Habits count. They should not be underestimated. After all, they significantly influence a person’s fate and are considered the determining positions of his capabilities. However, anyone can influence their habits. Psychologists say that habit formation entirely subject to human desire.
Develop a good habit– the task is not easy. It takes a lot of time for it to come into life. The habit formation process consists of several stages. By following certain rules, you can easily develop a healthy habit.
Stages of Habit Formation
1. Forming a habit starts with one. If you want to implement several habits into your life at once, believe me, nothing will work out. For example, go for a run every morning. Do this regularly, without breaks on weekends or holidays, for several weeks. Once this activity is ingrained in your mind, you will be able to do it without difficulty. Only after consolidating a habit can you begin to form the next one.
2. To develop a good habit, you need motivation. Ask yourself a series of questions. For example: Why do you need this? How will this habit change your life? Write down your answers on a piece of paper. Remember, answers must be honest.
3. Make a plan to form a habit. Divide it into sub-points and gradually complete it step by step. This will help achieve maximum results. And it will be much easier to control the execution stages. Make a plan in as much detail as possible; it doesn’t hurt to create a daily routine and follow it steadily.
4. Don’t try to claim Olympic records on yourself right away. If you start jogging in the morning, set yourself a comfortable pace and cover a short distance, gradually increasing it. If you start with heavy loads, you will not only not develop a healthy habit, but due to fatigue you will lose interest and stop jogging. For many, covering 500 meters will be very difficult, but after a while, the habit will take root and the distance can be increased.
5. Remember, the key is to develop a good habit.– constant performance of certain actions on a regular basis. Making up excuses or reasons for not following through with your plan will not help you achieve the desired result.
6. Create a diary, where you will write down your plans to develop healthy habits. Be sure to set deadlines for completing them. After receiving the result and consolidating the habit, cross out what has been achieved from the plan and proceed to the next point.
7. Remember that it is not advisable to miss more than one day while consolidating the habit. However, it happens that you need to change your plans for one or two days. Believe me, this is serious, but acceptable. But, if you put off consolidating the habit for three days, then you will need to start all over again. Don't blame yourself, just start again. The main thing is not to change your mind. Move towards your goal.
8. Don't make concessions. After all, a small weakness can undo your previous achievements. Do not indulge your weaknesses, otherwise you will not be able to consolidate a useful habit.
9. Remember and you shouldn’t drive yourself into a blind corner of fulfilling the plan. A positive direction will help you develop a healthy habit. Give yourself small gifts that relate to the habit. For example, if you jog in the morning, give yourself a new pair of tights or sneakers for your workout. Every little thing will be motivational and positive.
10. Make daily notes about your successes and achievements. Note how much time you spent today on developing a habit, and how much distance you covered.
11. Give yourself a positive break. Go to the park, get some sleep, chat with friends. A positive attitude will allow you to accumulate strength to further work on the habit. Know that's the way habit formation gives more pleasure, so aim specifically at it, and the end result will not be long in coming.
It is impossible to say how many days it will take to consolidate a habit; psychologists tend to think that this process takes 21-40 days. Listen to your body, it will tell you exactly when the habit has taken hold and has become a normal way of life for you.
A special difficulty in education is that mistakes in this matter do not become noticeable immediately. Only after many years are the consequences of improper upbringing sometimes revealed.
One of the common mistakes of parents and teachers is being carried away by moralizing and not understanding the need to develop habits. Meanwhile, the role of habits in the formation of personality is enormous.
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FORMING HABITS
A special difficulty in education is that mistakes in this matter do not become noticeable immediately. Only after many years are the consequences of improper upbringing sometimes revealed.
One of the common mistakes of parents and teachers is being carried away by moralizing and not understanding the need to develop habits. Meanwhile, the role of habits in the formation of personality is enormous.
Habits arise in childhood along with skills and abilities. Different habits arise at different years of life. This means that the “time factor” is not only not indifferent to their upbringing, but, on the contrary, is extremely important. Parents must remember that developing habits must begin as early as possible. Some parents think that in the first years of a child’s life the most important thing is to maintain his health, provide him with food, clothing, etc. And education is postponed until a later time. Therefore, when a child turns 3-4 years old, parents are often faced with many habits that have spontaneously arisen in him, which sometimes affect the child’s health, unbeknownst to the parents, forming some foundation for his future personality.
When a child needs a habit that is appropriate for his age and is developed in a timely manner, his behavior satisfies those around him, and he feels calm and cheerful. If a child has developed a wrong habit, it interferes with him, makes him nervous, becomes a source of conflicts with elders, a cause of whims and tears.
If you look at the examples, you will notice that for each individual habit it is easy to determine the time of its occurrence. The child began to undress himself - a habit arose of folding or throwing away the things he had taken off. A backpack or briefcase for school supplies appeared - the habit arose of putting books and notebooks in it in advance or in a hurry.
We can say that habits are formed when a new type of activity of a child first arises, when new things, new responsibilities, etc. appear for the first time. It is then that the “laying in” of the corresponding habits occurs. Understanding this, parents should pay special attention to all those actions and circumstances that arise in the child’s life for the first time.
Having bought books for your child, show them where they are stored and for several days carefully watch that he does not throw the books anywhere, but puts them away in the indicated place. This requirement must be monitored until the child develops the habit of putting his books back in their place.
A child has learned to make his bed - he has mastered a skill. But after this, it is necessary to ensure that this skill becomes a habit, i.e. so that, upon waking up, the child immediately gets up and, without hesitation, always makes his own bed. And as new things appear in a child’s life, new forms of action with these things, new skills, new types of activities, care should be taken to ensure that all this new life experience of the child is organized so that it contributes to the formation of intelligent, good habits.
Parents, when starting to purposefully instill certain habits in their children, usually encounter considerable difficulties. Everything seems to be done correctly: the regime has been thought out, and quite a lot of demands have been shown on the part of the parents, but the children still do not develop the necessary habits.
Let's take a closer look at how a new habit is formed? First of all, you need to pay attention to the fact that habits are cultivated not so much by words as by deeds.
Your child first simply observes good actions, not just once, and then tries to repeat what he saw. If the child succeeds in repeating it, that’s it, a habit has been formed. Now the task is to secure it. And it becomes fixed if the child observes it for a long period of time.
Experience shows that in order to turn some action of a child into a habit, it is important and necessary not only to repeat this action many times, but its result is important: whether this action led to pleasure or to failures and disappointments.
Such “reinforcement” can be a positive assessment of the child’s action from adults, a children’s team, or direct pleasure from the result of work, from the process of action (enjoyment of music, books, nature, etc.). On the contrary, failures and troubles associated with actions prevent the latter from becoming a habit.
If, for example, parents want to create a habit for their children to do morning exercises, they need to make sure that in the first weeks the children have time to sleep well when they wake up, that the room is not cold (therefore it is better to read in the summer), that the exercises are chosen to be moderately difficult, so that morning activities after exercise bring pleasure. In a word, make sure that the first few weeks of exercise are easy, enjoyable and fun. In the future, the child should do exercises on those days when the room is cool or when he has not had enough sleep. The power of habit is that it helps to overcome difficulties. However, in order for this habit to form and strengthen at least a little, at the very beginning it is necessary to provide it with favorable “reinforcements”. If this first stage is not thought out and prepared by parents, children begin to do exercises and then quit.
A girl who knows how to comb and braid her hair will only keep her hair in order if she has the habit of combing and caring for her hair. Who is not familiar with the common phrase “What should you say to a girl (grandmother, boy, dad)?” And the child usually answers: “Thank you.” Only those children who have formed the habit of answering this way do not need a reminder. Partially habits and skills become automated.
If the baby has been taught to wash himself before going to bed, and will perform these actions daily, at first at the direction of his elders, and then without reminders, then after some time the habit will become more persistent, and he is unlikely to be able to go to bed without washing. If you use a skill only periodically, and not constantly, then the habit will become worse. When a child is not constantly reminded after eating to express gratitude, the habit will never be formed.
Most often, when it comes tobad habitsin children, this means masturbation, finger and tongue sucking, and nail biting. Most often they are observed in those children who were raised strictly, overly demanding from infancy, or in those who experienced a clear lack of attention from their parents. Such children were left alone in bed for a long time, they were rarely picked up and were not rocked if they did not fall asleep well. In conditions of lack of affection and impressions, a child, left to himself, experiences boredom or fear and seeks reassurance and distraction in the few actions available to him: manipulates parts of his body, sucks a finger or lip, fiddles with his hair, ear, nose, etc. At first he resorts to such actions because the mother is absent. When a worried mother appears nearby and tries to distract him from obsessive activities, she no longer attracts his attention: he is busy with himself.
Experience shows that the process of eradicating bad habits in children requires considerable time and that the entire burden of fighting a bad habit cannot be shifted to the child’s not yet strengthened will. Parents must patiently help him. But what usually happens is this: having explained to children the harm and inadmissibility of a particular habit, they ask them to say “don’t do that again,” and then, if the action is repeated, they emphasize in every possible way the deception and the violation of a promise. They forget that a bad habit (for example, biting nails) has already “buried” in the child’s nervous system and in order to overcome it, he is required to have extraordinary, age-inappropriate conscious control over his behavior, which does not weaken for a minute. Is it surprising that with the most sincere desire to keep his word and “not do this again,” the old habit will suddenly “break through” in the child. You won’t get rid of a habit with just one promise - “not to do that again.” This needs to be done gradually. The habit was formed gradually, and you need to get rid of it gradually.
A bad habit is eliminated patiently, spending the same amount of time overcoming it as it took to become established. It began with a lack of attention to the child, and now your attention is especially necessary to eliminate it. The child has withdrawn, withdrawn into himself - his parents are with him, he is carried away with interesting games and activities. It is oriented as much as possible towards playing with children. If he is alone, then he must be busy with something. He should not have time left for a bad habit. The fight against a bad habit is always a fight against self-doubt, anxiety, and pessimism.
Dear parents, you know that “your children will become like you; Therefore, try to be the way you want to see them in the future.”
Parents must pay great attention to raising their child. And in many ways, the examples of parents develop the habits of their children.
The fact that children, growing up, become like their parents, makes every adult think about their behavior and inner state.
The healthy habits of parents will definitely affect the formation of your child’s character.
“If a child sees how his parents always behave kindly, restrained and dignified, if he sees that they are able to put their own lives in order, then deep within himself he will one day feel that this is exactly how he should build his life.”
Character traits are formed in a child based on his habits.
By instilling, for example, in a child the skills of independence and economic assistance to adults, parents can hope that their child will be hardworking in the future. Because he will start working long before he can realize that hard work is a very valuable quality of any member of our society. And the rest is the same. Teaching children to brush their teeth, take care of younger ones, take care of their clothes, go to bed on time, be grateful, etc. We form in them such character traits as responsiveness, cleanliness, politeness, and punctuality. Habits are the foundation. It’s not without reason that popular wisdom says: “Habit is second nature,” because they last a long time and can affect the rest of your life.
Examples of such habits:
wash dishes after eating;
take off your shoes in the hallway;
check the receipt at the cash register, etc.
In a global sense, a habit is a lifestyle. That same notorious second nature. Broad, “nature-defining” habits are:
the habit of being responsible;
habit of doubting everything;
habit of thinking or not thinking.
These habits (aka character traits) are formed in us from childhood, determined by our lifestyle, work and many other factors. However, a person himself is capable of consciously forming certain useful habits. We’ll talk about this today, we’ll reveal how long it takes to form a habit, what stages there are in this matter.
How long does it take to form a habit?
On this matter, the opinions of different specialists and folk craftsmen differ.
Opinion 1. A habit is formed in at least 21 days. The source of this fact is Maxwell Maltz, an experienced plastic surgeon, who in 1950 noted that patients who have undergone limb amputation or facial plastic surgery begin to get used to their new appearance after at least 21 days. Maxwell Maltz published his observations in the book “Psychocybernetics”, 1960.
Opinion 2. It takes 40 days to form a habit. The 40-day cycle is associated not so much with psychology as with religion. The 40-day cycle is perceived by Christianity and other religions as a key milestone for the soul, after which the soul finally loses contact with the living world.
Opinion 3. Psychologists from College London conducted a study and then increased the period of habit formation to 66 days. However, they note that the period of formation depends on the complexity of the habit itself. 66 days is the average indicator of habit formation for all subjects.
Opinion 4. Effect 21−40−90. I don’t know who discovered this effect. On the Internet it is found only as the well-known effect 21−40−90. Its essence is as follows:
21 days - the habit has formed, become conscious, but needs to be maintained.
40 days - the habit is fully formed, but regression is possible in the future.
90 days - a habit has been formed for a long-term period. It is done.
Can every habit be formed?
No. For example, the desire to instill in yourself the habit of doing 50 push-ups after every glass of water you drink will fail. Action requires too much energy, and water is too strange a stimulus.
Without what is it impossible to form a healthy habit?
Without purpose or motivation. If you know that the habit seems to be useful and it definitely wouldn’t hurt you, but you don’t feel an internal constant need for it, then, most likely, “the business won’t work out.”
Is it worth it to consciously form healthy habits?
“Steel is tempered in fire, but man is in labor.” In daily work. Once a habit is formed, it will not become easier for you to perform the action. Just as it was hard to run in the morning, it will remain so. But you will need to do it, it will become part of your rhythm of life.
We present to your attention 36 lessons that will help you give up bad habits and form useful ones.
We present to your attention 36 lessons that will help you give up bad habits and form useful ones.
Small changes quickly become the norm. Imagine you find yourself in another country. An unfamiliar language, unusual food, strangers around. It is very difficult to adapt to this right away. But you quickly get used to small changes; they almost imperceptibly and “painlessly” become the norm.
It's easier to start small. Dramatic changes require a lot of strength (constant self-control). Therefore, it is better to start small. So, the desire to develop the habit of going to the gym may remain an idea. But it will be easier to implement if you start with several exercises a day.
Small changes are easier to stick to. By setting yourself “global” goals (exercise every day for at least 30 minutes), you may zealously strive for them... at first. But as daily fatigue accumulates, enthusiasm will subside.
Habits are driven by triggers.
A trigger is a set of conditions that initiate the execution of an action. For example, some people, when they come to work, turn on the computer first and then automatically check their email. In this case, turning on the computer is a trigger, and checking email is a habit. It turns out something like a “reflex” - I turned on the computer, which means I need to check my email.
Habits with inconsistent or multiple triggers are stronger. For example, smoking is usually provoked by several triggers at once (stress, alcohol, desire to “socialize”). It's difficult to break this habit. It's also not easy not to get angry at criticism. The latter is a fickle trigger; you don’t know at what moment it will “catch” you.
First, accustom yourself to simple rituals. Start with innovations that only take a few minutes a day and that you enjoy (for example, starting a healthy eating habit could be as simple as drinking freshly squeezed juice in the morning). Simple rituals train the ability to follow habits and increase self-confidence.
Trust in yourself. If a person promises something and doesn't deliver, will this undermine your trust in him? Surely yes. And if a person always keeps his word, does your respect for him increase? Same with promises to yourself. If you “break down”, vowing not to eat after 18 hours, the limit of trust in yourself gradually melts away. And vice versa: the more often you prove that you are able to keep your promises to yourself, the greater the level of “self-confidence” and the chance of sticking to difficult habits.
Water wears away stones. We want everything at once. Therefore, people often introduce 10 new habits into their daily routine, believing that this way life will quickly become better. But in the end, they cannot control all the innovations and, having failed at one, abandon the rest. It is better to change your life a little bit, without rushing, but after time, you will see what global changes these steps have led to.
It doesn't matter what to change first. Life is not a sprint. Life is a marathon. Remember this when you puzzle over the dilemma: what is more important: running in the morning or quitting smoking. It doesn't really matter which habit you start with. Eventually you will get to each of them. But you should start with the one that causes less resistance.
Energy and sleep. The first is directly proportional to the second. If you don't get enough sleep, you don't have enough energy to follow your scheduled rituals. The more tired you are, the more often you will “slack” (I had a very difficult day - today I don’t need to learn new foreign words).
Disruption of routine = “disruption.” People most often refuse to follow certain habits on weekends, during vacations, when guests suddenly arrive. In a word, when their usual daily routine collapses. This is either due to the fact that the trigger that triggers the mechanism of following the habit does not work (for example, you meditate after morning coffee, and at a party where you find yourself, tea is preferred to this drink); or because, due to a change in regime, there is no time/energy to follow it (on vacation you walked around 17 sights, do you still need to do push-ups after that?).
Forewarned is forearmed. Another common reason for not following certain habits is the inability to predict the difficulties that will arise along the way. For example, you decide to eat less sweets and go on a visit. You must anticipate that there will be many temptations on the table and take care of food for yourself. Otherwise, a “failure” is almost inevitable.
Watch your thoughts. We all talk to ourselves. This happens unconsciously, and that's normal. It’s bad if you have negative thoughts spinning in your head: “I can’t”, “this is too difficult”, “why am I limiting myself in something?” etc. Watch what you say to yourself, and if you catch yourself in panicky moods, drive them away.
Look at the root, do not follow impulses. The next time you want to smoke, or have a late-night snack, or get ready for a workout, try not to immediately reach for the lighter or the refrigerator handle. Stop and think about what provoked this desire? Is that true or is it as strong as it seems? By taking a break and delving into yourself, it will be easier for you to resist temptation.
Motivation. Compare: “I don’t eat fatty foods to lose weight” and “I don’t eat fatty foods to lose weight and live a long, healthy life.” Which of these motives is stronger, in your opinion? If a person just wants to lose weight (and has no problems in his personal life or career), it will be difficult for him to follow dietary habits. But if he knows that his health and longevity depend on it, his motivation will be much more powerful. State your motivation and write it down on paper. Re-read whenever temptation seizes you.
Feedback. What's easier: lying on the couch or playing sports? Of course the first one. Therefore, this activity causes positive feedback inside. To successfully follow a habit, you need to generate positive feedback on it. Responsibility will help with this. For example, invite a friend to run together (set a meeting - make a commitment). At the same time, you will enjoy the communication and, as a result, positive feedback from completing the habit.
Competition is a catalyst for progress. Let your friends catch you “weakly.” Is it bad to not eat sugar for a whole week? Is it bad to go to the gym for 6 weeks? By challenging someone (or, to be honest, yourself), it’s easier to train yourself to follow a particular habit. In addition, competitions also encourage responsibility and positive feedback (see previous point).
No favors. “One cake won’t do anything” - following the logic of “just once and no more,” you practically capitulate to your weaknesses. After the “one time” there will be another, and a third, and... By making exceptions, you form the mindset that indulgences are normal (not every day, right?!). But in reality, it undermines self-confidence.
Habit is a reward, not a punishment. The introduction of new, positive habits should not be perceived as hard work. If you treat training like it's a chore, you'll get negative feedback and won't last long. But if you find a way to enjoy activities (for example, a sport that you really enjoy), the feedback will be positive. Change your attitude towards habits, because they are a reward, not a punishment.
The more new habits you have at the same time, the higher the likelihood of failing. Conduct an experiment: try introducing 5 new habits into your life at once. Check how long you last. Following one new ritual is much easier than following several at once. It’s more rational to focus on one habit, and when its implementation becomes automatic, move on to the next one.
Distractions are inevitable. Like everything new, at first following a particular habit is inspiring - you are full of energy. But sooner or later self-control falls. You don't have to think about habits 24 hours a day, you just need to think about them once a day. Deviations from the intended goal are inevitable, but if you have missed training several times, you should not quit the sport. Review your motivation and refocus on your goal.
Keep a blog. Publicity is a great discipline. If you announce on a blog or social media that you are on a diet and promise to post photos every two weeks while standing on the scale, you will have responsibility. After all, who wants to lose face in front of their friends?
Learn from mistakes. Failures are inevitable, and you need to be able to learn from them. Each person is individual. What works for some may not work at all for others. And if you don’t try, you won’t know which methods are effective for you. Mistakes are a way to learn about yourself. When you make mistakes, you learn something new, which means you become a better person.
Get support. Who do you go to when you're having a hard time? Whose opinion is important to you? The support of these people is very important. Spouse, best friend, work colleague - someone should definitely tell you at the moment when you are ready to tell everything to hell: “Hold on! You will succeed!”
Don't limit yourself. You can often hear from people: “I can’t give up sugar!”, “I can’t live without meat!” And they really can't... as long as they continue to think like that. There's really nothing you can't do. But if you continue to believe that your life depends on sweets, you really won't be able to give up cakes.
Environment. She should help you. Have you decided to give up sweets? Don't buy it. And tell your loved ones not to do this. Ask your friends not to smoke in front of you if you are struggling with this harmful habit. You must create an environment that will help you change.
Minimize entry barriers. Don't allow yourself to procrastinate. When going for a run, you can think about how difficult it will be, how long it will take, how cold it will be... Or you can just lace up your sneakers and run. Get rid of mental barriers. To meditate, you just need to take a comfortable position; to write, open a text editor.
Plan for forced breaks. There are situations when it is impossible to follow the plan. For example, you are going on vacation to the countryside and there is no swimming pool there, where you have been trying to go every day for the past months. OK. But you shouldn't take this as a reason to quit. Clearly define a date when you can return to this habit. And return to her when that day comes.
Habits depend on the situation. As already mentioned, the implementation of habits is triggered by triggers, which are often influenced by the environment. Life is fast and dynamic. If your trigger for doing yoga is a shower, then a phone call when you just got out of the bathroom can unsettle you and switch you to other things. You need to be prepared for this.
Best the enemy of the good. Paradoxically, bad habits are often necessary for us. For some, a cigarette is a way to relieve stress, and if you lose this “antidepressant,” you will begin to lash out at your loved ones. Here it is important to understand what causes the bad habit and try to find a healthier alternative to it.
Be kind to yourself. Being angry with yourself, blaming yourself when things don’t work out doesn’t help. At all. Don’t forget to praise yourself even for micro-successes and regularly remind yourself that you are walking along a thorny road called “struggle”, trying to become happier, and this is oh how difficult it is.
Perfectionism is evil. People often strive for perfection, but this is a spoke in the wheel of progress. If you find yourself not following a particular habit because the circumstances are not ideal (not meditating because there is no suitable music), forget about perfectionism and just do what you have to do. Better little and bad than nothing.
Tandem. Together (with a friend, colleague) it is much easier to start a business or stick to certain habits. So, if you are planning to go on a diet, invite your spouse to join. You'll be surprised how much easier things will be.
Changing habits is a way of self-discovery. Habits are not only a way to change your life, but also a tool for self-knowledge. As you work to establish a habit in your life, you will learn a lot about yourself. What motivates you, how rational you are, what internal and external rewards “work” for you, etc. In just a few months of changing your habits, you will learn more about yourself than you did 10 years earlier. Thus, changing habits is beneficial, whether you succeed or not.
What most often prevents a person from becoming successful and rich? Brown University experts are sure: these are bad habits. This conclusion was made after their 5-year study. No, we are not talking about addiction to tobacco, alcohol and junk food, but about habits that harm personal effectiveness.
According to the findings of scientists, these include:
- Various kinds of part-time jobs (the habit of not investing money, but looking for additional income is the lot of poor people).
- Gambling and other gambling (thirst for “easy” money that will “fall out of nowhere”).
- Reading exclusively fiction (rich and successful people read manuals and monographs that help improve their professional level).
- The habit of taking out loans (rich people are accustomed to relying on the resources they have, refusing to buy or purchasing things at a more reasonable price).
- Lack of budget planning (84% of rich people organize their financial affairs, while among the poor this figure is 20%).
- Lack of a “financial cushion” (the rich regularly save at least a small amount of money, unlike the poor, who are accustomed to living “paycheck to paycheck”).
Our whole life consists of habits - certain well-formed actions, established ways of behavior in certain circumstances. Every small habit, even if it seems insignificant, can bring a person closer to his dream or, on the contrary, move him away from it.
By developing the habit of not smoking in the morning on an empty stomach or after a meal, you will bring your goal of “becoming healthy” a little closer; By purchasing products not spontaneously, but according to a pre-compiled list, you are taking the first steps towards the goal of “learning to save.”
By the way, psychologists advise not to wage an irreconcilable fight against bad habits, but to focus specifically on mastering new ways of behavior that are useful for you. By forming and consolidating new habits, you can more easily achieve your goals.
Forming Good Habits: Six Important Factors
The formation of a new way of behavior does not happen immediately. To do this, you need to go through six steps, each of which is important in its own way.
- Analyze your existing habits and understand what exactly needs to be changed in your behavior.
- Make sure that the new way of behavior will help you cope with the tasks.
- It is clear and precise to formulate exactly what habit it is desirable to acquire.
- Determine which existing modes of behavior will contribute to the formation of a new one, and which ones will interfere.
- Publicly announce your intention to form a new habit.
- Find a suitable company: several or at least one like-minded person.
Let's look at each stage in a little more detail.
Stage 1
Over the course of several days (3-5 will be enough), observe yourself and analyze your own habits, both useful and not so useful. Ask yourself questions:
- Why do I do it this way?
- Can this be done differently?
For example, when you are going to have lunch, sitting comfortably in front of the monitor, stop and separate these actions. If you are hungry, eat in the kitchen and then start browsing the sites.
Stage 2
Think about how exactly your new habit will help you achieve your goal. Have you stopped eating flour and sweets? Have you started jogging in the morning and given up cigarettes? This will help you become healthier and more beautiful.
As you begin to develop a new way of behavior, always keep in mind the end result you want to achieve. Ask yourself, “How will my new habit help me achieve what I want?” Users who set goals on the SmartProgress resource work on developing a wide variety of habits: they write at least 10 pages of a new book every day, regularly perform a set of exercises, and devote half an hour a day to learning a foreign language or Java programming. And they write reports about their successes, which in itself is also a very useful habit.
Stage 3
Precise formulation helps you clearly understand what exactly you want to achieve and what skill to develop. For example, the phrase “Do exercises every day” is too vague. It is better to formulate this way: “Every day from 7.00 to 7.30 do a set of exercises
for stretching/strengthening a specific muscle group/general development.”
It is believed that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but this is an average. The more complex and unusual a new way of behavior is, the longer it will take for it to become natural and necessary. So, you can train yourself to start the morning with a glass of warm water with lemon in 21 days, but it may take two or three months to form the habit of proper nutrition or daily exercise.
Stage 4
Each mode of behavior does not exist in isolation, but in conjunction with others. Determine which already fully formed habits will help you organically integrate the new procedure into the overall picture of your behavior. For example, you decide to create a menu for the week. This useful habit is reinforcing for many others:
- spend money economically on groceries;
- prepare your own healthy and tasty food;
- follow the principles of proper nutrition;
- rational use of available products;
- calculate your budget for the week, etc.
Stage 5
By publicly declaring your intention to form a healthy habit, you gain additional incentive that will not allow you to give up at the first difficulties and inconveniences. You can make a public commitment by simply telling numerous friends and acquaintances about it, publishing a post on a page on a social network, on your favorite forum.
Or you can use the SmartProgress service, which has a special function - “word price”. By making a commitment, you risk a certain amount, which is deposited into your account and “frozen.” If you didn't keep this promise, you lost your money! This kind of “whip” is extremely effective.
Stage 6
Like-minded people who are ready to enthusiastically support your idea and start forming a new habit “for company” are great. You want to skip a workout, but a friend is already calling you and making an appointment to go to the gym. You want to eat a piece of cake, but your friend has already surpassed you in terms of the number of kilograms lost. Developing new habits together is more fun, faster, and more effective: mutual support, responsibility to each other, and a healthy spirit of competition help.
A new way of behavior will become firmly established in your life if
- you clearly understand why you need this;
- it does not contradict the usual way of life, it is approved and supported by the environment;
- the results from its “implementation” quickly become noticeable and tangible (you become slimmer, feel better after quitting smoking, you start working faster and have time to do more).
Remember that every new good habit is a step towards your success.
