Change Your Habits, Change Your Life

The art of building good habits

People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures — F.M Alexander

Habits determine over 40% of what you do each day.

Your habits influence whether you’re likely to study, whether you will do your homework, and, ultimately, how well you do not only at school, but in your whole life. 

Forming good habits (and breaking bad ones) is an art, that all should master.  

In this article I will cover:

1. What a habit really is
2. The power of habits in shaping your life
3. A step-by-step guide to forming new habits
4. Some further reading

The power of habit

Living well, effortlessly

What do you think a habit is? Most people would answer along the lines of: ‘things you regularly do’. Sure, that’s part of it. But a habit is more than that: We might describe it as a subconscious tendency towards certain behaviour. Forming a habit is not only about doing something regularly (the visible effect), but actually rewiring your brain to think and act differently. In other words: living better (and doing well at school) becomes second-nature. 

Character = habits

Aristotle once said: “We are what we repeatedly do”.

Now what could he mean by that?

 

Simply this: character, your personality, is simply a collection of habits. 

It naturally follows that by deliberately adding good habits, and eliminating bad ones, we shape ourselves, like an artist carving a sculpture.  

Pretty neat huh?

Agents of deliberate change

 

Habits are the most powerful way to change your future. Goals are… meh. What you really need is systems to achieve those goals. Habits.  Forming habits means taking control of your life and steering it in the direction you want. 

 

The step-by-step

Identify the habit

Our first step is to figure out which habits we want to build. Ask yourself: What are my goals? Write them down. Now think: Which habits will allow me to achieve these goals? Write these down as well. Let’s imagine your goal is to get a 80% for Biology. You might make a habit of doing a past paper question each day. Or studying everyday. Or maybe you just want to answer more questions in class.

Start small

Create a habit so small that it is impossible not to do it. Study one minute of biology each day. Answer one question in class. Because consistency is king. Nothing else matters. And I mean that.  By forming a habit, and ensuring you stick to it, you plant the seed for future growth. 

Make it obvious

You need to establish a strong trigger, something that reminds you of the habit. Make it as obvious as possible. Maybe you’re getting home with the intention of studying, but you keep forgetting. The solution: scribble on a page “study life science” and put it on your bed. Crude, but effective. Gradually the studying will become habitual, and you will no longer need the page. 

Make it easy

The easier the habit is to do, the more likely you are to do it. Simple as that. So make sure you print the biology past paper, and place it on your desk (or wherever you work at home), with a pen and a piece of paper.  Now, whenever you see it, there’s no excuse not to do just a single question.  

Reward yourself

The whole point of these exercises is to reinforce what people call ‘the causality loop’. A habit is a cycle, which is strengthened each time you repeat it. The more obvious the trigger is, and the easier the action itself, the stronger the loop. The last step is to establish a reward. It can come from the action itself (a sense of accomplishment after studying), or it can be attached to the action (allowing yourself ten minutes to relax after studying).  The whole loop is diven by craving, in this case the desire to do better at school. 

Don’t kick yourself

Abandon your all or nothing mentality. So, what if you missed a few days? Get back up and get going. Remember, this is a learning opportunity. Why did you miss those few days? Did your phone distract you? Turn on do not disturb. Did you forget? Make a more obvious trigger. Was the habit to difficult? Make it easier. Approaching mistakes with a growth mindset, the drive to do better, is essential. 

Grow the seed

Okay, so you’ve been studying biology for one minute a day. Now we need to grow the seed you planted. Build your habit up little by little. Instead of studying one minute, study one minute and ten seconds. Now add ten seconds each day. Easy right?Remember, aim for consistency above all else. Once you’ve established a strong habit, it’s easy to increase it. What’s not easy is creating a big habit from scratch.

My personal experience

I’d like to share an anecdote about the power of habits. A while ago I started writing every morning. At first, I journalled for five minutes a day. Now, a year and a half later, I write an hour a morning. I’ve created a blog with about 30 articles, each a few thousand words long. I have hundreds of readers a month. And on top of that, I’ve created this newspaper, and created friendships with people from America, Poland and Chile.  I’m not saying this to boast (or maybe I am?). I just want to show to you the potential power of even a small habit. By planting the seed now, taking care of it, nurturing it, you create the potential for future growth. Who knows, maybe the habit you form will blossom into something magnificent and unexpected, a flower, or even a bloody massive tree. 

In conclusion

So you’ve read the article. You’ve got your dopamine hit of accomplishment. But that doesn’t matter. Action does. 

I’d like to leave you with a challenge to create one new habit. Just one. Pick a single goal you’d like to make more progress on, and use the steps to create your habit:

1. Identify the habit
2. Start small (tiny in fact)
3. Create an obvious trigger
4. Make it easy
5. Establish a reward
6. Learn from your mistakes
7. Grow the seed, little by little (be consistent) 

If you’re not sure what habit you want to create, I have a great suggestion: Make your bed each morning. It might sound trivial. But starting your day with a victory, however small, is truly powerful. 

Bonus: Further reading

Here is a collection of great articles for those who want to delve deeper into the art of building (and breaking) habits. Identity-based habits. Using habits to change who you are, and vice-versa. A guide to breaking bad habits, by replacing them with good ones. An in-depth exploration on the science of habits, and the causality loop.  How to stick to habits, despite a busy, chaotic life.