The Ultimate Guide To Building Good Habits
Nothing influences our results as much as our habits. Therefore, it is essential to regularly examine our habits, break bad ones, and replace them by building good habits. Since this requires a high level of discipline and willpower, here are some simple, practical tips to make the process easier.
Clarify Your Reasons
First, clarify the reasons why you want to (stop) practicing a particular habit. Try to find as many compelling reasons as possible for the new behavior and write them down. Think about the consequences it will have on your life if you drop or establish this habit.
Place your written reasons somewhere visible where you will see them frequently. Ideally, read through your motivations each morning. This will boost your motivation and willpower, as you’ll always have a clear understanding of why you are (no longer) practicing the habit. Additionally, this process helps you associate emotional pain with the old habit and emotional satisfaction with the new habit. This emotional reinforcement increases the likelihood that you’ll choose the new habit over the old one in the future.
Identify Triggers
Every habit has at least one trigger that leads to the associated behavior. Such triggers usually fall into one of the following categories:
- Place
- Time
- Emotional state
- Other people
- Immediately preceding action
So, if you want to break a habit, identify its trigger and either eliminate the trigger or change your reaction to it.
When establishing a new habit, be as specific as possible in defining and measuring it. Write down a description of the habit and set as many triggers for it as possible. Instead of simply saying you want to read more, for example, you might formulate your goal as: “I will read for half an hour at my desk (place) every evening (time), right after dinner (immediately preceding action).”
Franklin’s Virtue Plan
In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin describes a system he developed to cultivate thirteen values and virtues. This system is highly effective for building good habits. Begin by clearly defining your new habits in writing and ensuring they are measurable. Then, create a table with the habits listed in the left column and the days of the week along the top row.
Next, focus on the first habit for an entire week, marking a point in the column for each day you break the habit. Continue this process until you can go a full week without any marks. Only then should you move on to the next habit, making the same effort to maintain it. Repeat this process until you have successfully incorporated all the habits into your life.
For a more detailed description of Franklin’s Values Plan, see the following article: Franklin’s Virtue Plan
30-Day Challenge
Next, follow the habit you want to establish (or avoid the one you want to break) consistently for 30 days. During this time, you must adhere strictly to your target habit. If you break it once, you must restart the 30-day challenge. After successfully completing the 30-day challenge, reward yourself but without breaking the habit.
The purpose of the 30-day challenge is not merely to practice a habit for 30 days and then stop. Instead, the goal is to continue the habit beyond the initial 30 days. The 30-day challenge serves as a milestone that gives you something to work towards, providing additional motivation and a sense of challenge. Once you’ve successfully maintained the habit for 30 days, it becomes much easier to continue it. You’ll know that you can sustain the habit over a longer period and will have already observed the positive results it brings.
