How To Form A Habit In 21 Days.

Think about the last time you had to stop smoking or lose weight- it was hard, right? It seems like good habits are so difficult to form and so easy to break. What if you knew that to form a habit, there were ways to make them stick? This blog post will provide strategies for developing good habits and making them stick so that they can be part of your life for the long haul. Let’s get started!

Good habits can be hard to develop and even harder to make stick. But you don’t have to be the person who never sticks with anything for long! There are some simple strategies you can use to get good habits on track and make them last. 

You should start small. Take it slow

It is easier to start and maintain a habit by starting small. Instead of trying to do 30 minutes of exercise every day, try 3 days a week instead – that’s only 15 minutes per day! It will feel less daunting at first, which means it’ll likely stay easier later on too.  

Learn what makes you vulnerable.

Learn what causes you to make bad choices. It is critical to identify the factors behind your habitual behaviors before trying to change them.

Track your habit for at least a few days to determine whether it follows any particular pattern.

• Where does the habitual behavior occur?
• When?
• How does it affect you?
• Does it affect others as well?
• Is it triggered by another event?

For example, say you want to stop staying up late at night. When you track your behavior over a few days, you realize that you tend to stay awake past midnight if you start watching Netflix shows on your laptop. But when you shut your laptop down, you sleep earlier.

Every evening, you decide to switch off your laptop at 10:30 p.m. daily. When watching Netflix shows is removed as a factor, staying up too late becomes harder.

Determine your motivation to form a habit.

How do you want to change? You may be more willing to change your behavior if the change you want to make is valuable to you.

Think about why you want to stop the habit and whether or not it will result in any benefits for you. Adding these reasons to your list might inspire you to think of a few you hadn’t considered.

Identify the reasons behind the execution and put them on paper. Make sure they are visible, perhaps near the place where the implementation will take place. This will help you remember the changes you’re trying to make. The list will keep you motivated if you fall back into old habits.

Take some time to understand precisely what is holding you back.

Successful people know exactly what is holding them back.

Suppose you do not like reading at all, or you indulge in binge eating a lot. In most cases, you aren’t doomed to fail in those areas. Instead of summarizing your habits as a whole, consider what is preventing you from becoming consistent.

By identifying the specific parts of the process that hold you back, you can develop a solution.

Set a cue that creates a craving

To set into motion the entire habit cycle, cues produce a desire. In your life, you might recognize specific signals that evoke unhealthy cravings. Imagine you’re walking through a fragrance store, and suddenly you’re dreaming about your favorite perfume.

When you’re working and experience a burnout, you spend half an hour browsing Instagram to distract yourself.

Luckily, we can turn cravings into good habits. You can, for instance, leave your gym clothes by your bed as a cue if you would like to develop a morning gym routine.

After doing this for a while, the very sight of your outfit will immediately create a craving in your brain, which helps you commence an intense workout. Gym sessions will soon become as natural as brushing your teeth.

Start with minor adjustments.

Some people have a one-day-a-week mindset that isn’t sustainable. Making gradual positive changes is more effective than striving to fix everything immediately. It allows your mind to process these gradual changes correctly.

It doesn’t make sense to purchase a programming tutorial and watch it overnight to become the best coder.

The reason is the fact that to develop a new habit, you will need hard work, determination, willpower, interest, and practice; if you try to do it all overnight, you are more than likely to give up on it. You should begin small, so don’t try to accomplish too much at once.

Decide and commit

Even though it sounds easy, it is actually quite tricky. You can commit to a specific task by devoting your time and energy passionately instead of only making yourself a promise to achieve something.

When you practice good habits consistently, the chances of success are significantly increased. There are some obstacles, of course. As they come and go, you will have to remain steadfast to manage everything with a positive attitude. Be sure to keep your focus on your main objective, making that good habit a part of your life.

Think about what’s stopping you and overcome it

A bad habit can sometimes be hard to adopt because of all the things that make it a challenge to practice. Finding out what’s holding you back makes coming up with a solution to those problems quickly.

Let’s say you want to learn to draw to enhance your painting hobby, but the drawing class is quite far from your home. It would be easier to practice drawing after you have brought some essential drawing gear to your house, such as paint, canvas, or sketchbooks, instead of making reasons about not being able to do it.

Reward yourself

Whatever you do, reward yourself for sticking with your habit. Whether it’s your morning routine or reaching your daily goal, make sure to give yourself some credit!

Just like dieting and exercise can be challenging in our society of overindulgence, keeping your mental health in check can be challenging at times. I’ve found that many things have helped me develop good habits and keep them going strong – from rewarding myself to not comparing my life to others on social media.

You may find these tips helpful, too, if you’re looking for ways to build up healthy habits this year! What did you think about this blog post? Do let us know by commenting below.