The Language Of Motivation (Completed)

Chapter 32: Developing new habits

Habits are said to be one of the hardest thing to let go of especially when you do it so often. Sometimes as human being, we tend to develop more bad habits than good, and for some reason 85% of the world's population enjoys doing it. Our brain is a very intriguingly brilliant organ in our body, well I'm sure we all know that by now that the brain works as the engine for our body. The human body and a vehicle are quite similar. Maybe most of us will know that if we owns a vehicle that works from a 90 octane rating fuel, there is no way we can change the fuel type for that vehicle to E87, for the octane rating for one vehicle is normally higher than the other. Why? The vehicle is used to the habit of running on a 90 octane rating, for that octane rating was introduced by the owner from the beginning, so trying to change the octane rating of the car would be very hard because it will instantly sends signal to the engine saying, hey, I'm not use to this type of fuel in me, I won't work. The human body works the same. You the owner of the body have introduced waking up 5am every morning. If you try changing that habit of waking up at 6am, it would be the hardest thing to do regardless of the fact that it is only one hour apart. The brain is used to 5am, 6am would come as an alien to it, so it won't work. Now where developing new habits comes in, it is hard to do, but it is possible. Wouldn't it be nice to have everything run on autopilot? Chores, exercise, eating healthy and getting your work done just happening automatically. Unless they manage to invent robot servants, all your work isn't going to disappear overnight. But if you program behaviors as new habits you can take out the struggle. With a small amount of initial discipline, you can create a new habit that requires little effort to maintain. First you have to be committed for at least three weeks. Three to four weeks is all the time you need to make a habit automatic. If you can make it through the initial conditioning phase, it becomes much easier to sustain. A month is a good block of time to commit to a change since it easily fits in your calendar. Secondly, you have to make it daily. Consistency is critical if you want to make a habit stick. If you want to start exercising, go to the gym every day for your first thirty days. Going a couple times a week will make it harder to form the habit. Activities you do once every few days are trickier to lock in as habits. Also, you have to start simple. Often time we try to change our lifestyle in one day. No that won't work. Don't try to completely change your life in one day. It is easy to get over-motivated and take on too much. If you wanted to study two hours a day, first make the habit to go for thirty minutes and build on that. When you do that, it becomes much easier. Developing new habits also works when you use the word, "BUT". Now I know it sounds crazy. Most of us aren't so good at being positive in being consistent to something. When you start to think negative thoughts, use the word "but" to interrupt it. "I'm no good at this, but, if I work at it I might get better later." "There's no way I would be able to start waking up at 6am, but, if I try it again tomorrow maybe I will get it this time." It's all about being consistent and disciplined. Habits aren't normally the best thing to change about one's self, but if we are willing to change, we can.