Creating Habits
What’s a habit?
A habit is an automatic, practiced behaviour that becomes part of our routine, as a response to contextual cues. For example, brushing your teeth right when you wake up. The contextual cue is the morning and having to get up and start the day, and the habit is the teeth brushing.
Why are habits important?
Habits help create consistency by promoting a regular and stable routine which leads to better overall wellness, and they can help with achieving goals, short-term and long-term; all positive outcomes for living a healthy and positive life.
How do you implement a new habit?
1. Decide which habit you want to start and identify the reasons behind it. When you understand your “why” it will keep your motivation and drive up as you understand the value of what you’re doing. For example, you may decide you want to run a marathon this year because you want to be able to push your body to new limits and achieve something that you admired others were capable of doing.
2. Be specific and realistic with the habit you want to build. If your habit is not specific or realistic to your lifestyle, there will be more difficulty in being able to establish it. You want to be realistic to what you can achieve and make that your goal. Continuing with the goal of the marathon, you would create the habit of going for 3 runs per week, for the first 3 weeks, between 10-20 minutes. This works with the time available you have, and it’s specific enough to know what you’re aiming for.
3. Start small. If the goal is too big, and the habit too overwhelming, you won’t be setting yourself up for success. You’re not aiming to run a marathon in a month, but rather, in a year. This gives you enough time to build all the habits and routines that will allow you to feel prepared to achieve your goal.
4. Make time for it in your schedule. Dedicating time to your habits is important.
5. Stick to it. This is where you might notice that some days, you motivation is lacking. Remember your “why” and move forward accordingly.
6. Be clear with your intentions and share it with others. Having those in your support system know why and what you’re doing, will allow them to provide you support.
7. Reward yourself. Positive reinforcement is powerful, especially when we do it for ourselves. Notice the work you’re putting in, the effort and energy, and be proud of that.
How long do habits take to build?
There are a lot of studies on this and ultimately, there is no definitive answer as there are so many factors that play into it. It is said that a habit can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 9 months to build. It depends on what the habit is, how consistent you are, how much support you give yourself and others give you, if any life events halt your progress, etc. A rough average that is commonly discussed is that it takes either 21 days, or 66 days. Remember, the timeline here is not what’s important. If you follow the steps above, you will be building a habit, at your own pace, and that can be the predictor you have to know how quickly you can build habits.
References
Gaines, J. (2021, March 23). How Are Habits Formed? The Psychology of Habit Formation. PositivePsychology. Retrieved on April 12, 2024, from https://positivepsychology.com/how-habits-are-formed/
Lifespan Blog Team. (2024, January 23). Why Habits Can Be a Good Thing. Lifespan. Retrieved on April 12, 2024, from https://www.lifespan.org/lifespan-living/why-habits-can-be-good-thing#:~:text=Developing%20positive%20habits%20helps%20promote,us%20achieve%20long%2Dterm%20goals.