How do we stick to new habits?
It’s always a refreshing feeling to start the year, we all feel this is going to be a better one. Many make a list of resolutions for the new year and even work on vision boards. How do you make the changes necessary, especially modifying behaviors?
I was reading this past week the magazine Living by Martha Stewart and there was an interesting article on this topic. According to the research of How to Change, by Katy Milkman, it doesn’t take 21 days for a new behavior to stick, she says the more complex the practice, the longer it takes. Her real secret is carving out space in your life for an activity that makes it doable, possible, easy and giving yourself permission to revise your plans along the way. Breaking it down.
Ronda Kaysen, the author of this article, divides it into 7 steps.
- First – Think Strategically, the biggest mistake is to try to motivate yourself in something abstract. The author of Tiny Habits – BJ Fogg, list activities that will help you achieve the big goal.
- Second – Set the bar low, she made the example if you want to read before going to bed to decompress and sleep better, she says, “Make baby step commitments, read a page a night”.
- Third – Sweeten the Deal, implement an incentive plan, if you have a favorite crime podcast use it for prep time of cooking (goal is to have less takeout and to cook more). This is the Mary Poppins effect, “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” for adults not just kids.).
- Fourth – Be the Change, research has found that our deeply rooted habits are primarily controlled by a part of our brain called the basal ganglia, where we develop emotions, memories, and pattern recognition automatically. Your brain will register your habits, make a mind shift on the way you call any of your activities. For example, you do not swim laps, you are a swimmer, or you do not do yard work on weekends, so you are a gardener.
- Fifth – Feed a Passion, “Things you don’t want to do almost never become habits”, says Fogg. For example, if you need to reduce cholesterol, that means reducing the amount of red meat you are eating and turning every meal into a “Mediterranean vacation”!
- Sixth – Build it in, harness the power of planning – put reminders in your calendar and digital alerts. For example, before going to bed, put the vitamins in a beautiful dish next morning it will bring a smile to you and remind you of the vitamins.
- Seventh – Trade up, “Life shifts and so should our habits,” says Fogg, “End that habit and find new means”.
Ruth García-Corrales
NEW-WBC, Program Director
