How To Make Good Habits Stick

How To Make Good Habits Stick

Do you want to know how to make good habits stick ?

Maybe  you want to build new good habits effectively.

Are you a business owner, entrepreneur, or just a regular individual finding it difficult to let go of your old habits?

Do you want to become a better person overall by learning how to build good habits and make them stick?

Everyone shows a lot of excitement when trying to build habits.

It is usually a very good feeling; trying to build good habits.

This is because good habits make you a better person.

However, what seems to make the process of building good habits very difficult is that they never stick.

People who try to build good habits usually find themselves going back to their old habits.

Why is this so?

There are reasons why it’s difficult to make good habits stick.

All the more there are techniques you could apply to make good habits stick.

If you’re finding it difficult to make good habits stick, you don’t need to feel frustrated.

In this blog post, we’ll share insight into how to make good habits stick.

Read on to find out more.

How To Make Good Habits Stick

Tricks to Make New Habits Stick

You’re trying to build good habits so you can become a better person and improve the quality of your life.

Nice!

However, you’re finding it difficult to make the good habits stick.

You’ve discovered that you’re going back to your old habits.

Hence, you’re feeling like a failure.

Before we consider how to make good habits stick, let’s try to understand;

  • Understanding habits (Good and bad habits)
  • The reasons why people struggle with old bad habits
  • Benefits of building good habits

Understanding Habits (Good And Bad Habits)

Simple Things You Can Do to Build Good Habits And Make Them Stick

Habits are learned behavior patterns that characterize an individual.

Habits are behaviors that we pick up that they become almost involuntary.

There are good and bad habits.

Good habits are those things that we do that have positive effects on our lives.

They might not be enjoyable or fun, but they are necessary for our overall well-being, growth, and development.

Some good habits include; reading, exercising, eating fruits and vegetables, budgeting, maintaining a clean environment, practicing self-care, gratitude among others.

Bad habits, on the other hand, are those things that we do or in some cases don’t do that affect our lives negatively.

Examples of bad habits include; overeating, laziness, procrastination, smoking, swearing, drinking alcohol, extravagant spending among others.

Sadly enough the good habits are very hard to build and maintain while the bad habits are easy to develop and hard to break.

Why is this so?

Let’s consider some of the reasons why people struggle with bad habits.

Thereby, making it build good habits and make them stick.

Reasons Why People Struggle With Old Bad Habits

how to create lasting habits

A lot of people struggle when it comes to building habits.

Other than the fact that old habits die hard, there are other reasons why people struggle with old habits.

Here are some of the reasons;

  • lack of self-discipline
  • No commitment towards achieving set goals.
  • Unrealistic habit goals
  • Bad influence from people around
  • Fear of change
  • Fear of missing out on the pleasure/enjoyment the bad habit gives
  • Lack of support and motivation among others 

Now you know why it’s difficult to let go of bad habits, let’s consider the importance of building good habits.

Benefits Of Building Good Habits

Strategies To Make Good Habits Stick

Apart from the fact that good habits affect your life positively, there are other unique benefits of building good habits.

They include;

  • Good habits give you a positive attitude towards life
  • Helps you achieve your goals in life
  • Help you live a healthier, happier and fulfilling life
  • Good habits help you become the best person you can be
  • It increases the quality of your life

Now you know the importance of building good habits.

Let’s consider how to make good habits stick.

Effective Tips On How To Make Good Habits Stick

How To Make Any Habit Stick

All too often when trying to build good habits, we find ourselves going back to old bad habits.

Building good habits, quitting, and going back to old bad habits results in wasted effort and time.

Here are simple things that you can do to make your good habits stick.

Understand Why You’re Trying To Build Good Habits

Ways to Create Lasting Habits

When trying to make good habits stick you need to understand why you’re trying to build good habits.

What’s the purpose of building good habits?

For example, say you’re trying to build the habit of exercising.

You need to figure out why you’re exercising.

Are you doing it because it makes sense to do so, your friends are doing it or to stay fit and healthy?

There’s a popular saying that goes thus; When the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable.

I’ll like to rephrase it to be when the purpose of a goal is not known, it’s likely to be treated with levity.

When you’re not clear on the purpose of trying to build a good habit, it’s very difficult to stay committed to the habit to make it stick.

Hence to build good habits and make them stick you need to know why you’re trying to build the habit.

Be Consistent (Do It Daily)

Ways to Build Habits That Stick

Another trick to making good habits stick is by doing it daily.

Consistency is the key to mastery.

What is that good habit that you’re trying to build?

Are you trying to lose weight and stay fit by exercising?

Be consistent.

Do it daily; make exercising part of your daily routine.

For example, you could make yourself exercise for at least 30-45 minutes daily.

This way, your mind, and body would be programmed to exercising daily.

Thus helping you make good habits stick.

Identify And Cut Off Bad Habits Triggers

The Simple Art of Creating Long-Lasting Habits

When trying to build good habits and make them stick, you must identify and cut off all bad habit triggers.

Bad habit triggers are those things that tempt you or draw you back to your bad habits.

For instance, you’re trying to quit smoking, being around friends that smoke would be considered as triggers.

This is because when you’re around them you’ll feel like you’re missing out of the fun your friends are enjoying.

Thereby making it difficult for you to resist the urge to smoke.

Hence, if you want to make your good habits stick, you’ll need to identify what triggers your bad habits.

Furthermore, you’ll need to come up with a plan to avoid them or cut them off totally.

Thus helping you make your good habits stick.

Pursue Progress Not Perfection

How to create lasting change and habits that stick

When it comes to building good habits and making them stick be concerned with making progress not being perfect.

Perfectionism is the act of wanting everything to be just right and being afraid of making mistakes.

This kind of mindset can affect your ability to stay committed to building your good habits and making them stick.

Furthermore, perfectionism can make you feel discouraged when you don’t see immediate results in the habit you’re trying to build.

Don’t try to be perfect, expect a few bumps along the way.

There’ll be days when you’re efforts to build a good habit would not be successful.

Rather than feeling frustrated, disappointed, and feel like quitting be grateful for the progress you’ve made so far.

Do your best to successfully build good habits but expect some setbacks along the way.

Be happy about the progress you’ve made so far.

This would motivate you to stay committed to the end.

Thus helping you make good habits stick.

Start Small/Simple

How to Form a New Habit                                                                                                                                      Another effective trick to building good habits and making them stick is to start small.

Most times the thought of the benefits of the good habit you’re trying to build and how it would change your life could make you feel so excited.

You could get all pumped up and make big/complex plans.

Sadly enough learning new habits doesn’t work that way.

You can’t expect to completely change your life in a day.

For example say you want to build a reading habit and you make plans to start with reading for 1-3hrs daily.

It would be very difficult to be consistent with this new habit, given the fact that you’re not used to reading for that long.

So for you to make this habit stick you should start small by reading for like 30-45 minutes daily.

You could progress to a longer time frame as you begin to get comfortable with reading daily.

However, to make good habits stick it’s always best to start small.

Stay Committed 

How to Build Habits That Last

Commitment is the act of staying dedicated to a cause or activity and the willingness to give it your time and energy.

When it comes to making good habits stick, it takes a lot of commitment.

You need to be willing to put in your best efforts to ensure that you master it.

For example, when trying to build the habit of exercising or reading, you need to be committed.

You need to be willing to wake up each day and work on building a good habit.

Thus helping you get used to the good habit and making it stick.

Track Your Progress 

tips on creating habits

This is yet another effective tip that can make your good habits stick.

When it comes to achieving any goal it is very important to monitor progress.

This is so that you can identify where they’re lapses and come up with more effective strategies to help you achieve your goals.

The same applies to building good habits and making them stick.

When you track your progress you’ll be able to tell whether or not you’re achieving positive results or not.

You’ll also be able to tell where to intensify your efforts to get the result you desire.

For example, if you’re trying to stay fit by shedding some weight through exercising, you can tell if you’re achieving your goal by tracking your progress.

You can also get motivated to do more by seeing how well what you’ve done has worked for you.

Thus giving you helping you stay motivated and committed to building good habits and making them stick.

Build One Habit At A Time

habit formation activities

Another simple trick to making good habits stick is going at it one habit at a time.

Sometimes we could get so carried away with personal development and improving the overall quality of our lives.

For example, only one individual wants to exercise more, build a reading habit, become a better time-manager, practice healthy eating among other things.

Funny enough this one individual wants to achieve this within the same time-frame.

Little wonder when we make new year resolutions we fill up the list with different goals and things you want to achieve all within the frame of one year.

However, our body and is programmed to focus on one thing at a time.

Even more, to effectively achieve any goal, you need to go at it one goal at a time.

Therefore to effectively build good habits and make them stick, you need to go at it one habit at a time.

Pick up one habit, commit to it until you master it.

Pick up the next one, commit to it, and continue the sequence until you gain complete mastery of all the habits.

Thereby, making your good habits stick.

Use Reminders

How to Build New Habits

Setting reminders is another effective tip to help you make good habits stick.

You could set daily reminders to help you practice the good habit you’re trying to build.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget your commitments due to stress, excessive workload, and tight schedules.

However, with reminders, it would be easy to stay committed to the habit you’re trying to build.

Set daily reminders for the habit you’re trying to build.

For example, you could set a reminder to read at a particular hour of your day to help you build your reading habit.

Furthermore, you could set timely reminders of your phone to remind you to drink water if you’re trying to practice living a healthy lifestyle.

This would help you work on your habits daily and prevent you from missing out a few times or days of daily practice.

Thereby making good habits stick.

Reward Yourself

how to practice good habits

Another thing you could do to make your good habits stick is to create a reward system for yourself.

Research shows that rewards are a great motivating factor for more positive behavior.

People feel good about themselves and are motivated to do more when they’re rewarded for positive work done.

You too can incorporate this approach to help you make your good habits stick.

Each time you commit to working on your habits and you achieve positive results with your goals reward yourself.

This would motivate you to do more and stay committed to achieving your goals.

Even more, it would encourage you to put in more effort to achieve more positive results.

Bear in mind however that your rewards should enhance progress and not the other way round.

Thus helping you make good habits stick.

Get Support 

how to create habits

Just as we mentioned earlier that friends could be triggers to bad habits.

Thereby, making it difficult to break bad habits.

Friends can also be triggers to good habits.

Friends could help you or destroy your efforts in building habits depending on the kind of people you surround yourself with.

Hence it is important that when trying to make good habits stick that you surround yourself with friends who support you.

Surround yourself with friends/mentors who inspire and motivate you to build good habits.

Even more, be around people who inspire you to execute your habit frequently.

Be around people who can make you accountable for your habit goals and check if you’re making progress or not.

This would help you stay committed to the goal of building good habits.

Thus making good habits stick.

The 21 Days Rule About Habits

Steps to creating habits that stick

Scientists and many self-help professionals believe that it takes 21 days to form a new habit.

While the basis of their stipulations might not be understandable, one thing is certain that it takes time for a new habit to form.

Furthermore, the time-frame (be it 21 days, more or less ) is all dependent on the individual.

It depends on how committed, consistent, and determined the individual is.

More so, the amount of time and effort the individual puts into building the new habit would determine the results the individual would get.

So, don’t feel bad if you don’t successfully build a good habit and make it stick within 21 days.

That doesn’t mean you can’t successfully build good habits and make them stick.

It just means that you need to put in more time and effort to help you achieve your goals.

Conclusion On How To Make Good Habits Stick

Proven Strategies For Building And Dropping Habits

That’s it on the effective tips on how to make good habits stick.

As individuals, we must seek ways to grow and improve ourselves regularly.

This would help you be the best you can be in business, work, and life generally.

So are you a business owner, entrepreneur, CEO, or just a regular individual?

Use these tips to help you make your good habits stick.

It doesn’t matter the habit you trying to build, just make your plans, commit to it and you’ll achieve your goals.

Here’s to your success!

What bad habits are you’re trying to break and how have they affected your life?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

We would love to hear from you.

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How To Make Good Habits Stick