Actionable Insights: 3 Ways To Change Your Habits and Get Them To Stick
Bad habits lead to late nights. Image by Manan Chhabra.
Change is hard. Research shows that while 77% of people can make a desired habit change for a week, only 19% of people can hold onto their changes for two years.
That’s terrible news for creative people since our work is the result of maintaining good habits — showing up every day, putting in the hours, and persevering when times are tough. Maybe we can get away with not eating kale or missing a few meditation sessions, but we can’t stop practicing our craft. Our productivity, mental health or physical wellbeing are all the outcome of our daily habits.
Here are three moves you can make now to change your habits and get your new habits to stick.
1. Frame the change as part of a longer process rather than a single effort.
BJ Fogg famously said “If the habit you designed is not sticking, it’s a design flaw — not a personal flaw.” View this as a behavior change, rather than a quick one-off, so it becomes part of your new routine, rather than something to check off your to-do list.
2. Remove any hint of judgment.
It’s like a science experiment. A sense of exploration and discovery is a prerequisite to success, not just an added bonus. Assume that not everything will be perfect right away (or ever, maybe). Besides, perfection isn’t the goal — positive change is.
3. Start small, then make incremental progress.
Make the change easy and pair it with an existing routine. Then track your progress and create a form of accountability. For example, if you want to write a book, start by writing for 15 minutes each morning (before you answer any emails) and only focus on productively filling that time. Then increase your time window to 30 minutes, then 45, then 60. So before you know it, you’re writing for one hour a day, which should feel pretty natural after you’ve built up to that time standard over weeks, or even months. Little things make a big difference over time.
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