“Human beings are creatures of habit”, as habits make us what we are!
Does it mean that adopting new habits is an easy process?
Well, it is not always easy!
What is the reason behind this?
The simple reason behind this is that we are quite comfortable with what we do daily. Thus we stick to our daily routine without considering consequences.
For instance, we know the benefits of a morning walk or olive cider vinegar benefits that it can significantly improve our health. But we generally fail to develop such good habits.
Thus, unfortunately, all our habits are not healthy or good. One may grab a glass of alcohol after coming home tired from the office, or snack on chips and soda drinks while watching television.
Now, this habit, in the long run, will lead to serious health issues if not changed.
Well, once we feel the importance or need to change, the question is where to start?
What is the first step to developing good habits and leaving bad ones?
Well, leaving a bad habit or adopting a new one is all to do with the brain.
This process is all about training your brain to work or think in a certain manner and then embed the action into the behavior.
Once the habit becomes part of behavior, it will always stay with you.
Hence the goal should be to make the habit a part of the behavior. And for this follow the following simple steps.
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START WITH IDENTIFYING THE HABIT:
As discussed in the beginning, most of the time we are unaware of our habits either good or bad!
Hence the first step in the process of developing a good habit is to identify whether our habits don't matter, good or bad.
For instance, you have a bad habit of smoking, which in the long term can worsen your health.
Consider another example where you conclude that you spent too much and end up with no savings at the end of the month.
Hence this is the work of the first stage in the process, to identify where the problem is so that you can decide which habit you need to keep and which to change.
In the case where you find no money to save at the end of the month, you can probably define a minimum ratio of income to save and plan other expenses accordingly.
Thus once you have identified the problem and the bad habit the first step is over here!
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TIME TO MAKE A DECISION AND THEN COMMIT TO CHANGE:
Now, we have entered the second stage of the process to develop good habits, where we have to make a decision and stick to it in the long run
Well, this is what we say to ourselves every day. Agree?
We think that I need to go to the gym, I need to start to eat healthily or I need to start journaling.
But unfortunately, in reality, we just procrastinate and this makes changing bad habits and adopting new ones more difficult and time-consuming.
So, what is the solution?
Well, the solution is a strong and conscious commitment to oneself.
This will give motion to the car of developing good habits and you will be very soon out of the clutches of poor habits!
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WHAT ARE YOUR TRIGGERS AND OBSTACLES?
Do you think a strong and a conscious commitment is enough to develop a good habit?
Well, this may be the first step but to develop good habits and maintain them, you need to find the triggering points and the obstacles in the way to achieving your goal!
This means if you are unaware of the triggers and the obstacles in the way, you are ill-prepared to fight the bad habit.
Hence identify what are your strengths and weaknesses.
Take the help of your strengths to solidify the foundation and work on your weaknesses and overcome the factors failing you!
For instance, consuming alcohol may be the way you adapt to deal with stress frustrations.
In this case, frustration and stress are the triggers that direct you back to the bottle of alcohol.
Thus you need to work on this trigger and regulate or stop the alcohol consumption.
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WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
When it comes to developing good habits, it is essential to have a plan to incorporate the good habits and drop out the bad ones.
Benjamin Franklin had a great plan to overcome his bad habits and adopt new and good ones.
Hence, he listed 13 virtues that he felt were quite important.
He then focused on one virtue for one week and followed the same process week after week!
Franklin had a purpose for every virtue which helped him to accomplish what he wanted to!
These 13 virtues are:
- Temperature
- Silence
- Order
- Resolution
- Frugality
- Industry
- Sincerity
- Justice
- Moderation
- Cleanliness
- Tranquility
- Chastity
- Humility
Thus, try following these virtues in this stage and solidify your foundation of developing good habits!
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FOLLOW THE PLAN AND REWARD YOURSELF IN A HEALTHY MANNER:
Here comes the most important step in the process to develop good habits.
“The stage of execution”
Once you have created a plan using the above mentioned 13 virtues, this is the time to implement the plan and start working on it.
Now in the execution stage, you can use various strategies to make your plan a success.
You can take help from your friends and family as mentioned by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits!
Once you have received the required support and have accomplished the target, this is the time to get rewarded healthily.
To understand the importance of reward we need to know a psychological concept.
Well, whatever we do, we need happiness and pleasure.
When you are going to reward yourself, this system will help you in maintaining good habits over a long period.
During this course of action, this habit will become a part of your behavior, and this was the goal!
But make sure that you healthily reward yourself. Don’t return to bad habits to get rewarded!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The key takeaway here is that to develop good habits, we need to follow a series of steps and make a strong commitment and enough conscience.
For this at first, one needs to identify the bad habit.
This is then followed by a commitment and a list of triggers and obstacles.
After this one needs to develop a plan and stick to it.
The last on the list is healthily rewarding oneself!
