Habits help us achieve and be who we want to be. They help us create the future we want. But today with so many distractions and more entertaining apps to catch up with, it is increasingly difficult to exercise important life-improving habits.
Being distracted by social media apps feels good at each given moment. Ahh, just until 9 o’clock, and the next time you look up it’s midnight and you wonder what kind of rabbit hole you just went through. Here are three ideas on how to take action to build better habits.
Start with a cue
Continue with a system
Finish with a celebration
A good way of making habits consistent is connecting them to existing habits integrated into our lives. These can become our cues to do the habit we want to improve. I, for example, have started listening to affirmations, when I brush my teeth.
We have to learn to create systems that carry us towards our goals. For example, if you want to write, set a writing system. Have cues to let your brain know it is time to write.
Write!
The writing routine can be supported by setting a specific location, and time or reaching a certain word count. After a writing session, you should reward yourself.
James Clear suggests celebrating our habits each time we accomplish them so that the brain gets invested in the activity by releasing dopamine. The easiest way is the dopamine bombs of social media.
In a nutshell — Instagram after a writing session not before!
Learning to love the process is far more important than the end goal.
The process continues in your life even after the end goal.
The process is there for what it will make out of you each time you do it.
It is there for you to continue to hone your craft.
You have to learn to love the process.
It is only sometimes going to run smoothly.
We have to be gentle with ourselves — forgiving and kind.
And most importantly, we have to learn to be flexible.
A habit is something we want to build ideally for a longer time, and it is not always going to go as we wish, but that is no reason to give up.
Allow your ideas to connect with other people’s ideas
If it is not working be creative, and find other ways of reaching the same goal.
Get inspired. Read, watch YouTube videos, and listen to podcasts.
What are other people doing who are trying to reach the same goal as you?
Can you apply their methods?
How are their methods working out for you?
Find an environment with like-minded people who inspire you to foster your habit. Nowadays, this is so easily done via the internet. You can be in the comfort of your own home and simultaneously be inspired by ideas from people worldwide. Your ideas can be improved by the information you access via the net.
As Steve Johnson says “Chances favor the connected minds”. This means you can connect your idea with someone else’s and create even greater results. Your ideas need to collide with other ideas.
If you want to improve your habits, you must take action consistently. It is all about the process you create to reach the goal. The goal is only the orientation. It gives you direction. But most of it happens in between. So, learn to enjoy the ride and celebrate every small step.