From Effort to Ease – How to Cultivate a Healthy Habit.
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun
Habits are desirable because they seem effortless and automatic. Habits are so strongly interwoven within our neurological pathways that they often happen without us being consciously aware of doing them. Think about it, when you tie your shoes do you know if you pull them tight from the bottom up or just from the laces? When you get in your car what is the very first thing you do? Do you always put your left leg into your pants first or is it your right leg? Habits are similar to well-trodden paths, but all well-trodden paths had to be bushwhacked and traversed repeatedly before they became clear and manageable. There is much effort put in to creating good habits, but the rewards are worth it.
There are several books and articles on habits written by professionals with far greater knowledge and experience than myself, so with that in mind I will keep my input into the realm short and anecdotal. Recently I have successfully installed two new daily habits, keeping a food/nutrition journal (over 400+ consecutive days) and meditation (over 180 consecutive days). Both of these were ones that I tried before without success and it took me spending time studying behavior and habits to gain the knowledge and tools needed to succeed. Based on my ability to weave these two new behaviors into my daily health and wellness regiment I feel confident in giving some advice on what may help you do the same.
Gain Knowledge First then Define Your Desired Behavior: Do not go blindly into the night - for you may get lost. Take the time to understand the science behind habits and also determine what exactly you are looking to gain from the purposed behavior. Can you create a habit without knowledge? Yes. Does understanding the process and potential obstacles make it easier? Yes (at least for me). One of the biggest chunks of knowledge you can bite into is the Habit Loop. The Habit Loop consists of three parts, the Cue, the Response and the Reward. When going through the process - keep these in mind:
The Cue is an internal or external event that has a signaling significance to an organism that affects learning or behavior. The cue can be verbal or non-verbal.
The Response is the action or behavior that the organism performs as a reaction to the cue. This is the meat of the habit, this is what you are either trying to create or abolish.
The Reward is what one believes (and hopes) will happen if the response to the cue is completed. The reward may not actually be something physical but rather a feeling that satisfies a craving.
Identify Your Reward – Why do you want to start with the reward first? Because, it is the reward that will keep you coming back and showing up over and over again even when it is inconvenient to. You may need to start with a reward like buying a new pair of running shorts for every 30 days of consecutive running, but, eventually what will most likely keep you going is educating yourself on the positive results of what you are doing and the feelings it creates. For me it usually all comes down to happiness. If I find scientifically backed data that supports the idea that “If I do X then my happiness will increase” - I am all in. Happiness is the greatest motivator for me, and just so you know intrinsic motivators are what will really bring about change. Also writing down how you feel will help remind you of the reward that is waiting for you at the other end of your newly budding habit.
Identify Your Response – Remember the response is the behavior you are trying to cultivate into a true habit. Understand that this will require energy, time and action from you and it will not be automatic or easy.
Start Small - You may want to go all in, but small steps will lead to big changes, because small steps are doable and hard to find excuses for. I did this with meditation. I started with just five minutes a day which is only 0.34% of an entire day, knowing this - any excuse I came up with was really just an excuse. Was it still troublesome and hard for me? Yes. Did it get easier? Also yes. As the days went on I was able to increase the amount of time to 14 minutes with a goal of 20 minutes.
Make it Daily - Yes that’s right, make it a daily occurrence at least until the habit is fully en-grained. Making it daily leaves no room for deciding to do it today or not to, since you do it every day, today is a day that you do it. Decision fatigue can become a real road block when starting something new so removing decision making out of the scenario will increase your chance of success.
Identify Your Cue and Write Your “If Then Statement” - Ideally you already have something that you do on a daily basis that you’ll be able to attach your new behavior to. Maybe it’s your morning coffee, turning off your computer, brushing your teeth, eating lunch or setting your alarm. Then write down (yes physically) an “If Then Statement” that includes your cue and the associated response.
Example: If I am brewing my morning coffee then I am performing 20 squats prior to drinking it.
If you do not have a current habit that will work as a cue then I suggest you do what I did for meditation - make a note or identify a visual reminder. I generally meditate right before bed, which gets tricky on long days at work when exhaustion takes hold. To remind myself I took an index card and wrote “Did you meditate today? :)” and placed it on my nightstand right next to my gratitude jar. Since doing this I have not missed one meditation. Also on the nights where I’m home late and up early I allow myself to meditate for a shorter period of time - remember it’s more about maintaining the habit which is all about consistency.
7. Be Accountable - Find a way to be accountable. For me it was pairing up with someone else who I knew would be in it for the long haul - make your choices carefully. You want someone that will show up for you but who you also want to show up for. Check in with them on a daily basis.
8. 180 days - In Habits Part One I discussed the amount of time that it takes to create a habit which varies from 15 days to 254 days. What I recommend to my clients is a time period of 180 days (yes six months). This is based on the TTM (Trans Theoretical Model) of the Stages of Change, which states that if you’ve been able to maintain your behavior for 180 days then you are in the Maintenance Stage which requires the least amount of effort to keep the habit up. Please remember we are talking about creating something that you want to do for the rest of your life, so six months shouldn’t seem so long, since if you are successful you’ll be doing it a lot longer than that.
In summary: understand the process, identify your reasons why, solidify your what, establish your cues, do it daily, start small, take ownership and keep with it for at least six months. Remember one slip up is not a start over but three is. Starting small doesn’t mean staying small, when it gets easier is when you’re ready to get uncomfortable again. Growth is not easy, change is inevitable it is better to dictate the change you want then just letting it happen to you.
If you would like to learn more about habits I recommend the following books:
“The Power of Habit” – By Charles Duhigg
“Atomic Habits” – By James Clear
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