5 Keys To Creating Successful Habits
Posted on September 12, 2016 by Anastasia Krasnoshtein, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Creating a habit is less like a sprint and more like a marathon
Neuroscientists say that forming a habit takes normally 60-70 days. So before even moving to the next passage, ask yourself, are you committed enough to embark on this journey of constant fight with your old self? Are you ready to train your will as hard as your body? Is your goal worth it? If the answer is no, then save yourself from the trouble of reading.
Forming a habit is a hard work simply because you are engaged with one of the most complicated aspect of human personality – your will. But don’t be upset by the fact that not all of us have a strong will. Will is a manifestation of our mind, of our brain, and this amazing structure can be trained just like our muscles.
Your current habits have probably been reinforced over many years. Your old behaviors likely have built-in rewards that keep you stuck. Behavioral psychologists recommend developing new habits by setting small, manageable goals and designing built-in rewards each time you achieve them.
So how do you start to build these success habits in your life? Here are 4 tips for creating them.
DECIDE HOW YOUR NEW HABIT WILL IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
If you haven’t developed a desired habit by now, it’s because you didn’t need it. You didn’t need to wake up early every day because your job is flexible and you can work at any hour. You could afford procrastinating for half a day because you didn’t really have a direction you wanted to take.
Now that you have decided you have a goal in life, things must change. Young parents have a habit of waking up early not because they choose to, but because they have a goal to respond to a child’s needs. Likewise, you need to understand how this new habit will improve your life and assist in achieving your goals. Root in that idea and commit to it.
CREATE AN ACTION PLAN BY BREAKING THE TASK INTO SMALL PIECES
If you have a big task to accomplish, split it into several small tasks. Apply a one-step-in-time strategy. For example, if you want to develop a habit of reading at least one book a month, decide to read 10 pages a day. Not more and not less. It is very doable and realistic.
If you want to live healthier life, start by introducing one healthy meal a day. Once your brain gets used to picking natural yogurt out of the fridge, move to the other stage – introduce 10-minute morning exercise. And this is how your brain gets trained to do what you want it to do automatically.
Respectively, if you want to wake up an hour earlier than usual, instead of setting your alarm an hour earlier right at the beginning, only set it 2-5 minutes earlier every morning until you reach your goal.
CREATE A CIRCLE OF SUPPORT
Your family, friends and coach can be of assistance in this process. This help is not only instrumental, but also psychological. It is important to have someone you are accountable to, who can support you in times when you are about to quit.
If your goal is to start waking up early, ask your spouse, family and friend to help you. Tell others not to call or message you after certain hour, schedule meetings and calls for the morning. Ask your partner to support your new schedule and plan evening activities accordingly. Likewise, if you want to be more effective with your time management, ask your circle of support to schedule your meetings in advance, be that family dinners or eventual bar-hopping.
Coach will track your progress and help to reflect on possible failures by providing feedback and suggestions.
GO EASY ON YOURSELF
You will fail from time to time. Accept it, and embrace the fact that our brain is not perfect and tends to fall back to previous behavioral patterns. This is the reason why it takes so long to form a habit. Rather than allow this drawback stop transitions altogether, accept this small failure and keep on doing what you were doing. Again, it is all natural.
REWARD YOURSELF FOR EVERY TASK ACHIEVED
As mentioned above, behaviorists insist that in order for some action to repeat, you need to reinforce it. Decide how you will reward yourself for every task achieved, no matter how small it is. Acknowledge progress. For example, if you have completed some task at work, allow yourself to take a break and chat with a friend, or listen to your favorite song. If you have awakened on time, allow yourself 5 minutes of social media. And for each day you completed some exercise routine, put small money in a jar then buy yourself a treat with the savings.
Just imagine where you will be in one year if you follow these five keys to creating successful habits. If it takes you only 60 days to create a habit, you will have created 6 success habits in just one year!
