We’re a month into 2022, and I’m struggling to remember the goals I set for this year, never mind actually implementing them. I know one was to meditate using Calm for at least 5 days a week. Even though I feel relaxed and grounded after meditating for just 10 minutes, I still do it inconsistently.
Does this sound familiar? Maybe you took a workshop or read a book that inspired you. You fully intended to put into practice those great suggestions. You were determined to be a better listener, let people finish their sentences, or become fluent in German.
Oops…fast forward a couple of weeks: Did you find yourself slipping back into your old ways?
If so, you’re not alone. There’s a reason why there’s so much research and writing on habit formation. Building solid habits is at the core of most successful goals. Publishing your book requires the habit of writing regularly. Completing a marathon requires…guess what? Well, unless you are a freak of nature, it requires the habit of running regularly. But many people struggle with how to establish a habit so the practice becomes routine. (Hint: willpower only goes so far.)
There is an abundance of research and writing on habit formation that you can dive into. (I’ll put a few links at the end of this post.) My colleague Rick and I decided to learn how to help people build new habits within a program we delivered a few years ago. We gathered some of the most current research on building habits and distilled a handful of practices we believed would be promising. We wanted to see if we could offer a self-directed habit formation system to maximize the likelihood that people would be able to turn their aspirations into regular practice.
We have some suggestions about how to build such a system based on some of the research on habit formation. Scroll down for an infographic on what we discovered.
I’m planning to apply these suggestions again to see if I can turn inconsistent meditation into a habit.
Why don’t you give it a try and leave a comment about what you learn?
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit
Gretchen Rubin, Better Than Before
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