Failing to execute on the habits that you’ve committed to is the single biggest cause of failure for most people. But the good news is that you can build a habit of being more consistent with the small decisions you make every day. The key is to build a system that works for you, and that’s what this guide is all about.
I’ll help you identify the small decisions you can make every day that will have the largest impact, and show you how to build a system that works for you so you can start becoming more consistent with those habits in 2022.
There are a lot of things we want to be more consistent within our lives. We want to exercise more. We want to spend more time with friends and family. We want to work fewer hours.
Most of us have habits that we’d like to become more consistent with. Whether it’s exercise, studying, or spending time with friends, we’d all like to be more consistent with our habits.
The problem is that our lives get in the way of our goals, and we find ourselves starting and stopping our habits over and over again. But with a few simple tweaks, you can build a habit support system that makes it easier to be consistent with your goals.
1. Form realistic micro habits
Although it is important to have large dreams, it is also important to start modest.
Micro habits are little parts of a bigger habit.
Do you intend to read more books this year?
Rather than committing to 30 minutes of reading each day, begin with 5 minutes per day.
When you believe “that’s so incredibly little, it’s not worth doing,” you’ve reached the level of a micro habit.
Combining your new micro habit (for example, performing five lunges per day) with an already established daily action (for example, brushing your teeth), you automatically adopt them into your routine.
3. Use positive emotions to help you wire new behaviors.
When you successfully do a behavior, your brain produces neurochemicals that make you feel happy.
That powerful positive reaction aids in the formation of the habit.
Celebrating or praising your accomplishments might help to make the process more pleasurable.
The key to building a system that works for you is to find small decisions that you can make every day that will have the largest impact. The small decisions that you make every day are what ultimately build habits that last. The key is to find decisions that will require the smallest amount of effort and that you’re most likely to be consistent with. Your system doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to take a long time to implement.