Success in life is all about habits.
3 non-obvious ways to build yours.
You think successful habit-building is about motivation? Willpower? Strong character? Strong enough reason to stick to it?
That helps.
But it’s not how most habits are built.
Reminded me of a quote from my recent podcast with Tom Bilyeu
“my whole life is governed by habits and routines…left to my own devices I’m extremely lazy”
You see, habits that lead to success we desire, are not built by exceptionally strong and motivated people. Even the best of us are not that great left to our own “devices”, doing things, when we feel like it (that is for most of us never).
Successfully built habits are the result of smart strategies that people like Tom use.
Here are 3 strategies to successful habit-building process I learned from Dave Asprey and his guest on Bulletproof Coffee podcast.
ONE.
Micro habits.
Want to build a habit of exercising consistently? Want to start daily morning workout routine, because it makes your whole day outstanding? It makes you feel good, do better?
What about instead of planning some crazy routine (that you know you not gonna do daily), instead of setting yourself up for failure, what if instead you start with something like a 10 or 20 minute walk outside wherever you are at?
Do it for a week or two, and then build on top of that, when the foundation of the habit is already in place, and it doesn’t feel like more work, it doesn’t take additional energy to make decisions.
Make this micro workout your habit, and build your way up.
How about that?
TWO.
“If this then that” scenarios.
Decided to start eating healthy with a healthy breakfast daily instead of some sugary juice or pick-me-up drink and a donut, sugary cereal, croissant, fancy candy bar like granola bar?
Decided to have something like a vegetable omelet and fatty coffee instead?
What if one day you forget to buy eggs, or somebody in the house eats them? What if you are not home traveling and there are no eggs available? What if there is no place to cook today? What if a place where you usually get your breakfast doesn’t have any eggs today?
What are you going to do then?
If you are serious about building habits you got to always have a plan B. You got to have some rules-behaviors about what you do when nothing goes as planned — because there are always times when things don’t go as you plan.
What you gonna do then?
Plan it. Create “if this than that” scenarios for every habit you want to build.
THREE.
Scheduling.
Do you schedule meetings and other important to-dos, using some kind of calendar or journal, physical or app?
Most people do, because when you have many things to do during your day you can’t possibly remember them all, without overloading your brain, feeling overwhelmed, you can’t possibly plan everything ahead in your head.
That’s why people use planners!
Do you plan your personal habits?
Most people don’t, and that’s why most people never build important for them habits successfully.
Do you want to start sleeping better? Sleeping earlier to rest and recover better for your workouts in the morning and more effective and productive work?
What about putting your sleep appointment in your calendar, journal, app or whatever you use to schedule things?
10 PM — 6 AM. Sleep. Phone is off.
Now your brain knows what to do to prepare you better for the appointment, for the habit.
Believe it or not, but scheduling your day the night before, scheduling your habits upfront, will help you a lot to follow through with desired behaviors, by saving your brain decision-making energy, by eliminating unnecessary decisions (Otherwise you will fall into your old behavior of spending too much time browsing the web, watching some shows, because you don’t feel like going to bed yet, why would you? It’s a new behavior, new habit you are building!)
Scheduling tells your brain upfront what to get you ready for, how to organize your doings better so you follow through with what is planned.
Scheduling habits, putting them on your calendar tells your brain you are serious about doing something, not just talking about it, thinking about it!
Our brain is over-stimulated the entire day! Automatically it will do nothing, except for what’s available and the easiest to do now — that’s why we got to build habits consciously planning them, before they become automatic.
Choose a habit.
Use the techniques.
Report the results.
Any questions about micro habits for your habits? “If this then that” scenarios? Scheduling?
Angela at CreateYourself.Today — send your questions for me there.
Healthy living trivia
You don’t get healthy and stay healthy.
HEALTH is a DAILY PRACTICE. One bite at a time.
Daily Bite of Health
CHOOSE A HABIT.
TRY THE TECHNIQUES.
REPORT THE RESULTS.
And here is an extra Bite of Health.
March Q&A: Hacks For Establishing Good Habits & Breaking Bad Ones
Why you should listen (to learn) –
In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, we’ve selected the best questions that Bulletproof fans submitted through our voicemail, Facebook and the Bulletproof® Forums, for a great Q&A. Listen to Dave and Bulletproof Coach trainer Dr. Mark Atkinson talk about hacks for establishing good habits and breaking bad ones!
