How to create new habits

If you’re familiar with new year resolutions, it’s likely that you’ve had experience trying to implement new habits. It’s also likely that you’ve experienced failure trying to implement these new habits, but is there a way to make it easier?

To create a strong habit, you need to be aware of multiple things:

1. A cue
2. A routine
3. A reward
4. Belief

Firstly, you need to become fully aware of the bad habit you want to change. For instance, when you get home from work you might have dinner, then end up sat on the sofa watching TV for 3 hours. The cue is finishing dinner, the routine is walking over to the sofa and watching the TV, and the reward might be the feelings of comfort and relaxation. For some people however, this may turn into guilt the next day.

So how do you change this process? It’s all about preparing for the cue, you know that straight after dinner, you’re going to crave settling into that nice comfy sofa and not moving for the remainder of the evening. You need to find a way of using this cue to create a new routine.

For example, a good friend of mine used to get changed into her exercise clothing before she cooked dinner, so as soon as she was finished, she knew it was time to leave for the gym. It’s important to find your own way to use the cue to disrupt the old routine.  
  
When the routine is finished (getting back from the gym) it’s important that it results in a reward, which might just be the release of endorphins and feeling good, or it could be watching TV for an hour guilt free.

It’s important to mention, that though it sounds simple, it will take a whole lot of effort and you will almost definitely have moments of weakness.
That’s where the fourth point comes in. Belief. Having the belief that you can create the habit in the first place. Having the belief that even when you’re having an off day, you can get back on track. Having belief that though its hard and its takes time and effort, you can achieve it and make exercise a habitual part of your life.

If you’ve got any questions, leave a comment or drop me a message.

As mentioned previously, if you’re interested in behaviour change and habits then ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg is super interesting, and the source of most of this blog post.