How to build a new habit

Increase the chances that your new habit sticks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how to build a new habit
into your life. I think most of us have things
we know we'd like to do regularly and aren't doing

(00:23):
much now. Maybe it's flossing or keeping in touch with
a certain friend. In my case, I've said for a
long time that I'd like to do more strength training.
It's one of those things that I know is important,
particularly as I get older. And yet, despite my ability
to run every day, I have a really hard time
making this habit stick, or at least I did until

(00:43):
this spring. Then I finally spent a little time thinking
about what I've learned about habits and my years of
reading and writing about productivity. I analyzed what makes a
habit stick and what makes us fail to stick with
our goals. First, I realized that it's easy to be
a little well lazy. To make a habit stick, you

(01:05):
need to make it very easy to do. I'm not
going to drive twenty minutes to a gym to use
a weight machine. Instead, I got a kettlebell and some
resistance bands and put them in my office. Every time
I walk into my office I see them. I don't
have to go hunt them down from a closet because
I'd probably lose momentum in the two minutes that would take.

(01:29):
Maybe my office is a little cluttered then, but it
keeps these things in the front of my mind. Second,
I designated a specific time in my schedule. A life
has lived in hours, and anything we're going to do
in life takes time. So if there isn't a specific
time to do something, well, you probably won't do it.

(01:51):
I also realized that sometimes are more in demand than others.
We're more likely to stick with habits when we're able
to seize time that wasn't being used well before. In
my case, I had a small window most weekday mornings
during the school year, after my nanny came to the
house or after I came home from the middle school
carpeal run, and before I brought my middle two children

(02:12):
out to the bus stop. That window was generally eight
ten am. I'd usually just check email during this time,
and I definitely felt like I was frittering it away,
knowing I'd need to stop whatever it was I was
doing soon, so I chose to make this my strength
training window. Any day that I was in my home
office from eight ten to I would use some time

(02:35):
in this window to do at least a few minutes
of strength training exercises. I'd throw around my kettlebell and
do various things with the resistance bans. Then I'd continue
on with my day. Now, I'm not exactly going to
be winning bodybuilding competitions with what amounts to ten minutes
or so of strength training three to four days per week.
But here's the thing. When we set huge goals, we

(02:59):
often fall short, and then we get discouraged and we
stop all together. Small things done repeatedly, on the other hand,
truly do add up. If I set a goal to
lift for an hour, there's no way I'd do it.
But a few minutes, well why not? And then another

(03:19):
key point, I write it down. Long time listeners know
that I track my time on weekly spreadsheets. I like
to see the word waits there a few days per
week and that eight cell on my spreadsheet. It provides
a good record that I'm doing it, as does how
I feel. I can tell that some exercises are getting

(03:39):
easier and I feel a bit more powerful during my
runs my back feels better in general, and that's definitely
a good thing. So if you'd like to start a
new habit, you might try what I did. Make it easy.
Designate a specific time, ideally a time that you're just
wasting now, keep your goals small enough that it inspired

(04:00):
there's no resistance, and then record your progress somewhere. You
just might find yourself able to stick with something you
thought you wouldn't be able to do. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

(04:25):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

(04:47):
with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. M