How to Create Good Habits

How to Create Good Habits

Our current self is a reflection of our habits.  The habits we have developed over the months, years, and maybe decades have sculpted who we are in the present.  And many of these habits are deeply ingrained, hopefully more good than bad.

The saying “old habits die hard” proves very true through much research.  Old habits don’t actually ever go away, once that pattern has been seared into our brains it will always remain.  The only way to really deal with a bad habit is to basically bury it under a stronger habit.  And even if you are successful at achieving this, that bad habit is still lingering, lurking, waiting for a trigger.  

This is why many alcoholics must be all or none with it.  There is no in between.  If they have a single drink, that might be all it takes to trigger a full on bender.  The hard drinking habit was always there, they were just successful at burying it under good habits, maybe AA meetings, family time, or exercise.  

Anyways, I digress.  Starting small is crucial when it comes to building new habits.  The quickest way to fail is by overloading yourself with too many lifestyle changes at one time.  

It’s easy to want to do that when you are starting something new and are feeling highly motivated but keep in mind that motivation is fleeting and will let you down in the long run.  Motivation is wonderful in the short term and for getting something new started but in the long run, habit is your true ally.

For example, starting small could be something like eating one cup of veggies per day.  Or walking 10 minutes outside per day.  The easier the habit the more likely you are to stick to it and truly create the habit.  And then you build on top of that.  If you successfully stick to a small habit for say, 30 days, then you attempt to add in a second cup of veggies to your day or bump your walk to 20 minutes per day.

Habits typically follow a loop cycle as they are repeated.  The cue, action, and reward.  The cue is the trigger, for example your alarm goes off in the morning.  The action is you get up out of bed and immediately get your coffee process started.  The reward is enjoying the coffee, the taste for some or feeling more awake for others, or both for many and myself.

Another example is 2pm hits at work and you feel sleepy.  That afternoon lull hits, likely from a lunch too heavy in fats or carbs.  That's the cue.  The action you take is to get up from your desk and walk to the breakroom for a cookie or a soda pop to make you feel more awake.  The reward is you feel more awake from sugar/caffeine or your stomach feels satiated temporarily.

So the idea with habit change is to keep the cue and the reward close to the same but change the action.  Instead of going into the breakroom for a treat you go outside and take a brisk walk around your building.  Or you stop into a coworkers office and shoot the shit for 5 minutes.  The reward of the walk is you get some fresh air and some movement and this wakes you up a bit.  Or you get a little easy time with a coworker which is a quick break and destressor.  

If you are able to consistently sub in this good habit to replace the bad habit then wallah, you have suppressed the bad habit and created a new good habit.  Easier said than done?  Yes of course.  As noted earlier, OLD HABITS DIE HARD.  

But if you are able to start shifting the numbers, as in you are able to take the good action over the bad action 50% of the time within the first 3 months say, and then 75% of the time 6 months down the road, well then you are on the path to success.  

Eventually, if you keep at it and don’t give up, that bad habit will be so suppressed that your behavior will have changed.  Be patient though, true behavior change can take 18 months to 2 years some research has proven (site something here).  Though many other sources commonly cite 30-90 days.  

There are also those that believe that establishing a habit has nothing to do with the amount of time you have been working at it and everything to do with the reps.  And this makes the most sense to us.

For example, if you exercise 90X within 90 days vs 90X within 365 days it is likely that the progress made within 3 months will be about the same as within the year.  So in theory any habit should be able to be established faster or slower depending on how often you are doing it.

For more on habit change and creation check out our all encompassing 3 month beginner program at BeginnerBody.com.