I wanted to share a few of my favorite ideas from the book Atomic Habits to improve or start our own habits.
Habit stack - This is where you find a habit you already do and add a new behavior to it. If you are great at brushing your teeth, but not so good at flossing, you could tell yourself “after brushing, I will floss.” You can also keep the floss right next to your toothbrush to make it even easier. As you repeat this stacked behavior, it will become a routine.
Make it easy - When you are trying to start a new habit, see what you can do to make it easier to do. You want to reduce the friction involved in doing that behavior. If you want to eat a better breakfast, get out everything you can prepare the night before. Put the oatmeal in the bowl and get a spoon ready so that in the morning you just add water and pop it in the microwave. I make sure to have everything I need to get to the gym ready the night before. Water bottle, car keys, wallet, heart-rate monitor, and workout clothes are all near the door to make it as easy as I can to get out the door.
Work on your environment - We live in a world often designed by others. Take back some control by adjusting your environment to support the habits you want to develop. If you get sucked into email as soon as you sit down to work, change the settings on Outlook so that it opens to your calendar and turn off notifications. If you are trying to get to sleep earlier, add a WIFI switch to your TV that will cut power at a specific hour. Set up your phone to likewise go into sleep mode or turn off notifications at that same time. You could even set up your charging station in the kitchen instead of next to you so you would be less likely to mindlessly scroll through social media. You could even uninstall social media from your phone. There are lots of ways we can either change our physical environment or adjust the data or cues we encounter to encourage good habits or discourage the habits we want to change.
Don’t leave your habits to chance. You can create a plan to help you make them happen. I’ll end with this quote from James Clear, “Whenever you are stuck searching for the optimal plan, remember: Getting started changes everything.” I hope you will get started thinking about and adjusting your habits to get the results you want in life.