The following information is to be used as a guide to and at the discretion of the end-user and should not replace a doctor’s opinion.
OVERVIEW
Habits are consistent, repeated behaviours. They are the small actions you perform every day, often without thinking. Good habits contribute to your personal development, helping you achieve goals and live a healthy lifestyle. Bad habits are detrimental to your physical, emotional, and mental health—they impede personal development and can interfere with your relationships.
Researchers at Duke University claim that habits account for 40% of our daily behaviours. A lot of people think success – whether on the sports field, at work or school, or even when dieting – comes from willpower. But the science suggests that most success comes down to habit, or rather, us creating the habits that will lead to our success.
We engage in a range of habits every day, from financial and spending habits to healthy living habits. Some examples are:
- Preventative habits e.g. brushing your teeth twice a day
- Eating habits e.g. eating fruit as a mid-morning snack every day
- Thinking habits e.g. positive self-talk in the mirror whenever you feel anxious
- Social and communication habits e.g. repeating someone’s name out loud when you meet them so you remember it
- Productivity habits e.g. making to-do lists
HOW DO HABITS BENEFIT US?
Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. The things you do repeatedly ultimately form the person you are, what you believe, and how you live. By transforming your habits, you can transform your life.
People with good habits rarely need to resist the temptation to laze on the couch, order greasy takeout, or procrastinate on work that needs doing. That’s because autopilot takes over, removing temptation from the equation. Having established good habits, little to no willpower is required to choose wisely.
Habits can also be empowering and give you a greater sense of achievement. They boost your self-esteem – as well as lower stress and anxiety (the predictability of a habit adds structure to your day, giving you a feeling of control). The rewards you reap from good habits can also motivate you to stick with them.
BUILDING A HABIT
The benefits of good habits are great – so why do we find building them so difficult? Unfortunately, building good habits takes effort and insight. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, talks about the four stages of habit building:
- Cue: this triggers your brain to make you take a specific course of action
- Craving: the motivational force behind every habit – the reason for the action
- Response: the response is the action we take to obtain the reward we crave
- Reward: rewards are the end goal of every habit – they satisfy our craving
Do anything enough times, and soon you’ll behave that way without thinking. We can use this knowledge to build good habits and break bad ones.
MoreSTICKING TO YOUR NEW HABITS
Before you decide on a new habit you wish to build, focus on who you wish to become. Once you have decided on the type of person you want to be, prove it to yourself with small wins. By building an identity-based habit, sticking to it becomes easier.
James Clear uses this example:
Goal: you want to lose weight.
Identity: the type of person who does some exercise every day.
Small win: download a free app that counts your steps. Walk 50 brisk steps when you get home from work. Tomorrow, walk 100 steps. The days after that, 150 steps. If you do this 5 days a week and add 50 steps each day, then by the end of the year you’ll be walking over 10 000 steps per day.
USEFUL TIPS TO REMEMBER
- Start small
Repeat a tiny habit every day. Make it realistically achievable; consistency is the key to success. If you attempt something too difficult from the outset, your chances of failure are bigger and your likelihood of abandoning your new behaviour before it can become a habit are greatly increased. Never make the mistake of assuming small changes don’t add up over time.
MoreWHAT ABOUT BREAKING OLD HABITS?
We all have unwanted habits. From biting nails to smoking, experts agree that the best way to break any habit is to replace it with a new one. For example, if you want to stop doomscrolling at night, move your cell phone charger from your bedside table and replace it with a book or journal and pen.
Remember why you want to break your bad habit, and how doing so will improve your life. Be mindful of your triggers, and plan ways to manage them. For example, if you always smoke after finishing a meal, try going for a walk instead. Better yet, arrange to walk with someone who knows you’re trying to quit smoking and can encourage you to keep going.
You should also plan for failure. You’re human and you will slip every now and then. When you get a flat tyre, you don’t throw away the car – and when you lapse, it’s not a reason to abandon your new habit. Change is hard but stay the course. You are worth the effort!
FURTHER READING
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