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When people try to take on a new habit or change something, they are usually highly motivated for a while. The challenge is they haven't changed yet! That is, their brain is still configured to do what it did previously. It is cheaper energy-wise to run an old program than a new one in your brain.
For the super-humans that are hyper-motivated; this article is not for you.
What defines a habit?
A habit is easy to do because the brain already has a well-defined program configured to make it happen automatically. When you set a new goal, the change you want doesn’t have this well-defined wiring yet. As the excitement and motivation wane, so does progress on the new behaviours needed to achieve the desired change.
Is there a way of creating the new programming in your brain that makes it easier? How can we take the action steps required without having to work so hard?
If you are anything like me when you decide to take on something new, you get all pumped up and want to get right into it. When I start learning a new skill, I might consume 2 hours of related content a day initially.
You might relate to this example:
When I bought a new mountain bike, I rode it in the nearby hills for an hour nearly every day for the first few weeks. Then I got busy doing other stuff, and over time my bike got more and more dusty in the shed.
Consider a goal or change that you haven’t managed to conquer yet? Possibly you want to write a book, get a promotion, achieve a lofty sales target, get healthy or learn to play a musical instrument.
The challenge with the traditional motivational approach is consistently taking sizable action steps are neurologically draining and uncomfortable in the beginning.
More than likely, you won’t always be as motivated as you are on day one. After a few weeks, you will start to make excuses why it can’t be done today, and soon after you may avoid doing it altogether.
So, how can you make this work?
There might be another way that is much easier and works in conjunction with the way your brain codes new habits. Consider ‘Mini Habits’ as suggested in a book of the same title by Stephen Guise.
One simple idea to create lasting change is to start ridiculously small.
What is the smallest possible action you could take every day? This action can be so stupidly little that even if you are exhausted from work, you could still take the minimum amount of action easily.
For example: If learning a new skill, your daily goal could be opening the book and reading only ten lines. Developing a daily exercise habit? A mini habit would be doing just ten push-ups. For salespeople uncomfortable with prospecting, this could be reaching out to new prospects. Make a goal of one new personalised connection on LinkedIn each day.
Why might this be a useful approach or brain hack?
If you take just a little action, there is a reasonable probability you will do more than the minimum. The first small step begins the process of forming the new habit. While you don’t need a massive amount of action, you do need consistency and repetition.
“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.” ‐ Anthony Robbins
Less effort, for a better result. It takes time to build a habit, but once a pattern is formed, it becomes automatic and effortless. Think how easy it is to brush your teeth now it’s a habit. When it is coded in your brain, it’s much easier to execute without any motivation.
Doing a little every day has a far more significant impact than doing a lot on one day. A short and fast run every day is far superior to 50km done one a month.
Motivation can be unreliable because it’s based on how you feel. It’s known that human feelings are fluid and unpredictable. If the task is so easy it doesn’t take motivation, it tricks your brain into forming a habit without endless willpower.
“Be the person with embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of one of the many people with impressive goals and embarrassing results.” - Stephen Guise, Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results
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