Anyways, this took me back to so many times I’ve tried to incorporate better, healthier, more productive habits into my life but none of them really stuck around to this day. Well, there is actually one – making my bed first thing in the morning. It was something I rarely did most of my life and on one of my “life changing” moments of inspiration where I would make all those lists of things to do suggested by the people on the Internet, I actually had to write it down every day and tick it off. Somehow, over the many years now, it became almost automatic thing I do without even thinking about it. One thing I noticed I also do after getting up and making my bed is opening the blinds on my window to get some light, not for myself but for my plants, lol. So I’ve been doing this for a few months now or ever since I got my plants.
So I got curious to find out why that one worked. The only explanation that makes sense to me is the “trigger” habit that can be connected to anything really. The idea is to take something that you’re already doing (a good habit) and link a new (good) habit you would like to incorporate into your life that can go hand in hand with the first one. Since waking up and getting up is something I am obviously doing every day, it triggers the making the bed part which then leads me to open my blinds. In the perfect world, this habit stacking would continue and it would build a perfect morning routine. I do believe that mornings have a big impact on the mood of our entire day so starting my day doing these small habits would probably set me off to a more productive day. Anyway, this all came to my mind after watching one of the Thomas Frank’s videos where he said he put a pull-up bar over his office doors so every time he wants to enter the office he “had” to do 5 pull-ups. Another example he gave was putting his phone under the coffee table in his living room so when the alarm rings in the morning, he had to get up, go to the living room, go on all fours to reach his phone and while he was already in that position, he would do (at least) 5 push-ups. It might sound silly, but I think it’s a great way to trick our brain and make things easier to achieve.
Now, if you’re someone who can easily change habits and has a better determination, will-power, self-control, you probably can skip these silly tricks. But if you’re anything like me, a person who is a pro-procrastinator with more bad habits than good ones and you’ve tried a few different approaches to change this but nothing really worked, you might want to give this method a try.
Some other tips and tricks I learned from watching these videos (pick whatever resonates with you):
Change the way you’re thinking about yourself and your identity:
example - if you identify working out with someone who is in great shape, ripped and does crazy workouts, you are most likely to give up on working out because you are not that type of person and therefor you don’t identify with it. On the other side, if you identify working out with someone who is active, wants to improve their health and shape, you are more likely to think “that’s me” and do it. It's another brain trick that could work so I suggest to take a moment to think about who you identify yourself with. This might take some time to settle in but I think it's worth it.Change your environment:
if you’re someone who eats way too many snacks or sweets and you want to change that, make sure you don’t keep unhealthy foods in your home. Instead, replace the craving with a healthier option. This month I am doing a little bit of a Social media detox (mainly Instagram) so I logged out and deleted the app from my phone so it’s much harder for me to check Instagram which I started automatically doing each time I reach for my phone even when I initially took my phone to check something else (yes, it was that bad).Don’t rely too much on motivation:
we all get that wave of crazy motivation every now and then where we feel like we could change our lives upside down overnight – I’ve been there so many times, but chances are the wave will go the same way it came. And I do think that a small boost of motivation is good sometimes but at the end of the day, it goes something like this:“Motivation is your overall level of desire to do something whereas discipline is your ability to do it regardless of how you feel.” – Thomas Frank.
I personally lack in the discipline compartment big time but what I’ve learned about myself over the years is that the hardest thing for me is actually starting something – a study session, a workout session… I remember so many times I was lazy to catch a bus and go to a workout class to that point I would almost force myself but the moment workout class starts, I’m so into it and at the end of it I would feel amazing! I guess that first, initial moment is what starts and keeps the flow but taking that first step is so damn hard sometimes. And that's where discipline kicks in!
Know why you’re doing it, enjoy the process and find the pleasure in the activity itself:
the picture of our "perfect selves" can feel really intimidating and it could also feel so far away that thinking about it brings some sort of anxiety or doubt. I guess we all need some sense of direction or a goal to aim towards but a lot of times focusing on that prevents us from enjoying the journey of getting there. So focusing on what we can do today, things we can improve here and now, in this given moment seems like a lot more managable task.Every habit/action has a “reward” behind it:
this one was very clear to me last year when I, due to certain health issues, stopped drinking coffee “cold turkey” and I didn’t have coffee at all for three months almost. At that point I was really scared for my health and even though doctor told me that coffee has nothing to do with it, I noticed that it bothered me and I stuck to my decision. As someone who was drinking coffee for more than 10 years and had 2-3 coffee’s a day at that point, it was a drastic change and I always thought of myself as a coffee addict. But it actually wasn’t that hard to quit because the habit I was more addicted to was the comfort and chill morning time after waking up and taking that time for myself before starting my day. Since it was almost summer time, I replaced my coffee with simply drinking one or two glasses of water. And yes, I got back into drinking coffee and it’s getting a little bit out of control again so guess what is coming? Haha.
Start small and stay true to your lifestyle/abilities:
I already mentioned the motivation wave that makes you wanna change everything at once but taking baby steps and building good habits on top of each other will probably be more sustainable on the long run. Also make sure to adjust it to your lifestyle, I often get into the rabbit hole of YouTube videos that give you all these things “you have to do” but we all just need to be realistic and figure out what works best for ourselves.Keep track of your progress:
you can do it pen and paper style or on any device you prefer since there’s so many apps on this topic. If you are that type of person who finds odd satisfaction in ticking or crossing things off of your to-do list/habit tracker, then this one is for you. In one of the videos I was watching today, I came across the new method I want to try out so I'll make a post dedicated to it.Have fun with it:
last month I started something new for me – focus of the month and the idea is to pick one thing to focus on each month that could improve your life in any way. For January I picked reading and this month it’s Social media detox. One month gives me enough time to see how it fits my lifestyle, how it improves my physical or mental health etc. I don’t have to do it every single day but I do try to do it as much as I can. When it comes to reading, for exapmle, the main focus is not to read 10 books in that month but to read a little bit as consistent as I can – sometimes it’s even 15 minutes before bed. Next month I think I’m going to chose stretching since the previous ones didn’t include anything physical and I really need to move more.
I feel like there's even more I could write about this topic but since this post is long enough, I'll make a follow up post with a habit tracking experiment I want to try out. I hope this post was somewhat useful and informative. Any additional tips, tricks or opinions are welcomed. Thank you so much for reading and I wish you a great day!
