The right habits help us become the person we want to be because we create routines and habits to sustain us. These habits increase our overall quality of life and influence people around us. With the right habits, we are more efficient, effective, and strategic about our intentions and actions that lead us toward our goals. We are more likely to achieve our goals with better habits!
WHO DO I WANT TO BE IN 2022? If you envision yourself as already becoming this person, what new habits did you build? Which habits did you ditch to get here?
Yes, I want you to start with the end in mind. Begin at the end of this energizing successful year you had. The one where you grew personally and professionally and became the person you aspired to be. Now, work your way back to identify the mindset and actionable steps that got you here. When you begin with the end in mind you gain clarity on what you need to do or change.
Think about how you would go about solving a maze to avoid reaching the dead ends and wrong turns as we look for pathways to our destination. What if we solved the maze by starting from the endpoint and then traced the path back to identify the best beginning steps of the maze journey?
So now that Q1 is now in the rearview, what habit have you added, changed, or ditched? Did you make a resolution to change something in your life? Is it harder than you thought? Do you feel like you are following all of the advice you can find on habits, but you are still struggling to make changes?
Do you know why? In order to add build a good new habit you might have to ditch a bad one, or change your routine or your way of doing things. The hard part is CHANGE. Nobody likes to change. It’s uncomfortable . . . unfamiliar . . . messy. What if we could make it neat, more predictable, more comfortable?
Let’s begin by reviewing the #1 common habit-building myth:Myth: “It takes 21 days to build a new habit.” The best estimate is actually 66 days–more or less depending on who you are and what you are trying to do.
The people who have mastered areas in their lives regarding their health, careers, and relationships have done so by mastering their habits. However, it does require intention and work.I recommend building new habits using the 3 STEP HABIT LOOP:
The 3 R’s of Habit Change
Every habit you have — good or bad — follows the same 3–step pattern:
- Reminder: The trigger or cue that initiates the new behavior.
An example could be as simple as I want to drink 8 oz of water when I wake up each morning before my coffee. The cue could be after I brush my teeth, I drink 8 oz of water. (This was one of my tiny new habits added for 2022.) It was an easy new healthy habit to take on and repeat daily and now it has become a habit. - Routine: The behavior itself that you are trying to develop; the action you take.
This could be physical, emotional, or mental.
Drinking 8 oz of water started my day off being healthy and kept me moving on in my next new morning routine for 2022: Prayer and meditation time before beginning my work–my next new tiny habit for 2022. (As you can see, I believe in creating tiny new habits that I can manage on a daily basis . . . all leading to a bigger goal of living a healthy life from the inside out for 2022.) - Reward: The benefit you gain from doing the behavior.
This can be as simple as rewarding yourself each day with an “Awesome” or pat on the back. After 2 weeks, maybe something more. And after 66 days, book a massage or take a walk on a beautiful day to reward yourself for working on getting healthier, building tiny new habits, and ditching one or two tiny unhealthy habits.
I learned about the process of habit formation from Charles Duhigg’s best–selling book, The Power of Habit (audiobook).
What’s holding you back? Procrastination? Fear of failing or of looking ridiculous? Maybe it’s you holding you back. Are you your own worst enemy? If self-sabotage is your modus operandi, stay tuned for next month’s blog where I’ll discuss the findings of author/speaker Shirzad Chamine regarding typical ways we sabotage our best efforts.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to get a plan in place to begin your journey to forming new habits or clarify what changes you absolutely want to make in 2022, use this link to schedule a 15-minute laser-focused call with me to identify two new tiny habits or two bigger habits you want to build in 2022, identify how you will hold yourself accountable and utilize a habit tracker to make sure you have intentional daily action steps to measure yourself getting there!
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found In your daily routine” ~John C Maxwell