We have already lived part of the coming year. And although we did not meet him that long ago, our impulses are gradually beginning to be forgotten - together with the old year, to say goodbye and with old habits. Impressed by the holiday, we promised ourselves to change habits and lifestyle to new, better, healthier ones. Since the beginning of the new year, we seem to have received a clean sheet of paper and a large box of bright pencils - create, create! And what happened? Yes, nothing yet. Each of us has habits that we would like to get rid of. And there are habits that we would like to instill into ourselves. For example, the habit of doing physical exercises to lose weight. Or the habit of eating healthy food. Someone has long wanted to do meditation, someone wants to get rid of the habit of littering the house with beautiful, but unnecessary things. We start a new year with new forces, full of inspiration and desire to change something, but in February or March it becomes clear that this time everything will remain the same. Even if we conscientiously undertake to inculcate new habits, then after a while the desire to adhere to them begins to disappear. At first, we are even 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 this had norelationship to our will power or to the strength of our desire to change habits and way of life? It's all ... in the chemistry of the brain! We simply do not give our brains enough time to fully "rewire" by incorporating a new habit and making it part of our daily life. That is, we must produce, as it were, a retraining of our brain, and then a new habit will firmly take root. Easier said than done, you will think. How can we give our brains enough time to remount themselves if we are not able to support self-motivation all this time? It all boils down to understanding exactly how habits are formed - and this is really art and partly a scientific approach! Most of us are very active in eradicating bad habits. For example, we decide that we need to lose weight. We immediately change our diet, begin to actively engage in aerobics or shaping, constantly weighing and counting calories. Well, it's not for nothing that they say: change your habits - change your life. Change, so all at once! But each of these changes consists of a series of many small habits. Having decided to lose weight, we load into the brain a program for the introduction of not one but ten or more new habits at once. But our biological computer can not cope with the receipt of so many new programs at the same time. It's not surprising that in the end we give up. And what? Do we really fail to achieve the goal and hold out with a new habit for more than a few weeks? We can! There is a well-studied method of changing one's habits. We will tell you about it. 
A few steps that you need to do:
- Change your point of view
It is necessary to recognize that the creation of a new habitIs a long process. It's just impossible to change a habit overnight. You should see this as a process consisting of several starts and stops, and not as something that should happen by itself only because you wanted it. Creating a new habit is an attempt with many driving elements that sometimes get out of your control. So, on this path, you must understand that it will not be direct and without potholes. From time to time, he can very much loop.
- Before you start, make a plan
Before you start to change something, you mustknow exactly what you want to achieve. You may need some time to think through all the details of your work plan for yourself. Please note that you will have to adjust the relations with relatives in some way so that they take into account the availability and "work" of your new habit. Take time to write down your plan. Only if you materialize your thoughts, transferring them to paper, you really will start to change something - now, and not from Monday, as always. And not from the 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 at first one thing. For example, change your eating habits. Again, start small. First, just add more vegetables to the diet. Then replace the usual potatoes or pasta for dinner with a vegetable salad. Gradually reduce to the minimum the use of sweets, baking. Enter the habit of eating sweets instead of dried fruits. And so on - gradually, until it really becomes an ordinary thing for you. Starting with small habits, gradually you will be able to form more complex habits. It's like weaving a rope - weaving one thin, weak thread, one can weave a thick and very strong rope.
- At a time, create one habit
Do not try to plant yourself several differenthabits. Start with one habit and work on it until you absolutely do not grow afflicted with it, and only then start to change the next habit. It can take from six weeks to three months, it all depends on the complexity of the new habit. If you divide your attention between several new skills, this will undermine the chances of success of each of them.
- Create conditional signals
We need to develop a certain system of actions,which would remind you of the need to engage a new habit. Each of your old habits has such conditional signals that speak about the need for triggering. 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. A new habit is well "attached" to an already existing old habit. Do you want to do regular cold dousing of the feet - do this always strictly after brushing your teeth. So you create a link "washing - brushing your teeth - cold pouring". Over time, it will be very hard for you to skip the tempering procedure!
- Start with small
Even if you develop a habit in yourself,which usually requires a significant amount of time (for example, meditation, or evening walking) - start with these actions for five minutes. It sounds too simple, but, believe me, this rule is really very important. Acting like this for a week or two, you will make the habit completely stable. It's so easy to single out every day for five minutes! To tear away from the usual routine at once an hour and a half is much more difficult. This can cause even irritation. As soon as you feel that you can no longer do without the five-minute walks that have become habitual, start gradually increasing the time.
- Create a kind of public reporting
Many of us do not tell others about their intentionchange habits. It seems kind of uncomfortable! But if we tell this to someone, then it can become a powerful motivator for us. Tell about your aspirations to relatives, announce it on your pages on social networks, tell by e-mail to all your friends. And then create a system of daily or weekly reporting about your successes or failures in front of all these people. With this approach, there will be no place for failures, we dare to assure you!
- Create a support system
To make it more fun for you to work on yourself, very muchit would be good to find for yourself like-minded people who together with you would undertake to re-educate themselves. Some element of competition - who will get better? Whose will is stronger? - will help you maintain a high motivation. In addition, we can jointly develop a better and more effective strategy and tactics of self-education.
- Encourage yourself
Give yourself the opportunity to rejoice in yourachievements, even the smallest. Make a small reward for persistent daily work - it can be anything, from a piece of chocolate to allowing yourself half an hour to wander the Internet. Noting your achievements, you can maintain interest in further work on your new habits.
- Plan for failures
Failures are inevitable. You can get sick. Perhaps you have to go on a trip or change for some time the familiar situation. Plan in advance possible failures, consider a backup plan for such cases. If something unexpectedly stopped you - just start the work again as soon as possible. But just do not use hindrances and failures as an excuse to stop your work on new and old habits. Creating a new stable habit is not easy, and you probably already had time to experience it yourself. But the simple secrets of how to change your habits correctly, will help you slowly but surely fix new skills. Try it, and you can change a lot. Now only you will set the bar of your achievements this year! We advise you to read:
