Changing habits is not always easy: in this article you will find 4 mistakes to avoid to create lasting and effective changes.
"The best way to lose a bad habit is to replace it with a worse one."
Jack Nicholson.
I firmly believe that habits are the "lego bricks" of personal growth: the improvement of oneself, the radical change of one's lifestyles and success in general, are based on the actions we repeat every day ... habits in fact.
But changing habits isn't always easy. So I want to take advantage of this article to tell you about 4 biggest mistakes that i committed when i tried to change my habits.
1. I have changed too many habits together
Trying to change too many habits at the same time is the best way to not change anything. We have a limited ability to concentrate: our mind is not a huge fan of changes and every time we try to establish a new habit, we are in fact asking it for extra work.
This is why when we try to "change" our life, changing too many habits overnight, we inevitably find ourselves back to square one after just 2 or 3 weeks.
What to do then?
If you are determined to change your lifestyles, the best strategy to follow is to do one thing at a time:
- choose one and only one habit to change or establish;
- focus on the new habit for no less than 21 days;
- if and only if you have managed to make the new habit an integral part of your life, move on to the next.
By focusing on just one habit per month, after a year you will be able to establish 12 new habits: not bad, right?
2. I have spent too little time on the new habit
To transform an action into a real habit you need two fundamental ingredients: repetition and consistency. A habit is created only by repeating it daily and without interruption for a sufficient period of time.
Andre ', but don't you think the expression "sufficient time" is a little vague ?!
You're right, I'll try to be more precise. There are different schools of thought on the ideal time frame to create a habit: some say 21 days, some 30 days, some 2 months. The reality is that each of us needs different times to establish a new habit; not only that, each habit needs a different time to consolidate.
How to behave then?
A habit can be defined as such only when it becomes an automatic action. When you no longer need to think about your new habit then you can consider it definitively established. Throwing in the towel earlier is wasting time.
3. I sought perfection instead of improvement
When something new enters our life (a new gadget, a new activity, a new habit), we tend to become a little too perfectionist: we would like everything to fit perfectly and at the same time. first obstacle we get caught up in demotivation.
Perfectionism is a very subtle and dangerous trap of the mind. Giving in to the rigid constraints of perfectionism means starting over from 0 whenever things don't go exactly as we planned them.
Next time you try to change your habits, allow yourself the luxury of making mistakes, not to be constant for a few days, to slip into the sweet arms of your old habits: the important thing is that you always have the determination to get back on the right course.
The path of personal growth is not one runway for airplanes, but a torturous one Mountain path: enjoy the view every now and then.
4. I created the new habit the wrong way
There are dozens of different ways to create the same habit and not all of them are right for you. I try to explain myself better with an example.
One of the most common habits in the world of personal growth is to "get up early in the morning". Excellent habit, with multiple implications on many of our other lifestyles ... but how to establish it ?! Here are some of the most popular strategies:
- get up 15 minutes earlier each week until we reach our "target time";
- go to sleep earlier in the evening;
- get used to sleep less, but better;
- get up at the new time for 30 days in a row and go to sleep only when you collapse;
- etc.
I have no idea what is the best way for you to start a new habit - this is up to you to find out. But if you are having a hard time creating a new habit, don't be discouraged, try establishing it differently.
Here are some ideas to start with:
- change times;
- change places;
- do it gradually;
- do it without gradualness.
And now tell me your experiences if you like: what mistakes did you make and how did you overcome them when you tried to change your habits? Thanks.
