02 - Five methods to make your habits stick
Building and keeping habits is hard. 'Nuff said! Here's 5 methods to make it easier.
Habits are like actions that are a vote or a degree toward the person you want to become. But, surprise, surprise, building and keeping good habits is hard. Building habits require consistency to see the outcome — may be weeks or months later. But, if you stick with it, every time you complete your habit is a step towards your best self and the rewards are ever so great.
Learning from my fair share of building and losing habits, here are 5 methods to make your habits stick. Tried, true, and tested.
1. Establish an entry point
Author James Clear says that habits are actually the entry points and not the endpoints.
There’s a story of a dancer, Twyla Tharp. Twyla dances every day to this day (age 81). Her habit is not to dance, but to put on her workout clothes and haul a cab. Putting on her workout clothes and hauling a cab is the entry point to dancing. If she’s done this, she’s already completed her habit. Dancing is simply the happy end result.
For me, I want to practice yoga regularly. I made it a habit to just turn on a yoga video because if I turn on a yoga video, chances are I’m going to follow the moves. This small entry point is how I show up and make a step toward the person I want to become.
One way of establishing an entry point is habit stacking. James Clear created this method - the idea of stacking new habits with old habits. It creates a chain. An example of this is - stacking 5 pushups every day with brushing your teeth.
2. Be imperfect
When building a new habit, a lot of people start out strong. But, after missing a day, falling off the wagon, or not completing the habit 100%, some people give up. But, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. People are inherently creatures of habits - when we have a usual sequence of events throughout the day, incorporating something new takes time.
Again, the theme here is that each day you do your habit is each step towards your best self. So, don’t strive to be perfect, just strive to one day be consistent.
Some practical ways to put this to the test are methods like streaks or consistency charts. For streaks, see how many days you can stay consistent. For consistency charts, grab a simple calendar and mark each day you’ve done your habit.
3. Use a visual cue
The Paper Clip method started from a true story about a 23-year-old stockbroker named Trent Dyrsmid. He started each morning with 2 jars on his desk. One jar was filled with 120 paper clips and the other jar was empty. Every morning, he started his day making sales calls. Every sale call equaled a paper clip moved. He wouldn’t stop until he moved all 120 paper clips. The power of this habit led to Dyrsmid bringing $5 million into the firm he worked for.
The power of this strategy is the visual cue. If you want to do 5 pushups, try moving 5 paper clips in a jar. If you want to cook more regularly, try separating all the ingredients in your fridge the day before.
4. Start small
If you find your habit intimidating, try starting small. For example, if you want to run a marathon, try starting by running a mile. Say you want to lose weight, start by shedding the first 5 pounds. Say you want to build a business, start with the MVP.
Even if your step is small, there are 2 fundamental truths to remember:
Small steps add up to big steps.
Even when you take small steps, you act in alignment with who you want to be.
5. Celebrate all your wins
Since building positive habits leads to long-term rewards, it’s important to celebrate your wins - every single win! When you’ve completed your habit:
Pat yourself on the back
Celebrate with your favorite meal or your favorite treat.
Take a picture of your success (and record it on Journaleo 😁)
Celebrate your win with anything (as long as it’s good for you and safe for others…) that will let you know you’ve done a good job. This will help you keep up the momentum and leave you with positive spirits for the next day.
Best of luck with your habits! If I could pick the most helpful tip in my life, I’d pick #1. Most of building habits is you vs. you. As long as you show up, you’ve already won the battle. If you’re interested in learning more, I highly suggest reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. A lot of these tips came from his work and research.
If you liked what you read, consider sharing it with a friend! If you want to connect more, let’s connect on Twitter.
See you next time. 😄
Want to record each time you’ve completed your habit? Check out Journaleo. Journaleo is a visual goal diary to help you keep track of your progress and celebrate all your milestones.
