Habit Building, Part 1

I LOVE HABITS!

So much, I’m presenting a three part series on habit building. All posts are inspired by the habit master, James Clear.

One of my favorite reads of the past few years was James Clear’s Atomic Habits. Numerous people in my ADAPT Functional Health Coaching sang the praises of this book. I read it and quickly became a disciple. Clear’s in-depth research around habit creation enables him to give the reader tools that exponentially increase one’s ability to successfully create a new habit. As long as the reader is willing to put in the time, they are bound to have triumph over starting or stopping a habit. Clear explains, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” Let’s dive into a few of the tools Clear shares for habit-building.

I.               IDENTITY

In determining what habit(s) you want to build, consider your own identity. James Clear teaches the principle of “Identity-based habits.” People may say they want to quit smoking, but the true goal is to become a non-smoker.

The goal is not to become a person who ate a meal intuitively, the goal is to become an intuitive eater. The goal is not to win a competition, but to become a person who practices every day. The goal is not to occasionally practice meditation or yoga, but to become an enlightened being through these regular practices over t  i  m  e.

Habits shape your identity over time. Start by focusing on who you want to become.

II.              TWO-MINUTE RULE

Clear says to start by instituting the “two-minute rule” to build your habit. This means your first step to creating a habit should take no longer than 2 minutes. For example:

-       Running a 5k starts with lacing up your running shoes each day.

-       Becoming a meditator starts with sitting still 2 minutes.

-       Being a better spouse starts with making your honey some tea each day.

Just make it as easy as possible to get started. This allows you to open up space so you can grow. First a habit must be established, then it can grow.

III.             IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION

Clear also shares that scientists have found that if you use an “implementation intention,” you are more likely to have success in forming habits.

Use this formula to create an implementation intention:

I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].

A few examples are:

-       I will do 25 burpees at 6am in my bedroom when I wake up.

-       I will do meditate at 8:30pm in my closet before bed.

-       I will read non-fiction at 7am on the couch while I have coffee.

-       I will make my bed as soon as I get out of it each morning.

You get the idea. When you tie the desired behavior to a specific time and location, your odds of successfully building this habit increases exponentially.

To summarize these first 3 points:

1.     Think about WHO you want to become to determine what habits you want to build.

2.     Create the easiest possible habit to implement in under 2 minutes to begin to establish your new routine.

3.     Use the implementation intention formula to connect a time and place to your new habit to increase your odds of success.

What habit do you want to create? What do you think is your very first step?