Let’s get one thing straight
The process of taking an idea such as a New Year’s Resolution and implementing it out of motivation is essentially falsehood.
“I’m going to start hitting the gym x3 a week”, “Carbs are out of my diet today, and I’ll stop drinking so much beer and soda.” — Have you personally ever noticed yourself saying similar sayings at the start of a new season or after watching an inspirational video?
You’re not alone. These thoughts come to us almost naturally when we see needed change in our routines and lives. But the problem is not motivation, it’s habitual.
See our bodies are designed to become increasingly good at repetitive behaviors that we train into our actions on a daily basis. According to the Harvard Business Review, about 40-45% of what we perceive to be decisions we make are actually habits themselves.
With the way and wiring of the brain, behaviors and our thoughts begin at the front of the brain in the Pre-Frontal Cortex, but, as they begin to move farther back in the brain into the basal ganglia that’s where the automatic habits begin to take control.
The essentials formula to habits:
Cue > Routine > Reward
Just like something as ingrained as brushing your teeth before bed, taking the grime from your teeth and making way for a fresh minty taste and tingle of cleanliness sensation, has been trained into your daily routine (hopefully for the sake of those around you). So can you train other good routines into your already existing daily framework.
Teeth feel slimy > Brush teeth > Feel minty fresh
Habit Chaining
Why spend an excessive amount of mental and physical energy trying to change something rapidly and against the flow that it becomes a chore? My idea on this takes a different approach, take an already existing Cue and Reward, and incorporate a “chained” routine in between the two.
Let’s take one of my favorite examples:
Feel sweaty and tired after a day of work > Do Some Pushups > Shower and feel refreshed and clean
Odds are you’re already going to shower at the end of the day (or morning if that’s your rhythm) why not add some extra health benefits, then wash all that perspiration away with a clearer more focused mind?
My Personal Experience
I began doing pushups a number of years ago, and I began small. Doing 5-10 before each shower (the point is to pick something achievable, even if it's simply two). Then I aimed higher allowings for nothing less than 50+ or I wouldn't give myself permission to shower. It wasn’t some giant leap, it was intentional daily actions that accumulated over time. Start small and build from there. (Since then I've build up to 2hrs in the gym 5 days a week. This was for sure not an overnight change! This is something that only becomes possible long term with habits, not to mention increasingly easier as well.)
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— Tyler Jennings Coatsworth
