As you must know, that good habits are essential to live a fulfilling life. But many of us face challenges with forming new habits. We know we should wake up early, do exercise or meditation, eat healthy, drink lots of water, be consistent, etc & etc. But still we don't do these. Excuse? "I tried to wake up at 5am for a few days, but it was really tough, so I gave up" or something like that.
Even if forming new habits is tough, why should we go for it? Because Price of Discipline is less than pain of regret. You'll say it's very difficult to get into the habit of waking up early, exercising, healthy eating. But isn't it better than to stay sick and unfit for most of your life?
Why many people fail to form new habits?
1. Don't have the urge: However tough it may seems at the beginning, if you have the urge,you will get it done anyway. Most people fail because they don't have the urge or desire to form the new habit. So they aren't ready to face little discomfort.
2. Gives up too soon: Another reason for which people fail to form a new habit is that they give up too soon. For example, when people decide to make a habit of waking up at 5am, and when after trying for whole one week, and breaking five to six alarm clocks, they couldn't wake up earlier than seven, people tend to think it's not their piece of cake, so they give up.
3. Don't find enough encouragement: Unfortunately when we decide to change to some good habits, very few of us are lucky enough to have friends and family who would encourage us for the change. I can still remember the day when I first decided to wake up at 5am than 9am and declared it to my parents, they said "Stop fooling around, we know you can't".
4. Resistance to Change: It's part of human biology or psychology to resist change in any form. Forming a new habit is also a change which we naturally resist.
Enough for why people fail, let's move our focus to how we can form new habits successfully. Here goes some tips which worked for me and many others, let's see if it helps you too.
1. Find the WHY behind the habit: To do anything in our life you should know WHY we want to do that thing. Forming a new habit isn't exception. If you decide to form a new habit, first ask yourself why you want to form that habit. Like, I want to wake up early because I want to feel the serenity of early morning and want to start my day well organised. And this WHY shouldn't be mechanical, this should touch the chord of your heart.
2. Write it Down: You know, there is something magical in writing down things. You must have heard about writing down your goals gives you better sense of direction, similarly write down the habits you want to form and your why behind it. Now comes the killer tips: write it everywhere. Write it in your diary/notebook, write it on your wall (if your Dad may want to kill you for writing on wall, you can use sticky notes), write it on your Desktop,Mobile Wallpaper so that you can see it every time you switch on your PC/Laptop/Mobile. The key is to keep your habits infront of your eyes 24 hours.
3. Declare: This may be a little uncomfortable, but it worked for me like magic. Declare to the world that you are going to install such and such habit in your daily routine. Declare it to your parent/children/spouse, friends, classmates, Social Networking Buddies, everyone. In that way, we will have better sense of responsibility and commitment regarding those habits. It would be easier to form those habits than to face the world being a failure.
4. Think about the outcome: Just think about how your life would be if you successfully form the new habit, and what penalty you would have to pay if you don't. For example, if I do daily exercise and eat healthy,one day I may look like this
And if I don't, I may land up being something like this
5. Think you can: You can't do anything in your life, if you think you can't. So from the core of your heart, first believe that you can form this new habit. If others could have done this, why can't you? And when it's so important for your life, you will do it anyway.
6. Magic of 21 Days: I've read in some books of Robin Sharma, that if we stick to a habit for atleast 21 days, it becomes part of our biological or psychological clock. After that we don't have to give much effort to keep that habit, it becomes kind of automatic.
7. Avoid perfection mania: Don't be frustrated too easily. If you are accustomed with waking up at 9am for last twenty years, and after deciding to make a habit of waking up early, you couldn't woke up earlier than 7am for some week, don't get disheartened. It takes time.
8. Beware of the easy temptations: Be careful about the easy temptations which will try to restrain you from forming a new habit. You can't crave more for bed if you are trying to wake up at 5am, you can't crave more for fast food if you are trying to eat healthy. It's very easy to give up to these temptations, but remind yourself about point 4 at these situations.
9. Celebrate little victories: Whenever you will achieve a step towards your habit, celebrate these little victories, it will keep you motivated.
So apply these tips today, and tell whether these are working for you too. And if you have more effective tips on this subject(which I know you have), feel free to share in the comment section.
Email me on ksufiyan@gmail.com
