Creating Habits that STICK – 3 Rules that work EVERY time!

They say “habits maketh a man” and that “we are the sum of all our habits”. So I guess the question is, do your habits 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 or 𝗦𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 you?  

Roshini have been intrigued by the ideas and methods around building great habits (and breaking bad ones) for some time now. For those interested, there are tons of videos and articles online and even courses too on “how-to”.

Running a #workshop based on Shawn Achor’s book “The Happiness Advantage” over a week ago, reminded her of nuggets in his book, that help habits stick. Here are just three of them.

These are Roshini’s thoughts:

👍 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗭𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 – 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁.

I love this one. When we want to start or stop a new habit we tend to go BIG – for e.g. meditate for 20 minutes, exercise five times a week…an hour each time or drink eight glasses of water a day. REALITY CHECK! This often ends up stressing us and we end up 𝙣𝙤𝙩 sticking with the plan. Zorro Circles is about starting really, really small then as you get that practice under your belt, doing a little more, and expanding that “comfort zone”.  

So start with 2-minute meditations or 7-minute exercises or one full glass of water at the start and end of a day.

You can use this technique to also stop bad habits. When reducing my 4-teaspoons-of-sugar-in-my-coffee habit, I started reducing my intake, a teaspoon at a time. Now I can have my coffee with zero sugar in it.

👍 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬-𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲

This simply means that if we want to make a habit happen, then ensure that the time it takes to start will be 20 seconds and less. For example, if you want to start a gratitude journal then have one right next to your bed so you can do it easily every night. Or get an app on your phone that allows you to capture digitally.  

This works in revers too! I made sure that I kept jars of sugar more than 20 seconds away from me. So at my NO SUGAR stage, I just made it more difficult for me to get to that jar. Also it was a case of out of sight, out of mind.

👍 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱-𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂

When you are starting or stopping a habit, do it with buddies – it always helps. So make sure you build it in! Whether it is getting one to join you or getting an app like Noom to help you stay on track, or even having a WhatsApp group can get you amazing results.

I found that by telling people at home 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 I wanted to change, they had my back. They supported by not complaining about my placement of sugar jars in odd places, they celebrated my mini successes. When out, they would gently remind me that I really did not need to reach out for those sugar sachets.  

So – what’s the next habit you are building? Tell us yours and we will share ours. 😀 

#habits #breakingbad #ChangeBusiness #goodhabits