Changing Habits Made Simple!
One thing I have noticed in my field of work, and in my personal life is that changing habits can be HARD.
Weather you are trying to incorporate a more healthy habit in your life or get rid of a bad one. It can be freakishly hard, and seem like it takes forever to move in the right direction. And this can lead to a lot of frustration and abandoned plans along the way. BUT it’s not impossible, and there are some things you can do to make it easier for yourself.
In this post I want to cover some of the science behind developing and changing habits, where some of these concepts come from and how you can make it simple for yourself (and make it more likely you will succeed)
What are habits?
Habits are the routines and processes that we perform to respond to cues within ourselves and in our environment. These cues can be emotions, words, things, circumstances and much much more.
Habits are semi automatic, and can be broken down into 4 phases Cue - Craving - Routine/ Response -Reward. We are not always fully aware of what they are or how they formed. But most often they solve some kind of a problem for us such a bringing down stress, taking away hunger, anger or sensation.
Does it really take 21 days to change an habit?
Well, this idea or belief was started by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon, who noticed a pattern among his patients. He noticed that whenever he would perform an operation on his patients, his patients often would take approximately 21 days to adjust or get used to the changes or to even accept the changes.
He, then, tried to think about the changes he wants to make in his life to see how long it’d take him. Shockingly, it took him about 21 days to do so as well. He believed it took a minimum of 21 days for a person to get used to the changes in his or her life and he wrote this on a book he had written year 1960.
Since then, people started to believe this statement. I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s an inspiring statement for people who want to change something in their lives. It’s motivating to think that it’d only take them 21 days.
Yet, more researchers have proven this too good to be true. Even Dr. Maltz reiterated how the 21 days is only the bare minimum. In reality, it could take more than that.
On an average, it’d take more than 2 months to build a new habit or change an old, unwanted behavior.
Why is it so hard to get started?
Anyway, at the end of every day, numbers don’t matter as much as we think it does. Whether short or long, necessary efforts are still needed to make any drastic change. And since you are reading this blog odds are you are still deciding WHAT and HOW to proceed, and have not actually started changing things yet. But the goal is to finally move pass “one day” & get to “day one” because that is where the magic starts to happen. The longer you walk around BEFORE starting to take action, the longer its going to take to make the changes.
Let’s look at some rules/ good practice for habit changes.
As we have discussed before a Habit is a solution to a cue, craving, action and an instant reward or satisfying the craving. The Golden Rule of Habit Change when we are trying to change a bad habit says that the most effective way to shift a habit is to diagnose and retain the old cue and reward, and try to change only the routine.
In practice this means that if the cue is being “stressed at work”, and the reward is “stress release” we have to replace the old routine “having a chocolate bar” with something else that also releases stress. for example “ 4 Deep Breaths”.
When we are adapting a new habit, where there is no old cue or reward, we have to make them ourselves. This means that we have to make sure we have a obvious cue, “putting on running shoes” before the routine “going for a run” and that we take extra time after to appreciate the reward “post run wellness” or “connection with nature”
It’s super important to make the CUE something that is short, easy and has a low barrier of entry, so that the whole habit does not feel to overwhelming.
Steps to get started:
Check in with yourself and identify if you want to CHANGE a habit you have or CREATE a new habit.
For CHANGING old habits, Identify the Cue - Craving - Routine/Response - and Reward. For CREATING new habits you have to make up the Cue - Craving - Routine/Response - and Reward
Start practicing, always starting with the cue, slowly teaching yourself to tune in with your cravings before performing a given routine and then ENJOYING the rewards.
Review and reflect
Make changes
Repeat step 3-5 until successful!
Accountability And Tracking:
One way you can make it more likely you will be successful is by using a Habit tracker to help your journey. It’s been proven to be an important key in building healthier habits. It encourages accountability for one and it also enhances one’s focus. It’s so much easier to focus on achieving a goal when we’re able to track our progress now, even motivating as well.
To be more specific, here’s how else habit trackers can help you:
#1 It promotes action.
Habit trackers remind us to act when we don’t remember. Let’s face it, so much things go on in our lives that we tend to get preoccupied, distracted & unfocused. Habit trackers serve as our calm in the storm & reminder to what we should be acting upon.
This is especially true when we use an app where we can input the details & set an alarm to remind us for.
#2 It encourages honesty.
Habit trackers help us keep it real & honest, especially when we plan to do a daily tracking. Habit trackers provide us with a more specific information, giving us a more straightforward evidence of how we are really doing.
#3 It serves as a motivation to keep going.
Habit trackers motivate us to continue. Being able to track our progress, we stay in the journey. It encourages to keep pushing & to keep moving forward. Even more, it enhances our focus.
Conclusion
Whatever habit you want to build on, CREATE or CHANGE know that it’s a possible. It might take you more than 21 days, but you will be faster if you start today!
With just the right push for yourself & the proper strategies listed above, you’ll get by just fine.
Changing habits is a skill, and once you master building habits for yourself you will be unstoppable and can use the framework to build new habits on fitness, habits on sleep, habits on diet and so much more.
So go, get start with something small to test it out & building that habit!
Always Rooting for You,
Coach Eik
