7 Things You Should Know Before You Start Any Habit
Habits are difficult to start — and even more difficult to sustain.
We use habits to improve our lives. But the truth is, they are effective only if we do them right. And after years of testing and learning about various habits for health and productivity, I have found that there are certain pieces of knowledge that make the process of establishing and maintaining habits much easier.
These are the seven things you ought to know about habits before you start implementing one.
1: Identity determines behavior
You are what you do — but more than anything, you do what you are.
Changing your behavior is easier when it is compatible with your core self. So, as habit expert Stephen Covey claims, you must identify yourself as the kind of person you want to be before you can become that person.
If you want to become healthier, see yourself as someone who is healthy. Stop putting counteractive labels on yourself. As long as you hold on to an undesired identity, positive change of behavior becomes much harder.
Be who you want to be so that you can do what you want to do.
2: Quality is better than quantity
It is better to have a few habits than to have many.
Firstly, the low number is much easier to control and commit yourself to. Secondly, having this limit incentivizes you to be more careful and purposeful when you select your habits. Later on, if you want to add more habits, you can do it once these current ones have become automatic actions.
Staying committed to a few high-quality habits is always more effective than struggling with a ton of them.
3: Successful habits start small
People quit their habits when they become too insurmountable.
The two-minute rule by James Clear offers a solution: start small and build from there. Turn your end goal into bite-sized chunks and begin with the smallest one first. You cannot reach the top of a staircase without taking each individual step along the way.
The most successful habits are those that stick, and their followers always proceed with patience.
4: Consistency is key
A habit dies when the routine around it dissolves.
Behaviors become habits only when they are repeated consistently. If you skip a habit once, it becomes harder to commit to it the next time around. Therefore, if a habit becomes too difficult to keep up with, adjust it and make it more digestible — but do not skip it.
Follow that famous principle: Do at least something.
5: Growth exists outside of comfort
Growth is a challenging thing because it requires you to step outside of your comfort zone.
Habits are, by default, behaviors that lead to growth. Remaining stagnant, therefore, is to remain passive. To counter this, Atomic Habits’ ten-percent rule says to increase the difficulty of a habit by 10% once it stops challenging you.
If you want to grow, you have to look outside of your little bubble.
6: Habits thrive in systems, not as goals
James Clear writes: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Goals exist without action, but systems make action necessary. Without systems, habits become nothing more than occasional actions towards a goal. So, choose a specific time of day to exercise each of your habits and watch as they become as natural as sleeping and eating.
Rise to your goals by falling along the current of correct systems.
7: Discipline is more important than motivation
You do not need motivation in order to follow your habits.
What leads to habits forming and staying is discipline, the constant decision of committing to our habits. You can only control your own behavior, never your moods or emotions. You will never succeed if you leave your success in something so unpredictable as the hands of motivation.
You are the one responsible for keeping up your habits.
Make it a habit of knowing so.
