10 Rules For Creating New Habits
September 6, 2008 Career Goals & Planning TrackBack URL
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
- Aristotle
Success and change in any walk of life is achieved not by a one-off ‘blitz’, but instead by adopting a series of small changes and being consistent in following through with them.
Regardless of whether you want to achieve changes to your health and fitness, relationships or work situation – it’s the adoption of new habits that delivers new results.
But like many people, there’s a good chance you’ll get all pumped up about a new idea or goal at the start of a new year or after attending a course, begin changing some habits – but after the initial enthusiasm, find things fizzle out and you’re back where you started.
But it doesnt have to be that way if you follow some simple rules of developing any lasting habit or change:
1. Work on one new habit at a time
- You get all pumped up, decide that you will go to the gym 3 times a week, stop smoking, go to bed early, be positive and upbeat every day, listen much more to your colleagues, spend once a week networking.
We’ve all been there and know it’s doomed to fail – usually within 10 days. Instead, select ONE new habit – master it, then move on to the next.
2. Start small
- You may decide that you want a better balance between you’re work and home life and so may decide to work smarter and leave work an hour earlier every day.
Instead of an hour – focus on 15 minutes a day and then build up slowly to 30 minutes and beyond. Or leave an hour earlier just once a week – then build up to two days.
Forget drastic changes, they don’t work.
3. Do it for 21 days
- It takes at least 21 days to form a habit so do something consistently for at least 3 weeks so that you begin to do it on autopilot.
4. Write it down
- At the start of the change process, list the benefits of following the new habit. If you can’t list a reasonably strong list of reasons then it’s likely to be something that you think is a good idea but which you’re not really excited about
- List also the likely obstacles you will face along with the strategies you will use to overcome them
5. Track it
- Whatever gets measured, gets achieved. So track your progress daily. A spreadsheet, a note pad – whatever.
6 Make a public declaration
- Committing publicly forces you not to give up when the going gets tough or you get those “sod it” days where you can’t be bothered.
7. Have a support group
- Have people who you can depend on for practical and moral support. Friends, family or colleagues.
- In the new world of social media these don’t have to be people physically around you – they don’t even have to be people you know
- You can use blogs, forums and social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr to have dialogues with people who can support you
8. Celebrate the small wins
- Reward yourself for your small successes as you go along – it keeps you motivated and engaged. Just be sure that the reward is in proportion to the success to date.
9. Learn more about the subject
- During the change period, keep reading books and articles about the new habit to remind yourself of how you’ll benefit from the change
- If you learn better through a more audio-visual approach, then watch clips on YouTube or listen to podcasts which relate to the changes you’re making
- It keeps you interested and motivated in the new habit and teaches you new ways to stay on track
10. If you fall off, get back on track
- It’s likely that you will drop the habit at some point. If you do, then get back on – it’s not the end of the world. Don’t be tempted to see it as a complete disaster – if you do, you’ll probably find yourself just giving up.
Success in any walk of life is rarely down to what you do the start of a new year or the first couple of days after reading a book or attending a course. But instead by what you do day in, day out. You get results from taking consistent actions which become habitual and systematic.
Anyone can start off new habits and start making a change, but not everyone can see them through and make them part of their lifestyle and workstyle.
So if you’re committing to some new habits, go easy on yourself and just focus on one key change for the time being. So if you’re planning to change something at work or in your professional life, don’t put added pressure in yourself by also trying to begin a challenging new fitness regime or give up smoking.
Follow the above rules and take small steady steps consistently until the habit is programmed in and just happenes automatically.
Once automated, you can then focus on the next habit with much more confidence and a greater belief that you’ll achieve it.
“Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them.”
- Confucius
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March 9th, 2009 at 2:58 am
[...] As I’ve mentioned in a previous post about creating habits, it takes 21 days to form a new habit. And one of the keys to following through on the new habit is to make a public declaration so that you become socially committed. So I hereby commit to posting a blog post every day for the next 21 days. There you go, I’m committed! [...]