What the hell are habits?

What the hell are habits?

Another day, another buzz word blog. Habit, thanks to the likes of James Clear (Author of Atomic Habits) has become the buzz word of the pandemic, and like many… I thought I knew what they were (biting your nails, checking your phone every 15 seconds etc). But boy, was I wrong.

Let’s break down the word (in the most unofficial way possible). The word habits comes from the word habitual – habitual means to do something on autopilot – autopilot means to do something without thinking – without thinking implies we have no control over our habits. AND THIS IS WHERE WE ARE ALL WRONG.

Your habits are, in fact, 100% under your control. They’re the engrained decisions we make without really making them. But once, once upon a time, you decided to bite your nails for the first time.

So, if you want to make a new habit, you have to consciously make that first time happen.

I was a chronic ‘I-wish-I-was-a-reader’ kind of person… until one day I decided to make a habit of it. In an ideal world, I would wake up and pick up my book without thinking… but this would have involved two steps: 1. Breaking my existing habit of heading straight to the kitchen to make coffee and 2. Picking up my book.

And two steps is too many, especially when one involves delaying my morning coffee.

So instead of getting up and picking up my book, I still head down to the kitchen. But now, instead of opening Instagram whilst I drink my morning coffee, I read. It might only be 10 pages, it might be 25 (it’s rarely more), but I do it on autopilot because I’ve attached my desired habit to one that is already deeply engrained.

Building habits is as simple as this. If you want to learn about something, read about it during your morning coffee. If you want to improve your balance, brush your teeth on one leg. If you want to become more self-aware, journal over breakfast.

If you want to become a habit stacking expert, improve your productivity and learn to create action plans for your goals, come to my workshop next month. Check it out here. I promise you’ll leave feeling refreshed and ready to take on the year.