7 proven methods to start a new habit that sticks

Simple habits can make a big difference in your life.

Every year, millions of people make positive changes in their lives. We make resolutions to eat better, exercise more, and get more sleep. And when we exercise, eat more vegetables and go to bed at 11:59 p.m. It’s a great way of feeling good about your life.

Then something happens. As the weeks go by, these new habits start to fall apart. The next day is another. Another. Soon, we’re back at square 1. It is hard to make positive changes in your daily life.

BJ Fogg is a Stanford-based behavioral expert who has an easy answer. Too many things are being taken on at once. Instead of slowing down, as with a 10-minute home workout, we start with a 2-hour daily cardio routine.

This approach can cause chaos in our lives. After that, initial excitement wears off. Our bodies begin to protest, motivation drops, and the gym membership becomes a reminder of past failures.

This doesn’t have to be the case. We will be looking at Fogg’s alternative to make sustainable change one “tiny behavior” at a time.

Learn along the way

*Willpower and motivation are not enough to ensure success.

*How prompts could trigger both good and bad habits;

*It’s essential to “anchor” new behaviors into routines.

#1: It is possible to bring about positive change. However, this requires a new approach.

Everyone wants to see positive changes in their lives. Some people want to be healthier and more fit. Others are more focused on productivity and create more success. Media reports on rising obesity, sleeplessness, and job satisfaction are warning signs that something is wrong. These reports show a wide gap between what we want to do and what actually happens. This disconnect can be attributed to a lack of willpower. This is false.

This is the crucial message: Positive change can be achieved, but it requires a new approach.

If you’ve ever failed to instill positive habits in your life, then you might have blamed yourself.

But that’s not the only reason. We’ll find out why. Motivation is not the only way to make behavioral changes. There is very little evidence to prove this. It’s how you approach it and not the motivation that causes behavior changes.

It works like this: If your attempt to assemble a flat-pack drawer chest fails because the instructions are not transparent or you have missing parts, it will be a failure. It’s not your fault, but it can be frustrating. To get a refund, you can contact the manufacturer. 

But when we fail with building a new habit. Instead of contacting the manufacturer, we are blaming ourselves.

This must change. What can you do to change this? There are two options.

Don’t blame others. If you’ve had difficulty making changes in the past, you are likely wrong. It’s simple. Years of well-meaning but unscientific advice. It can be easier to make changes by understanding how people behave. These are the things we’ll be looking at in this blog post.

Next, break down your goals into manageable pieces.

This method results in lasting change. This is more than just a theory. This has been tested and refined by over 40,000 people over the years.

Are you ready? Let’s get started!

#2 If you want to make a lasting, meaningful impact on your life, start small.

Imagine cooking a healthy, balanced meal every night. A gratitude journal could be kept each day, and you could go for a run every single day. You have many resources that can help you make this happen.

The key idea is to start small to make lasting, meaningful changes.

Let’s begin by dispelling the Information-Action Fallacy, a popular myth. It is the belief that people can change their behavior and attitudes by learning the correct facts. It sounds great in theory, but it is not valid in practice.

What drives behavior change? Research by the author into habit formation led to three key insights: epiphanies, environmental changes, and behavioral change. Let’s look at each one separately.

Epiphanies (sudden revelations) can’t be consciously induced if you don’t possess any magical abilities. Sometimes, environmental changes are out of your hands. You can’t make your friends practice yoga to support your new habit.

These are so-called small routines. These actions take less than one minute and are such things as flossing one tooth. It is easier to begin small and finish the task. This will make you feel happier. This creates a feedback loop that “wires in” new behavior over time. You can start a small habit right away.

In the subsequent discussion, we won’t be focusing our attention on particular habits. Instead, we’ll be looking at how to make any habit stick. Let’s look at one of the author’s small habits to see how they work in practice.

It is called the Maui Habit and refers to Hawaii, where he first learned it. This phrase is repeated every morning when he puts his feet on the floor for the first time. He feels more optimistic because of this. This mantra is now a habit. Even though he knows that the day ahead is difficult, he will still say this mantra and keep his cool, saying, “It’s going to be a great day somehow.” “

He found it a simple but powerful life-changing tip. There is always a way for you to have a great day, no matter how difficult it may seem.

#3: Motivation, ability, and prompts are the three main factors that drive human behavior

Changing your behavior can make a big difference in your life. It is possible to be successful if you only pay attention to two things.

This is the crucial message: Motivation, Ability, and prompts are the three main factors that drive human behavior.

When you really look at the truth, all behaviors are similar. All behaviors are based on three factors: making coffee, brushing your teeth, and washing your hair. Motivation is the first. Motivation refers to the desire to do something. You also can do it. There are also prompts. These are the stimuli that will motivate you to do something. Let’s take a look at the real-life effects of these three factors.

In just seven days, the American Red Cross raised $21 million to help victims of the Haiti earthquake. How did they get people to donate so generously? Each of these factors played a part. All three factors combined led to the desired behavior: giving away money.

The devastating effects of the Haiti earthquake were felt across the globe. People were motivated to help, and there was much media coverage. It was simple to donate. Simply reply to an SMS. You don’t have to use your credit card to give money. The author gave money while she was working out at the gym. It was also an excellent way for people to be captivated and encourage them to donate immediately.

All three factors work together to make behavior more likely. Sometimes motivation can inspire people to do extraordinary things, like lifting cars to save their children. Most people don’t have the motivation to do extraordinary things. They will only do what they can. They will not do it unless there is a prompt.

Many people want to get rid of one bad habit is checking their social media accounts every morning. We do it for all three reasons. It’s also fun and can be very motivating. Because our phone is already in our hands, it’s easy to do this. It’s not there because of any other reason. Smartphones can be used as alarms. We pick them up because they are alarms.

This means that it’s easier to do a particular behavior the more likely you will continue to do it. As you will see in the following few sections, this insight will help you make negative habits less likely and more likely for you to adopt desirable habits.

#4: Motivation is helpful for minor, temporary success but not for long-term changes

Did you know that over 100 million people enroll in online courses each year, only 10% of them graduate? The rest leave. This is why? This is why people keep unused gym passes in their wallets and rusty vegetable juicers hidden in basements. They fell for the typical human mind trap of overestimating the power and potential benefits of motivation.

The main message is: Motivation is not enough to make a difference.

Motivation can move mountains. It can inspire and motivate people who aren’t in the best of health to travel. You can encourage an alcoholic to go to his first AA meeting or an office worker to become a trapeze artist. These temporary, significant boosts of motivation can be great for occasional tasks.

But sustainable change does not mean doing the same thing every single day. This is something many people forget. Instead of focusing only on the immediate, they focus on their long-term goals. These are long-term goals like reducing screen time and patient with your children or losing 12 percent body weight.

Sometimes, aspirations are not concrete. These goals tell you what you want, not how you can achieve it. Motivation alone is not enough. Imagine someone offering to pay you a million dollars if you could lower your blood sugar by 10% immediately. It doesn’t really matter how skilled or motivated you are. This feat is impossible.

Behavior bridges the gap between the desired outcome and the present moment. As an example, let’s take the saving example.

A lot of banks suggest that you have an emergency fund in case your roof or car leaks. It is a brilliant idea to keep some cash on hand in case of an emergency. How can you do this? It won’t be possible to just save $500 immediately. However, you can adopt behaviors that will enable you to save $500. For example, you could call your cable company to ask them to lower the price of your service. To provide emergency funds, you could empty your wallet and put the money in a jar.

Behaviors can lead to change because they are simple to implement.

#5: A habit is more likely to be a habit if it is easy to keep

In 2010, Instagram was founded. The founders of Instagram knew right from the start that people love to upload photos online. The second factor, behavior, was never considered by anyone. This is what made Instagram unique. It was easy to upload, take and then post a picture in just three clicks. It was easy to use and well-loved by everyone. The company was sold in just 18 months for $1Billion. It is now worth $100 billion. 

The key message is that simple habits are more likely to be adopted.

More straightforward ways to create desirable behaviors are possible. It is essential to examine the causes of the behavior. This will often boil down to money, time, or physical ability.

Imagine you’re determined to improve your fitness. You do 20 pushups every day. Pushups don’t require too much effort and are not burdensome. How about money? No. You don’t have to pay for pushups.

How about your physical abilities? This is the problem. Your upper body strength might be weaker than it was years ago because you may not have done a single pushup in years.

Another important factor is your mental energy. Motivation can also be a problem. Pushups can be tiring and complex, especially if they present a physical challenge.

You must consider these factors before making your pushups a daily routine.

It isn’t true. If your ability is low, you won’t be capable of completing a task. You can achieve this when you ride the motivation wave. We know that large motivation spikes are effective for completing complex tasks but not for repeating the same behavior repeatedly. You should be able to focus on your abilities and keep small habits simple when designing them.

Let’s suppose that your daily goal for the day is to do 2 wall pushups. They are simple and help you build strength. You still feel great and don’t need a lot of motivation. This makes it much easier to start every day and more likely to be a habit.

This lens will help you see new patterns and provide solutions.

#6: Create prompts to trigger the desired behavior.

Everywhere you look, some prompts trigger a specific response. These prompts could be as simple as a full stomach calling us to eat or the light at traffic lights telling us to accelerate. Automaticity can be a powerful tool to make positive changes in your life.

Create prompts to trigger the behavior you desire

You will find many prompts throughout your day. Many of them are not well designed. The buttons for “alarm off,” snooze or other smartphone functions are often more critical than the alarm buttons. It is easier to fall asleep than it is to get up. This is an example of an ineffective context prompt. This means you are encouraging positive change in your environment.

You can also use the person promptly. This is a feeling inside that tells you to do something. When you have to go, you feel pressure in the bladder. This prompt works every time. There is no built-in prompt that will remind you to wash your clothes or tell you about your mother’s birthday.

The best kind of prompt is an action prompt. These prompts can be used to establish small habits and are simple to use.

Action prompts can be used to remind you of your current behaviors and encourage you to adopt them. Let’s take an example: An individual searched for a consistent prompt that could be repeated daily when he was trying to improve his health. The solution was simple. He used the bathroom. Every time he flushed, he did two pushups. Seven years later, he continued doing this exercise, and it has become a daily routine. He can do 50 pushups per hour, depending on how much water he drinks.

It’s easy to see how action motivates us to work. Instead of trying to create new habits, you can build on your existing routines. Any of the existing habits can be used to help you make new ones. These habits don’t require too much thought. With some practice, you can make flushing the toilet and boiling kettles automatic triggers for pushups and mindful breathing.

This means that you can choose any prompt to be your action prompt. Not quite. In a flash, you’ll find the most effective prompts for your new habits.

#7: Think about location, frequency, and theme and design the prompt.

You can use action prompts as anchors to stop yourself from drifting aimlessly. You need to be cautious about where you place them. The best places in your routines will be those that you can do day after day. These are the solid rocks among the shifting sandbars of your day. You just need to search for them.

The key idea is when designing prompts, consider location, frequency, and theme.

Your physical location is the most important thing to consider when designing action prompts. Do you think it is logical to do pushups in your bathroom? If you work remotely, yes. If you work in an office, it might be a better idea to use a different prompt.

Frequency is also important. It’s not a good idea to have a small habit that you do only once a week. You should choose something that you can do once per week. One of our clients wanted to start a daily habit of listing her daily tasks every morning. This was tied to her daily routine of dropping off her children at school. It worked. This worked well.

Anchors that are thematically connected to desirable behavior are the best. Let’s suppose you want to drink a glass of water every morning. As a prompt, you might choose your daily routine of watering the jade plant in your bedroom. This could be a theme on “care.” It is essential to water your houseplants for them to thrive.

Brushing your teeth is no reason to clean the garage. Why? Why? They don’t match in terms of their standard themes, frequency, and location. They are unlikely to form an automatic, habit-forming partnership.

Sometimes it’s easy to identify which habits work best with which prompts. If your goal is to floss more frequently, brushing your teeth can serve as a prompt.

If you make habits, you’ll be able to apply the principles which we discuss here. When you feel happy zings, you’ll notice it. You are now at least one step closer to achieving your goals.

Final summary

According to conventional wisdom, positive change is only possible with willpower. This is false. It’s best to take small steps and not to eat more than you can chew. Motivation and the ability to achieve it are two critical factors in human behavior. This is why we choose to take the easy things and pick the low-hanging fruit. This is how you can create small habits. It’s easier to make it simple and actually do it.

To keep your new habit alive, use “starter steps. Use “starter steps” to keep your new habit alive.

It’s about changing your mindset and developing new habits. It takes time to adopt new habits. It’s essential to slow down when you begin to adopt new habits. Your little habit mustn’t die before it can develop roots. Here is the starter step. This is just the first step to achieving the desired behavior. Let’s suppose you have a goal of walking 3 miles per day. Get out your walking shoes and start walking every day. Start walking around your block and beyond.