A Piece Of My Heart

How to form a Habit

Recent studies have shown that your brain can form good habits through repetitive actions, whether or not you derive any satisfaction from the actions. Do you think you can form good habits such as eating healthy or exercising simply by repeatedly doing the action? Do you have any experience with forming habits this way? Are there any other methods of forming good habits that you’ve tried?

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I have heard this habit-forming technique several times before. "Fake it 'til you make it," right? And I think there is a lot of truth in it actually. It's a bit like muscle memory - doing something regularly will improve your skill at it and it will become easier and easier over time, eventually becoming a habit. There are some things, like exercising or writing, where our proficiency will increase the more you do them. Often, these are habits that are harder to start forming because we feel incompetent at doing them or embarrassed, which dissuades us from trying in the first place. Then there are other things, like eating healthy or brushing your teeth, where it isn't so much about improving your skill as about feeling and seeing the positive results.

"Do you think you can form good habits ... simply by repeatedly doing the action?" Yes, and no. I think to say "repeatedly doing the action" is not exactly specific enough. If I exercised repeatedly throughout the day/week/month on a whim without purpose, I do not think this would form a habit. I think the repetition needs to be done in a deliberate way. Perhaps the most important elements of forming a habit through repeated action are intention and timing. Knowing why you are doing an action, and doing it at a specific time of day is hugely important in forming that habit. In the beginning, you need to consciously think about repeating the action, but if the goal is for that action to become a habit, it needs to eventually be automatic. And the quickest way to make an action automatic is to trigger it with something external, such as the time of day. Rather than "exercising every day," decide instead to "exercise every morning." Rather than "write a poem once a week," find a time you are more creative and productive and say "write for one hour every Sunday night," for example.

Another hard part about forming a habit is that we often feel like we don't have enough time in our day to add anything else. This makes it really difficult to carve out time for a new habit, especially something that takes time like exercising or writing. If we are not intentional about setting aside time for our new habits, they will likely be pushed to the side very quickly. Tell your family and friends about your goal to form a new habit and block off that time on your calendar. You may also need to compromise a bit to find more time in your day to keep doing the things you want to do as well as add a new habit. Personally, I love to read and it is important for me to continue reading. However, sitting down to read a paper book makes me feel like I am wasting so much time that could be used doing other things. This may be because I'm a relatively slow reader and I need complete silence to read, so the appropriate conditions are rarely met. Now, what I have started doing is listening to audiobooks instead. I can read AND do other things! I can read and drive, read and clean, read and do laundry, read and cook, read and exercise. It's been revolutionary in my life! By doing this, I feel like I have more time in my day, but I really haven't lost anything, AND I'm reading more than I was before. You may be able to find a similar way to carve out time in your day to add your new habit as well as continue doing the things that you love.

Finally, if you don't find joy in doing your habit at first (most common examples are eating healthy and exercising), give yourself time to ease into it. There is no reason to push yourself full force in the beginning because then you will learn to dread the time you set aside for your habit and it is more likely to be abandoned. Go slow at first. Maybe only 10 minutes exercising instead of a full 30. Maybe start your diet by adding a salad to your normal meal or alternating "normal" and "healthy" eating days. To help you learn to love your new habit, you may also be able to pair it with something you already love. If you love cooking, learn new recipes for your new healthy eating habit. If you like music, listen while you're exercising.

To break it down, here are the strategies I mentioned in this entry and have worked for me when forming new habits:

         1. Be deliberate in your intention
         2. Trigger your habits with a specific time of day
         3. Set aside designated time for your new habit
         4. Build up slowly to avoid burnout
         5. Pair your habit with something you already enjoy



By the way, I spelled exercising so many times in this entry that I finally trained myself to spell it right on the first try! Woop woop! Habit forming right there!