For example, show up to the gym and go on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then leave.
That is much better than skipping the gym altogether. Or trying to work out for hours on a single day and skip the gym for the rest of your week.
Your main goal is to stay consistent. That’s it.
7 — Avoid Unhelpful Environments
Habits are dependent on the environment.
Avoiding an environment that is associated with an undesired habit can be beneficial.
One example could be avoiding the street of a fast-food restaurant to restrict yourself from going there.
I remember I had a procrastination problem at home. I couldn’t study and would always find a way to avoid studying when I’m at home.
I was on a tight schedule with many graduate-level course exams coming up at that time.
I knew I had to start studying consistently and I realized I can study a bit better in the library. So, I’ve made it my goal to go to the library first thing in the morning.
I would do everything in my power to just get out of the house as quickly as possible because I knew that if I stayed in the house I would procrastinate.
This really increased how much I studied and helped me ace my exams.
It looks very simple, but it works wonderfully.
Conclusion
Essentially, changing habits is an art of picking your battle.
Pick a habit you want to create and hammer it down until you don’t even realize you are doing it.
Use phone notifications, self-monitoring, and implementation intentions to aid you in your journey to create awesome habits.
It is a tough journey but don’t forget to appreciate your progress, no matter how small. In the end, you will be glad you started on this journey.
Let me know what you struggle with changing your habits.
Sources
1. Phillippa Lally & Benjamin Gardner (2013) Promoting habit formation, Health Psychology Review, S137-S158.
2. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 38, pp. 69–119). Elsevier Academic Press.
3. Orbell, S., & Verplanken, B. (2010). The automatic component of habit in health behavior: habit as cue-contingent automaticity. Health psychology: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 29(4), 374–383.
4. Louro, M. J., Pieters, R., & Zeelenberg, M. (2007). Dynamics of multiple-goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(2), 174–193
5. Quinn, J. M., Pascoe, A., Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2010). Can’t Control Yourself? Monitor Those Bad Habits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(4), 499–511.
6. Mantzari, E., Vogt, F., Shemilt, I., Wei, Y., Higgins, J. P., & Marteau, T. M. (2015). Personal financial incentives for changing habitual health-related behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Preventive medicine, 75, 75–85.
7. Kaushal, N., & Rhodes, R. E. (2015). Exercise habit formation in new gym members: a longitudinal study. Journal of behavioral medicine, 38(4), 652–663.
