How to build a good habit

“The only proper way to eliminate bad habits is to replace them with good ones.” Jerome Hines

When you try to change, you are full of enthusiasm and you are motivated by the pleasure of chasing what you want. However, no matter how badly you want to change, you will not get there just by motivation! Motivation fades gradually with time, so does your willpower. If motivation and willpower are not enough what should you do?

You have to commit to a strategy that can use your current abilities to become the person who you want to be. Today, I am going to help you to create your own strategy by following three steps. These techniques will help you to anchor any habit you want and by time, you will find yourself doing it not only without effort but also with joy and happiness.

Dream big, Do small

First, you have to set your goals; those goals should be the big picture of what you want to accomplish. Then, figure out the small actions that can lead you to achieve your big goals. Finally, start doing the smallest actions until it becomes a routine for you then you can take it to the next level.

For an example: Your big goal is to get in shape | small goal is to lose 5 pound in a month | small action is to run for 15 minutes in four times per week.

Small actions will make each day approachable and your goals more achievable.  What is also amazing about small actions, that you can easily track your progress, which is a great way to be more consistent (Today your read 10 pages in 15 minutes next week you read 15).  A big change often sets up subconscious resistance, but you can sneak a small change by it. When you begin achieving your mini goals, you will be also able to regenerate your motivation about the whole big dream.

Planning and triggers

Planning will help you to build a vision about the process that you need to go through for reaching your goal. By visualizing this process, you have to find a trigger for your new habit. A trigger is a link that lead you to do automatically something. In this case, your trigger must be a habit that already exist in your routine. For an example, you want to play piano, or you listen regularly to music in Sunday morning just after breakfast, listening to music is the trigger that you are looking for and your Sunday morning will be like this, wake up, eat breakfast, listen to music then practice the piano. When you get used to this routine, your trigger will reach another level and you will think about playing piano every time you listen to music. To stick to your planning you have to use a wall calendar where you can mark the actions that you did, this calendar will be a reminder for you and a way to track your progress.

Planning must also include resources that you need to ensure your success. For an example, if you want to read regularly, you have to buy books or a kindle.

Look for support

To make a change in your lifestyle it must be an enjoyable change. Try to find a friend to do your new habit with, reward yourself by a little thing when you respect your program or anything you can use to have fun while you are doing your routine.