Mindset: Building Habits
What is fitness?
Habits generally account for about 40% of an individual's behaviour. In order to make progress in health, happiness and general life, an understanding of how to build new habits and the functioning of current habits is essential.
A simple strategy can be adopted to build and sustain new and successful habits…
1. Start with an incredibly small habit.
“Make it so easy you can't say no”
Most people are under the illusion that there is a requirement for significant motivation and willpower to build and sustain new habits.
Despite motivation and willpower being tools that can be utilised for habit formation, simply relying on these concepts will not formulate new habits.
Willpower is like a muscle; it fatigues as it is used over time and motivation is inconsistent…
This problem can be easily solved by identifying a habit that doesn’t require motivation to adopt.
In making a habit easily accomplishable without the requirement for motivation, the barrier is removed and it can be implemented without friction.
2. Increase your habit in very small ways.
“Success is a few simple disciplines, practised every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.”
A one percent improvement will compound positively over time.
A one percent decline will compound negatively over time.
In forming a habit it is much more beneficial to implement a small improvement and gradually progress it over time.
As the improvement progresses, willpower and motivation will increase, which will make the habit more sustainable.
3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.
The addition of a one percent improvement each day will improve a habit very quickly over time.
It is important to keep each habit that is adopted reasonable in order to maintain momentum and make the behaviour more easily accomplishable.
The breakdown of large habits into smaller chunks makes them more manageable and less overwhelming which leads to long term sustainable success.
4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.
“The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control”
Mistakes, errors and setbacks are inevitable in habit formation and in life.
The thing that separates successful individuals from unsuccessful individuals is the response to these failures
It is important to see every setback as an opportunity to learn, identify problems and get back on track.
Missing a habit once, no matter when it occurs, has no measurable impact on long-term progress.
Rather than trying to be perfect, abandon the all-or-nothing mentality.
Failure should not be an expectation; however, it is helpful to plan for failure. Use the idea of failure as an opportunity to identify what would prevent the development of a habit and the best methods to minimise these from occurring.
To successfully build a habit, consistency is more important than perfection. Focus on building the identity of someone who never misses a habit twice.
5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.
It is essential to learn to be patient. Incredible progress can be achieved from consistency and patience.
It is advisable to start slowly and build momentum over time. This is a more sustainable approach, and although it may take slightly longer, will be sustainable in the long run. Patience is everything. Do things that can be sustained.
New habits should feel easy, especially in the beginning. Through staying consistent and continuing to increase a habit it will get hard enough over time.
