Many of us want to change things in our lives. We want to wake up early and go to the gym. We want to study and submit our assignments before the late-night cramming session. We want to eat a healthier diet. We want to have a productive schedule. And so we start out on our self-improvement journey. Then, as with our New Year’s resolutions from 2023, we soon fall back into our old ways of doing things. So why does this happen, and how can we change that?
In an article, Phillippa Lally explores how habits form and how we can apply those results in the real world. What was interesting was that she mentioned that doing something for the first time takes planning, intentionality, and time. Yet it is more than that. Intentionality is needed, not just the first time we do something differently, but for the first few times. It also means when we do something different, our minds will need more energy and “help” to actually get around to doing that thing. So, the reason we need to make extra effort is because our brains are getting used to doing things that are new or in a new way.
How do we actually change our behavior? In their article, Benjamin Garder and Amanda L. Rebar explained that forming a new habit is as simple as just doing a specific behavior repeatedly when you set up a system of cues to guide your behavior. For instance, you want to drink more water. So, you would place water containers in visible areas to cue you to drink water. That sounds like an easy and straightforward way to do things. But what about other more complicated ones, like going to bed on time? Break up those complex habits into smaller, more achievable steps. Try turning off your phone before bed so you are not tempted to check it. Create a restful environment with the use of an essential oils diffuser. Or make a routine that encourages you to go to bed earlier. These and other tips can be used to help you develop those harder-to-achieve habits.
In another article, we find some more tips. We can use reminders, rewards, and sometimes punishments to motivate ourselves to do certain things. For instance, you want to go to bed earlier. So, you set an alarm to let you know when to stop your daily tasks and begin to prepare for bed. And on the days you follow through with this, you reward yourself with time to do something you enjoy. Cues, reminders, rewards, and punishments can all help you to establish the changes in your behavior that you want.
In his book “Tiny Habits” social scientist B.J. Fogg provides readers with a method that they can use to create tiny habits that would make a significant impact on their behavior. He argues that big habits may take more work to follow through with. Instead, he recommends that we work on tinier changes, which, through repetitiveness and cues discussed previously, can create a system of behaviors that steers us in the desired direction.
Deciding to drink a gallon of water daily might not be the best option; start smaller and work yourself up to the ultimate goal. Studying for 3 hours at a time every day may not be the best choice, instead, try doing sessions of 30 minutes. Learning to speak another language in 30 days is unlikely to happen, so instead, try learning bits and pieces over a year. Little things, done repetitively and consistently, can create the person you want to become. So, what are you waiting for? Go out and change the world, one small habit at a time.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.