Trick yourself into forming a Habit

I have always been so fascinated with magicians. Every time I would witness a magic show or see a trick I would be so excited to try and replicate the same. As I grew up like everyone else, I realised, magic is just about tricking someone to believe in something. This realisation did wonders for me. So much so that I did end up evolving into a magician myself...believe you me I am serious!

"It is the unspoken ethic of all magicians to not reveal the secrets."

– David Copperfield

Even though I will be defying David by doing what I am about to, but I am sure he won't mind. I am about to reveal my secrets! One trick that I am really good at is tricking myself into forming a habit, and I know all of us struggle with this. We do believe that we can break a habit by following major hacks available all throughout the internet, some of them actually work, but I am about to reveal the code for you which just might help you form the habit you have been wanting to for the longest time.

Forming a habit is daunting in my opinion. It is about discipline, resilience, and the belief that you can build that habit. Now when we look at acquiring certain skills, or work towards a desired career, even that requires us to program behaviors as new habits and that makes the process much easier.

With a small amount of initial discipline, we can create a new habit that requires little effort to maintain. Here are some tips for creating new habits and making them stick:

1. Intent

If you don't have the right intent, I am sorry to break it to you forming a habit is just not going to be a smooth ride. Period. You need to be intentional in your approach, and have the passion to see it through.

2. Commit to it

I know I know, committing to something is very difficult for us, but with right intent and a sense of purpose this is certainly possible. Ideally three to four weeks is all the time you need to make a habit automatic. If you can make it through the initial conditioning phase, it becomes much easier to sustain. A month is a good block of time to commit to a change since it easily fits in your calendar.

3. Start Simple, and keep it that way

Don’t try to completely change your life in one day. It is easy to get over-motivated and take on too much. If you wanted to study two hours a day, first make the habit to go for thirty minutes and build on that.

4. Reminders don't hurt

Around two weeks into your commitment it can be easy to forget. Place reminders to execute your habit each day or you might miss a few days. If you miss time it defeats the purpose of setting a habit to begin with.

5. Ensure to be Consistent

Do I even need to elaborate?

6. Trigger does help

A trigger is a ritual you use right before executing your habit. If you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. If you wanted to quit smoking you could practice snapping your fingers each time you felt the urge to pick up a cigarette.

7. Embrace Imperfection

Don’t expect all your attempts to change habits to be successful immediately. It took me four independent tries before I started exercising regularly. Now I love it. Try your best, but expect a few bumps along the way.

8. Yield not to Temptation

Restructure your environment so it won’t tempt you in the first thirty days. Remove junk food from your house, cancel your cable subscription, throw out the cigarettes so you won’t need to struggle with willpower later.

9. Write a note

A piece of paper with a resolution on it isn’t that important. Writing that resolution is. Writing makes your ideas more clear and focuses you on your end result.

10. Acknowledge the Consequences

You should also be aware of the consequences. Exposing yourself to realistic information about the downsides of not making a change will give you added motivation.

11. Remember why you started

Don’t worry about all the things you “should” have as habits. Instead tool your habits towards your goals and the things that motivate you. Weak guilt and empty resolutions aren’t enough.

I never said that it would be easy, but once you get a hold of this, it will work like a charm. Let me know how it goes for you, and if you have a better trick up your sleeve, you must share it with us :)

Abracadabra!