James’ journal:
BUILDING HABITS
I’m always looking for inspiration and ways to keep good habits of the Sole Director role alive. Because, let’s be
honest, it can be hard to change. There will be mistakes and the occasional backslide. I noticed myself going back to
some old (less productive, but easier) ways when I read the article below. It gave me the kick I needed to keep forging
ahead and I hope it does the same for you.
- James
5 Scientific Ways to Build Habits That Stick
by Gregory Ciotti
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act,
but a habit.” Sobering words from Aristotle, and an astute
reminder that success doesn’t come overnight. On the contrary,
it’s discipline that gets you from Point A to the often elusive
Point B.
In our day-to-day lives, habits can often be tough to build, as
there are plenty of distractions that can lead us off the “straight
and narrow” and right back to our old ways. To alleviate some of
those troubles we can examine some academic research on
motivation, discipline, and habit building, and break down their
findings into actionable steps that any aspiring habit-builder can
put into place.
1. Make “micro quotas” and “macro
goals”
In a fascinating study on motivation, researchers found abstract
thinking to be an effective method to help with discipline. In the
most basic sense, “dreaming big” is pretty good advice after all.
And since a variety of research around the self determination
theory shows us that creating intrinsic motivators (being
motivated to do things internally, not through punishments or
rewards) is an essential process of building habits that stick, you
need to find a way to balance this desire to dream big with your
day-to-day activities, which often do not result in quick, dramatic
changes.
The answer is to create what I call “micro quotas” and ”macro
goals.” Your goals should be the big picture items that you wish
to someday accomplish, but your quotas, are the minimum
amounts of work that you must get done every single day to
make the bigger goal a reality. Quotas make each day
approachable, and your goals become achievable because of
this.
Writer/developer Nathan Barry has made for a great case study
of the use of these quotas as someone who forced himself to
write 1000 words per day come hell or high-water. The result
was three self-published books resulting in thousands of dollars
in sales.
2. Create behavior chains
Creating sticky habits is far easier when we
make use of our current routines, instead of
trying to fight them. The concept of if-then
planning is built around environmental “triggers”
that we can use to let us know that it’s time to
act on our habit. Also known implementation
intentions, this tactic involves picking a regular
part of your schedule and then building another
“link in the chain” by adding a new habit.
For instance, instead of “I will keep a cleaner
house,” you could aim for, “When I come home,
I’ll change my clothes and then clean my
room/office/kitchen.”
Multiple studies confirm this to be a successful
method to rely on contextual cues over
willpower. So the next time you decide to “eat
healthier,” instead try “If it is lunch time, Then I
will on HX]YX][