We have already lived through part of the coming year.And although we celebrated it not so long ago, our impulses to say goodbye to old habits along with the old year are gradually beginning to be forgotten. Impressed by the holiday, we promised ourselves to change our habits and lifestyle to new, better, healthier ones. With the beginning of the new year, it was as if we received a clean sheet of paper and a large box of bright pencils - create, create! And what came of it? Well, so far, nothing. Each of us has habits that we would like to get rid of. And there are habits that we would like to instill in ourselves. For example, the habit of doing physical exercises to lose weight. Or the habit of eating healthy food. Someone has long wanted to take up meditation, someone wants to get rid of the habit of cluttering the house with beautiful, but unnecessary things. We begin the new year with renewed vigor, full of inspiration and a desire to change something, but already in February or March it becomes clear that this time everything will remain the same. Even if we conscientiously undertake to instill new habits in ourselves, after some time the desire to stick to them begins to disappear. At first, we may even be interested in doing something new, then it becomes difficult to do, and finally, we simply forget about it. And we return to our cozy, comfortable, old bad habits.
Why does this happen to each of us, again and again?
Who would have thought that it has no effectour willpower or the strength of our desire to change habits and lifestyle? It's all about... brain chemistry! We unknowingly simply don't give our brain enough time to fully "rewire" itself, turning on a new habit and making it part of our daily life. That is, we must, as it were, retrain our brain, and then the new habit will become firmly ingrained. Easier said than done, you might think. How can we give our brain enough time to rewire itself if we are unable to maintain self-motivation all this time? It all comes down to understanding how habits are formed - and this is truly an art and partly scientific approach! Most of us are very proactive in eradicating bad habits. For example, we decide that we need to lose weight. We immediately change our diet, start actively doing aerobics or shaping, constantly weigh ourselves and count calories. Well, of course, it’s not for nothing that they say: change your habits – change your life. Change, so change everything at once! But each of these changes consists of a series of many small habits. Having decided to lose weight, we download a program into the brain to implement not one, but ten or more new habits at once. But our biological computer cannot cope with the influx of so many new programs at once. It’s no wonder that we eventually give up. So what? Will we really not be able to achieve our goal and hold out with a new habit for longer than a few weeks? We can! There is a well-studied method for changing your habits. We will tell you about it.
A few steps that you need to do:
- Change your point of view
It is important to recognize that creating a new habit– is a long process. You simply can’t change a habit overnight. You have to view it as a process of starts and stops, not as something that should just happen because you want it to. Creating a new habit is an endeavor with many moving parts that are sometimes beyond your control. So, as you embark on this journey, you must understand that it will not be a straight line or without bumps. It may take a lot of twists and turns from time to time.
- Before you start, make a plan
Before you start changing anything, you mustknow exactly what you want to achieve. You may need some time to think through all the details of your plan for working on yourself. Keep in mind that you will have to adjust your relationships with loved ones in some way so that they take into account the presence and “work” of your new habit. Find time to write down your plan. Only if you materialize your thoughts, transferring them to paper, will you really start changing something - now, and not from Monday, as always. And not from next New Year.
- Start with something simple
This is the most important step in creating a new habit.If you want to lose weight, do not act as described above. Choose one thing first. For example, change your eating habits. Again, start small. First, just add more vegetables to your diet. Then replace your usual potatoes or pasta for dinner with a vegetable salad. Gradually reduce your consumption of sweets and baked goods to a minimum. Introduce the habit of eating dried fruits instead of candy. And so on - gradually, until it really becomes a habit for you. Starting with small habits, you will gradually be able to form more complex habits. It's like weaving a rope - by weaving in thin, weak threads one by one, you can weave a thick and very strong rope.
- At a time, create one habit
Don't try to instill several different ones at once.habits. Start with one habit and work on it until you are completely comfortable with it, and only then move on to changing the next habit. This can take anywhere from six weeks to three months, depending on the complexity of the new habit. If you divide your attention between several new skills, you will undermine the chances of success for each of them.
- Create conditional signals
It is necessary to develop a certain system of actions,that would remind you of the need to activate the new habit. Each of your old habits has such conditional signals that indicate the need to activate. For example, if you like to read while eating, then even in a restaurant you will feel that you are missing something. The signal "table - food - book" has triggered. Attaching your new habit to such signals helps to strengthen the skill with the help of brain chemistry. It is good to "attach" a new habit to an existing old habit. If you want to do regular cold dousing of your feet, do it always strictly after brushing your teeth. This way you will create a connection "washing - brushing your teeth - cold dousing". Over time, it will become very difficult for you to skip the hardening procedure!
- Start with small
Even if you cultivate a habit,which usually requires a significant investment of time (for example, meditation, or evening walks) - start by doing these actions for five minutes. It sounds too simple, but believe me, this rule is really very important. Doing this for a week or two, you will make the habit completely stable. It is so easy to set aside five minutes every day! However, tearing away an hour or an hour and a half from your usual routine can be much more difficult. It can even cause irritation. As soon as you feel that you can no longer do without the five-minute walks that have become habitual, begin to gradually increase the time.
- Create a kind of public reporting
Many of us do not tell others about ourintention to change habits. It seems a bit awkward! But if we tell someone about it, it can become a powerful motivator for us. Tell your loved ones about your aspirations, announce it on your social media pages, tell all your friends via email. And then create a system of daily or weekly reporting of your successes or failures to all these people. With this approach, there will be no room for failure, we assure you!
- Create a support system
To make it more fun for you to work on yourself, veryIt would be good to find like-minded people who would take on the task of re-educating themselves together with you. A certain element of competition – who will do it better? Who has a stronger will? – will help you maintain high motivation. In addition, together you can develop a better and more effective strategy and tactics for self-education.
- Encourage yourself
Give yourself the opportunity to enjoy yoursachievements, even small ones. Give yourself a small reward for your hard work each day – it can be anything from a piece of chocolate to allowing yourself half an hour to surf the web. Noting your achievements will help you stay motivated to continue working on your new habits.
- Plan for failures
Failures are inevitable. You may get sick.You may have to go on a trip or change your usual environment for a while. Plan for possible failures in advance, think about a backup plan for such cases. If something unexpectedly interferes with you - just start working again as soon as possible. But under no circumstances should you use obstacles and failures as an excuse to stop working on new and old habits. Creating a new sustainable habit is not easy, and you have probably already experienced this yourself. But simple secrets on how to change your habits correctly will help you slowly but surely consolidate new skills. Try it, and you will be able to change a lot. Now only you yourself will set the bar for your achievements this year! We recommend reading:
