Seven Tactics To Make Any Habit Stick
1. Make Micro Habits
In Benjamin Hardy’s article, he points out a study that suggests that visualizing and waiting for an event has more emotional power than the event itself.
When it comes to making a habit stick such as reading a book a week, exercising, or learning a new skill. It’s a natural response for us to get hung up on the magnitude of the result rather than focusing on what we can accomplish RIGHT NOW.
With that said, make whatever habit you’re trying to create into small micro-habits. So instead of reading a book a week, make a goal to read 25 pages a day. Instead of just of wanting exercise as a habit, make a goal to hit 30 minutes/day of active movement. (i.e. Walking up the stairs, going for a walk after lunch, or stand instead of sit in front of your computer.) Instead of trying to make programming a habit, make it a habit of sitting down and practicing 30 minutes a day on one particular programming language. (Codecademy is a great start for that)
2. Create ‘1 Task a Day’ Board
‘All progress comes from small acts that gather momentum, So no matter how small you start, start something that matters’-Brendon Burchard
Progress is the fuel to motivation. But even progress looks daunting when you’re first starting out with building a habit. So what’s the solution to this?
Create a ‘1 Task a Day’ Board. Ever since I started my youtube channel, I’ve made it a goal to accomplish 1 task every single day that can bring me to my ultimate goal.
That’s 365 tasks you can complete in one year’s time. Just imagine, if you spent 30 minutes a day coding, that would amount to 11,000 minutes or 183 hours of coding in one year.
In that time, you could have designed a website or even start freelancing your skills out to people who would pay you. The possibilities are endless.
3. Create A Strong Why
While everyone was reading The Hardy Boys or Goosebumps in third grade, I was told to read ‘easier books’ because I had a reading disability. In 2012, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and my doctor warned me against training for marathons because my body wouldn’t handle that type of stress. And up until I was 12 years old, My dad would woke up before sunrise to work his three jobs so we can support the family.
This is the very reason why I have the habits of reading a book a week, exercising every day, eating healthy, and waking up early every morning are all derived from. This is my ‘Why.’
In Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, he suggests people gravitate towards organizations and companies because of their why rather than their what.
People buy why you do, not what you do.
The same principle applies to habits. Look inside of you, and uncover the REAL reason why you want to create a healthy habit. That alone can propel you to cultivating great habits.
4. Form a Trigger
In Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit, suggests that every routine is base on a trigger. All behaviors whether it’s a food commercial that causes hunger or a car honk that causes anxiety all come from this mental framework.
The good news is that we can use this idea and establish any habit if we focus on building an active trigger. The first healthy habit I wanted to cultivate was a daily meditation practice. So using Duhigg’s method, I started to mediate immediately after showering in the morning and before putting my clothes on. Since I already have a habit of showering every morning and putting clothes on. I was able to leverage two old habits and use them as triggers to build my daily meditation practice.
5. Do it Every Day
Yup. Every single day. There are no short cuts when it comes to creating healthy habits. So quit telling yourself that exercising once a week or reading once in a while is helping you reach your goal.
For some, creating a habit may take 21 days or for others, it might take 30 or 90 days. Sorry to break the news, but there is no real magic number when it comes to forming a new habit.
What I can offer you is this… That if you do something every day, that action will slowly become a habit.
If you want some inspiration, watch Gary Vaynerchuk’s video on patience and overnight success.
6. Acknowledging ‘The Dip’
“Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can’t deal with the stress of the moment” Seth Godin
Seth Godin says it best in his book, The Dip. Every idea, pursuit, or habit comes with a cost of that initial drop in motivation, struggle, and stress. There is a reason why gyms are filled the first week of January but quickly becomes a ghost town by the next week.
My advice is before setting out on creating any habit, understand that foreseeing ‘The Dip’ substantially increases your chances of building a healthy routine.
7. Ask The right questions
How will I feel if I quit?
How will I feel if I don’t do this?
With Technology and the internet at our fingertips, we have become accustomed to immediate gratification.
That’s why questions ‘How will I feel if I quit?’ or ‘How will I feel if I don’t do this?’ are valuable on days when you want to sleep in or binge watch Netflix. It’s a simple concept, but this ties back to creating a strong ‘why’ and forming a strong trigger. Asking yourself these questions is a mindfulness practice to help re-frame your mindset and focus on things that matter the most.
