Habit Forming
Habit Forming - the Good the Bad and the Ugly!
I ended my last blog by saying
If you change your thinking, you change your life.
Well equally, it can be said
If you change your habits, you change your life.
I cannot stress enough how important this is ...
and how, if you can master this, you put yourself up there with the great achievers.
It's that simple! You know this, right?
So what's the secret? Well according to Mell Robbins in her book The Five Second Rule (one of my favourite reads by the way) ...
‘Throughout your life, you've had parents, coaches, teachers, friends and mentors who have pushed you to be better than your excuses and bigger than your fears. What if the secret to having the confidence and courage to enrich your life and work is simply knowing "how" to push yourself?’
Using the science of habits [...] Mel Robbins will explain the power of a push moment.
The secret isn't knowing what to do, it's knowing how to make yourself do it.
In fact this was the subject of one of my earlier blogs The 5 Second Rule Go ahead and have a read (but don't forget to come back;-)
So how long does it take for something to become a habit?
Despite all the myths around how many days it takes to form a habit, 21, 30, 2 months etc., it is generally defined as a routine of behaviours practiced frequently and often subconsciously, carried out 'habitually' and often automatically.
Is there a benefit to this?
There is if you think of it this way;
the more you can handle without thinking, the more you're free to focus on other areas
which, by definition, helps to unburden our mind.
Sounds Good but what about the Bad and the Ugly?
Yes there will always be those bad habits that we wish we didn't 'fall into'.
We hear so much about habits associated with:
self-addiction
self-compulsion
self-gratification
but most importantly, we need to focus more intentionally on our self-care habits.
As we begin a new financial year, it's important to take a fresh look at our circumstances, our thinking; our attitudes and our routines, both personal and professional.
We need to prioritise self-care habits to ensure that we are in the best possible mental and physical health.
Habits are Good then?
My intention here is to introduce you to the science behind habit-forming and and provide practical tips for building healthy habits and boosting your wellbeing.
Habits, good and bad, can greatly impact your life.
There is so much written about this that it can not possibly all be covered in this blog, so I'm going to make another book recommendation and it is one of my most 'go to' books, the sub-title of which is 'An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones'. I couldn't put it better myself, so here you go:
Transform your life with tiny changes, starting now.
'People think that if you want to change your life, you have to think big, but world renowned expert James Clear has found another way'. He knows that 'real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions: doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early ...'
He calls them atomic habits.
These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.
That's what we're all after surely, PROGRESS!
You'll love his chapter on what progress is really like.
My favourite analogy in the book is the Ice-Cube analogy:
'Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you.
The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up.
Twenty-six degrees.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-eight.
The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you.
Twenty-nine degrees.
Thirty.
Thirty-one.
Still, nothing has happened.
Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt. A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge change.
Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.
This pattern shows up everywhere.'
Developing healthy habits is key to achieving your wellness goals
In my opinion, good habit formation is closely aligned with self-care strategies, such as intentional time-management, organisational skills, reflection, along with meditation, exercise, and healthy eating.
In our next blog,
Let's look at building healthy habits and how to make time for them in your busy schedule.
In the meantime you can find out more by visiting
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