3 tips for forming new habits
Many of us start new habits with the best of intentions and then end up throwing them out the window a week later because you just can’t stick to them. Here are 3 tips that will help you form and sustain any new habit that you want to build!
How many times have you set the intention to start something new; a workout plan, vowing to go to bed earlier, reading 10 pages each night? How many times have you giddily stuck to your new habit for 3 days and then life happens and you forget the new habit you were trying to forge almost as quickly as you eagerly started it?
I get it, you’re busy, distracted, and have a ton on your plate… me too! So here are 3 simple and easily digestible ways that you can help your new habits stick!
Habit forming hacks
1. Habit Stacking
Stacking allows you to leverage habits that you’re already doing to add in new habits that you’re trying to build. This is accomplished because of a concept called synaptic pruning. Synapses are connections between neurons in your brain. Your brain strengthens connections that you use a lot and prunes away connections that don’t get used very often. Your brain builds a strong network of connections to support your current behaviors and we can use those already strong connections to help strengthen new ones that we want to build.
Your brain is really good and remembering to brush your teeth or put your shoes on before you leave the house; you don’t even have to think about it. We can use those strong connections to help you build new ones.
The format for habit stacking is: before/after {current habit}, I will {new habit}. Ex: before I brush my teeth, I will take my vitamins. They key here is to start small and build confidence. Once you’ve nailed it down, you can start stringing together habit stacks (i.e. before I brush my teeth, I will take my vitamins and write one positive affirmation).
2. Make your environment fit your goals
Self-control requires effort, so set up your lifestyle so that you don’t need to use as much of it. There aren’t people that are “better” at self control, just people that are better able to set up their everyday life so that they don’t have to use self control as often. In your day-to-day, try to reduce the friction for new good habits and increase the friction for old bad habits.
If the habit you’re trying to establish is eating a healthy snack after work, set up your environment to fit that goal. Make it easy to eat the healthy snacks by making them accessible. Pre-prepare them and leave them on the counter waiting for you when you get home. Conversely, make it hard to eat unhealthy snacks. Try to limit what you keep in the house or place them out of sight at the top of the pantry.
3. Self-Monitoring
When you first start trying to build new habits, they are not automatic processes and are oftentimes easily overlooked… especially when life gets busy. Self-monitoring is a way for you to consciously keep the habit top of mind so that you think more about it, build stronger neural connections, and increase the likelihood that you will do it more frequently.
If your goal is to go for a run every morning then self-monitoring would involve setting a specific time for the run, laying out your clothes, and tracking whether or not you actually went for the run. You can track these things in a journal, notes up, or via a daily check-in and then reflect on the data. This is also where coaches can come into play… we can help you establish these habits and prompt you to self monitor for accountability.
These 3 simple “hacks” can help you get beyond just starting a new habit and make sure that you actually stick to it!
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