The best way to learn something, complete a long term project, or pick up healthy routine is to form… habits! Without a habit, you have to use self-control. Hey, Oreo Ice Cream cake, I’m going out, now. I’m going to the gym, instead. See? I’m putting my gym clothes in the bag. What’s that you say? You’ll miss me? Oh, jeez. I’ll just come over to make sure you’re OK… and you’re more than OK. You’re delicious! You’re AMAZING! You’re … You’re.. ARGH!!! OREO ICE CREAM CAKE, TAKE ME AWAY!!
We hate self-control.
Fortunately, there’s a better way: blind, unthinking habit. If you set up habits, all the self-control energy is freed up to devote to the actual work. But forming habits is hard. Ironically, it takes … self-control. Try as we might, we still don’t end up using that gym membership more than once a week. Or month. Or… year. So we need to find a way to make the habit stick.
One great way to do it is to use a trigger.
Find the Trigger for Your Habit
A trigger to spur a certain activity can be anything. An unconscious one is light. When the sun streams through our windows in the morning, eyes snap open and we jump into the awesomeness of our day! Unless you’re like me and you use blackout curtains so you don’t have to wake up until it’s dark enough outside and time to eat.
The neat thing is that you get to choose the trigger for habits you’re establishing. You can choose a specific time of day to do the habit. Most of us brush our teeth right before bed, or right after breakfast. You can choose a place for the habit. If you’re trying to read more books, the trigger could be the comfy, comfy chair by your bookcase. It will become your “reading chair.” Sit in chair, grab book, start reading. Or you could choose a person, like a running or gym buddy.
Intern MG just got back from Cirque du Soleil where there was a juggler. Not just a juggler, a super juggler. He was tossing six pins hundreds of feet in the air. With one hand. And of course MG just has to learn everything epic he sees, which makes his humility all the more insufferable when he masters it. So he decided to learn to juggle.
To establish a habit of practicing juggling, MG chose his lunch break as a trigger. Every day at noon, he would go far, far back into the copy room and juggle. Now the trick is attaching the habit to the trigger.
Practice or Rehearse When the Trigger Occurs
Perfect your ability to do the habit by consciously practicing it. If your trigger is a room, go into the room. Practice. Leave the room. If you’re going to practice, if possible, re-create the trigger first, or do it in that room. If your trigger is a time, be rigorous about how close to that time you practice. If the time is 12:00, don’t wait until 12:15. Be ready at 11:55, and then hit it right on the mark. It will lend ceremony and style to your new habit. Think of it as a Japanese tea ceremony. With juggling pins.
If you set up habits, all the self-control energy is freed up to devote to the actual work.
As long as you connect the trigger to the habit, you can do whatever aspect of the habit makes sense. Intern MG decided to learn three or four basic juggling strokes, but each time his lunch break comes around, he practices a different one. He’s practicing the same skill at the same time, and he’s varying what type of practice he does, which is ok! If your habit is working out, the trigger is about getting out to the gym. Once you’re there, you can do any workout you like.
Once you’ve rehearsed the trigger, use good old-fashioned carrots and sticks to reinforce the habit.
Help Reinforce with Rewards
Grinding through your new routine is OK. But doing it with style is super fun. After you’re done with the new skill, reward yourself! When MG finishes a full 15-minute practice session, he rewards himself with a stroll to a nearby cafe and a cup of espresso. Because apparently what 21-year-old hyperactive hipster overachievers need is more caffeine.
Choose the reward to reinforce the good habit. Trying to go to the gym every day? Reward yourself afterwards with a sauna followed by a nutritious avocado, egg, and salmon crepe. Trying to floss more? Reward yourself with a refreshing gargle of mouthwash. And then lollipops! (No, no. Just kidding!)
After a whole month of intense juggling, Intern MG rewarded himself with a set of new chrome juggling pins with yellow stars on the tips. He rewarded himself and contributed to the habit, all at once.
Go Easy But Remind Yourself
If you forget your habit some day, simply realizing you’ve forgotten it is progress! Of course, don’t reward yourself. But when you realize you’ve forgotten, it’s the perfect time to remind yourself.
Mentally make an image of yourself in the future, doing the habit next time the trigger comes around. See yourself doing the habit successfully as soon as the future you encounters the trigger. Make sure you know it’s in the future in the visualization.
Once you’ve done that, go on with your day with no second thoughts.
Ignore Your thinking
Indeed, sometimes it’s good not to think about something. Procrastination comes from thinking. Always. Our thinking is what makes us procrastinate before vacuuming the living room, dealing with that stack of unopened bills, or base jumping. But once a habit is established, there’s no thinking! When we brush our teeth, we just do it! Indeed, at least for me, once a habit is established, skipping the habit is what requires thinking and effort!
When it’s time for your new habit, remember the lessons of the juggling pins. Choose a trigger: time, place, or person. Rehearse the trigger consciously, several times, to start building muscle memory. Then use rewards to help reinforce the habit, as well as repeated trigger rehearsal if there are times you don’t remember the habit. And pretty soon, you’ll be auditioning for Cirque de Soleil. And if you get in, I’d love it if you could swing me house seats. And maybe an underwear party with the cast.
This is Stever Robbins. Follow Get-It-Done Guy on Twitter and Facebook. I run webinars and other programs to help people be Extraordinarily Productive, and build extraordinary careers. If you want to know more, visit http://ift.tt/1l2uWN6
Work Less, Do More, and Have a Great Life!
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