{"id":26538,"date":"2014-07-03T21:02:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-04T05:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=26538"},"modified":"2014-07-07T22:53:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T06:53:26","slug":"habit-formation-works-even-youre-lazy-forgetful-motivated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/habit-formation-works-even-youre-lazy-forgetful-motivated\/","title":{"rendered":"Habit Formation that Works even if You\u2019re Lazy, Forgetful and Not Motivated"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

July is here! How are your New Year\u2019s resolutions coming along?<\/p>\n

Millions of people vow to change themselves for the better every New Year. After a few days of trying, most people fail and lose track after a few weeks\u2014even if these are the same habits they listed last year.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself, how many times have you promised to meditate, write a journal, exercise and eat healthy? Trying harder isn\u2019t the solution. You\u2019re failing not because you\u2019re bad at forming new habits; you just haven\u2019t found the right way to do it yet.<\/p>\n

How to Create Habits that Stick for Life<\/b><\/p>\n

The I-Really-Really-Want-it Test <\/b><\/p>\n

Too often, people vow to start working on their habits without stopping to think about what they really want. So you want to start writing a journal? Okay, fine. But why does it matter so much to you?<\/p>\n

It has to be something you want to do, not just some \u2018nice-to-do\u2019 activity you picked up from a friend. Keeping-up with the Jones\u2019s is definitely not a good idea for choosing which habits to take on. \u00a0Choose something that excites you. If you\u2019re not willing to lose sleep and sacrifice a few pleasures in exchange for it, then it\u2019s not going to work.<\/p>\n

Create a Specific Habit with a Specific Routine<\/b>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t choose new habits like \u201cExercise more\u201d or \u201ceat more fruits and veggies.\u201d While those are good intents, they\u2019re not clear enough for the brain to incorporate it as routine in your day-to-day life. Charles Duhigg<\/a>, author of The Power of Habit, says \u201ca habit has 3 parts: a trigger, an action and a reward.\u201d The above mentioned habits have neither of the three, so it has to be refined.<\/p>\n

Stanford Psychologist and creator of Tiny Habits<\/a> program, BJ Fogg has a good formula for this: \u201cAfter X (Routine), I will Y (habit or action) then I will reward myself with Z.\u201d In the example above, we can transform the vague \u2018exercise more\u2019 into a clear and actionable habit: \u201cAfter having dinner, I will walk around the block for 15 minutes then reward myself with 1 game of Plants vs. Zombies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bet Against Yourself<\/b><\/p>\n

What if you still can\u2019t change despite taking time to choose a specific habit you\u2019re really serious about?<\/p>\n

Clearly you need a stronger motivation to act. Situations like this call for stringent measures, like pledging to pay $5 if you fail. Services like Beeminder.com<\/a> and Stikk.com<\/a> are perfect for procrastinators and rationalists who can argue themselves out of doing anything.<\/p>\n

Just sign up for a free account, enter the habit you want to create and set the frequency of your target habit. If you fail to follow through, they\u2019ll charge your account. It\u2019s simple and frightening enough to get you moving.<\/p>\n

Avoid multi-tasking<\/b><\/p>\n

Multi-tasking is one of the greatest misconceptions about productivity and habit creation.\u00a0 Early this year, I overheard a woman talking to a friend about her goals. She wanted to get a promotion, quit smoking, lose 10 pounds and pay up her credit card bills.<\/p>\n

Whoa. Does she have more than 24 hours a day? Obviously not.\u00a0 If you try to take on too many habits at once, you\u2019ll lose track of your progress. You might even get discouraged trying to achieve too many things at once. Keep things simple by working on one habit at a time. Once the habit becomes a part of your everyday routine, you can move on to the next one in your list.<\/p>\n

Do you have any habits you want to develop? Try these tips now.<\/p>\n

Photo credits: Gwyneth Flickr Creative Commons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re failing not because you\u2019re bad at forming new habits; you just haven\u2019t found the right way to do it yet. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":26539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[17,30,21,6],"tags":[114,558,116,3715,1745,66,3637],"yoast_head":"\nHabit Formation that Works even if You\u2019re Lazy, Forgetful and Not Motivated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re not willing to lose sleep and sacrifice a few pleasures in exchange for it, then it\u2019s not going to work. 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