How are habits created

How to Create Good Habits (And Stick With Them)

We all have our habits. Positive and negative. Habits are like compound interest. They can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

How Habits Are Created
If you have enough good habits, you won’t have time for bad habits. Bad habits get in your way. They steal your time and trample your goals. All habits, good and bad, are created the same way. They start small. Think about it. You know that’s how it happens with bad habits…
·  The alcoholic started with one drink
·  The smoker started with one cigarette
·  The gambler started with one game
 You get the idea. You can learn from this and use this technique to create positive habits. One small step at a time. But how exactly do you do that?

How to Create New Habits

Start small. And make small progress. And keep going.

Leo Babauta says “Make it so easy you can’t say no”. That’s exactly what a new habit should be. Want to start exercising? Start by running or walking one minute every day.

Want to make a habit of reading a good finance book every day? Start by reading one page per day. It takes just a minute, but you are building the habit.

Identify yourself with the habit. You’re becoming “someone who works out” or “someone who reads daily”.
And you have to believe that you are exactly that. Prove it to yourself.

James Clear calls this “identity-based habits.“ The key is doing the habit each day, even if you can only do part of it.
Make small increases every day. Add a minute to your run. Add a page to your reading. If it becomes difficult to do, you’re adding too much too quick. The goal is to keep is easy.

How to Stay on Track Add new habits gradually.

One at a time. If you have several habits that you want to add, add a new habit each week. This is a slow, but effective way to build the discipline.

Remember this: If you stumble, start where you left off, but keep going.
 What happens if you miss a day? Or a week? Or several weeks? You pick right back up. You keep going. You’re not a failure for missing one time. You only fail when you decide to quit entirely
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To summarize, here is how you create a new habit, in 5 steps:
1. Start small
2. Increase each day
3. Increase by small intervals
 4. Continue building until you’re satisfied
5. Repeat the process with another new habit
 It almost seems too easy, because it is easy. Really easy. But it works.

 Remember, while it’s easy to do, it’s just as easy not to do. You can always create a new habit. You just have to start small enough.