We rely on habits for a wide variety of tasks – tasks that are so crucial to our social and physical sustenance that we do not pay much attention to it. Think for example, brushing your teeth or taking a shower. These are repetitive tasks that we complete everyday for the smooth social and physical functioning. Now, if you were able to make success a habit, how cool would that be? More specifically, there are traits that you can cultivate as habits that will increase your chances of success so much more.
Here are 3 ways to do so.
Easing into habit
By ‘easing into habit’, really, is to make incremental small steps towards solidifying a particular habit. For example, if you wish to meditate for 20 minutes a day; you can start by doing 2 minutes of mindfulness a day and slowly but gradually ramp up the minutes. If at the end of say, 6 months, you’re ‘stuck’ at 12 minutes a day – give yourself a big pat on the back because 12 minutes a day is much better than 0 minutes a day!
Make it easy to start and slowly build up.
Accountability triggers
One simple way of doing this is to simply set your smart phone background to a quote or a habit such as ‘have you meditated for a few minutes today?’ Or, for a more low-tech method, you can simply paste a sticky note near your computer so that you see it everyday or several times a day.
Multi-task (when appropriate)
I’m not a big fan of multi-tasking but for the purposes of the initial stages of forming a habit, it may be a good idea to multi-task. Think of an activity that you do everyday that doesn’t involve doing ‘a lot’. So one example would be watching the telly or when you’re in the toilet taking a dump. These are moments or periods of relative inactivity that you can leverage to start building your habit.
So why not do a plank for 5 minutes when you’re watching that telly? Or read half a chapter of a book while you’re doing your thing in the toilet? Obviously what you choose to do has to align with the habit you’re trying to cultivate…but you get the point!
Small little shifts in building positive habits can have a multiplier effect on reaching your goals and getting more out of life – don’t discount them.
