Creating New Habits

Habits are the building blocks of our daily activities. These rewards-based reinforcements add up to form our routines and daily lives. Habits are made up of three components: a cue, a routine, and a reward. What we’re talking about today though is setting up new habits in your life that will lead to growth and progress in all areas of your life.

The reason it’s so hard to create new habits is that they don’t come naturally. As you start to develop a new habit, you’re fighting against your own nature. This is true no matter what kind of habit you’re trying to create. If you want to exercise more, you’re fighting your laziness; if you want to study more, you’re fighting distraction; if you want to eat better, you’re fighting impulse; if you want to make friends more often, you’re fighting your introversion. The key thing is that it’s not just randomly hard; it’s hard for a reason. It’s hard because there are natural reactions that push against the habit. That means it gets easier over time. As the reactions become less strong, the habit grows stronger.

The three steps to forming habits are:

1. Start with a cue

A cue is a trigger that reminds you to do the behavior. For example, you want to brush your teeth after eating dinner. The cue might be eating dinner, or it might be the sight of the sink after eating dinner.

2. Make the behavior easy

The behavior is what you want to get into a habit such as brushing your teeth after dinner. Make the behavior easy. The more obstacles in your way, the less likely you are to do it. So make sure whatever cues you use are easy to obey. If you have trouble brushing your teeth in the morning because you’re in a rush, maybe you can set aside some time for brushing before breakfast, or use an electric toothbrush that will make it easier.

3. Add rewards for completing the behavior

The reward is what convinces you that it’s worthwhile to do the behavior even when there isn’t a lot of pressure to do it immediately. For example, when I was learning French in high school I liked that my French class was at the same time as my favorite class (philosophy), so I would plan ahead and take my French book with me so I could read it while waiting for class. If I had just put off doing my French until after philosophy class, I would have felt very pressured by the thought of it.

The idea of forming new habits seems simple enough, but it can be one of the most difficult things to do. It may seem like you need to completely overhaul your life in order to make big changes, but the truth is that many small adjustments can bring you closer to your goals.

Even if you don’t know where to start, we hope these tips will help you make the first step towards forming a new habit.