Understanding How Habits Support Your 2020 New Year Resolution.

It’s January 6, 2020, and I have already read countless articles about the new year and new decade. They’ve covered just about every topic imaginable: from how to get fit in the new year to how to become a better leader, from how to be a better version of yourself to how to create the best resolutions. The list continues.

Let me be clear, I have zero issues with these articles. Many of them are well written, offering excellent tips. However, every year, I find myself asking the same question of myself and others – why do we wait for the new year to make these resolutions? Many will say that the beginning of the calendar year naturally invites us to stop, reflect and decide how we want to show up in the days that lie ahead. Yet come March, we all know what most of us will be thinking about – anything other than our new year, new us, resolutions.

Like many of you, I have used the start of the new year to reflect on myself – and my business. Yet, my focus this year isn’t on resolutions, it’s on habits. So, what exactly is a habit? Let’s start with the dictionary definition: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.

Habits are important because:

1. Habits shape our lives across all that we do.
2. Many daily "decisions" are based on habit versus conscious thought.
3. Habits help the brain conserve energy - it's a form of autopilot.
4. Habits create a reward in the brain that makes them compelling.

It’s a fact – habits rewire the brain.

The more you perform an action or behave in a certain way, the more it becomes physically ‘wired’ in the brain. When something is wired in the brain, it allows the “thing” to become a form of auto pilot. Auto pilot allows us to operate with minimal thought – minimal energy really.

It takes time to form new habits – up to 254 days for some of us.

Considering all this, it’s no wonder they say it can take, on average, 66 days to form a new habit. Yet, it has also been stated that depending on the person, the behavior and the circumstances it can take anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for a new habit to form. If this statistic is true, it’s no wonder that, come March, many people won’t be on track to maintain their January 1st resolutions. March 1 is only 60 days into the year, 61 on a leap year. That is about 6 days short of the average 66 days it takes to form a new habit – and 194 days short for those of us who need 254 days.

Are we setting ourselves up for failure with New Year’s resolutions?

I’m in no way saying that we shouldn’t take time to reflect on the year ahead on January 1st. Nor am I saying that we should all forgo resolutions. However, what I want to add to the resolution conversation is this: are you creating appropriate habits to change your behaviors and actions, setting yourself up for success in attaining your new year’s resolution?

Sustained behavior change

Unless there is a transfer of knowledge that results in sustained behavior change, we cannot say that learning has occurred. Therefore, we don’t have a strong foundation for a new habit to form. We also know that learning is based on responses to environmental stimuli. As we think about forming new habits, how many of us are thinking about how our environments need to change? I listened to a speaker a while back who pointed out how many homes have a family room with a comfortable sofa positioned right in front of the television. This positioning creates an environment that makes it easy for us to get suckered into the habit of watching hours upon hours of television each evening.

Make it obvious

• If you want to change your habits, consider making the environmental cue obvious.
• If you want to drink more water, carry a water bottle with you everywhere you go.
• If you want to stop working in the evenings, disconnect your email from your mobile devices and tuck your laptop out of sight.
• If you want to work out more, put your workout clothes and a pair of tennis shows front and center daily.
• If you want to read more, place a book on your pillow so that it’s ready for you each night before you go to bed.
• If you want to stop drinking coffee, remove the coffee maker from your kitchen.
• If you want to stop getting coffee every morning at the local coffee shop, take a different route so that you don’t drive past the coffee shop daily.

These are just a handful of ways you can change the cues in your environment. Think about the habit that you are trying to create and think about what you need to change in your environment to support that new habit. If you want the habit to be a big part of your life, make the cues a big part of your life.

Habit stacking

Created by Stanford professor BJ Fogg, you can layer your desired habit on top of a current habit to create a “habit stack”.

It goes like this: “After I [current habit], I will [new habit]”.

The key to making this successful is ensuring that you associate a current habit with something that will set you up for success with your new habit.

Here’s an example that won’t work: “After I get ready for bed, I will put on my running shoes to work out”. Your brain already associated your current habit of getting ready for bed as a time to shut down and start to relax for bed. So, putting on your running shoes to have 30 minutes of exercise after your bedtime routine isn’t setting your new habit up for success.

However, your current habit of setting an alarm to wake up in the morning could be associated with your new habit of waking up 30 minutes earlier to exercise. Your brain is already accustomed to the environmental cue of waking up to an alarm, so create a new habit of waking up 30 minutes earlier so that you can work out first thing in the morning. That habit alignment sets you up for better success than associating exercise with your bedtime habit.

Habits require forgetting and learning

Unless there is transfer of knowledge that results in sustained behavior change, we cannot say that learning has occurred. Yet, for people to learn, we have to also deal with the phenomenon of forgetting. Habits account for both: forgetting and the reinforcement of learning.

Your 2020 resolution

As you proceed in fulfilling your 2020 resolution, what habits are you going to focus on to ensure sustainable behavior change for long-term success of your resolution?

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 Amber Wendover is the founder of Thinking People Consulting. With over 20 years of experience she is known to help leaders transform, individuals shine and teams excel.