How do you get started with new habits?

I have been quite inspired by this post lately, and it's good to see that we all are trying to adopt some new habits and be better!

But on a practical point of view, how do you get started with a new habit? How do you keep up with it until it becomes normal? What's the most difficult thing for you when trying to adopt a new habit?

Speaking for myself I usually try to prioritize the habits I'd like to adopt, I start with the most important one. Also I try to take on habits one at a time to avoid being too overwhelmed.
That being said, the main issue for me is time and energy. It's not rare that the habits I try to adopt start feeling like chores and feel more daunting and exhausting than beneficial. In that case I try not to be too hard on myself and keep up until I can see positive result for habit!

How about you?

Comments

[JeffD]

I try to don't thing about the benefits - I force myself to do this habit like I had no choice.

• I allocate a specific time in the day. I start always with less than 6 minute because if you spend too much time you will find it too hard or to timekeeping. Kaizen say "start with a small step". Specific time with an alarm is the best way to not forget.
• One most important step to build habit is to do it every day. I use a calendar and mark a sign every day I success. You can use an app (I only know Loop for Android). It helps me to stay motived when I saw a discontinued line of sign.
• I do a restrospective every week to see my achievement and find blocking problems (why I failed this day). Allocate time to feedback is a good way to congratulate yourself and find solution to improve your experience.
• Two years ago I offered myself a Lego box for every "big achievement".
• Some people write something every time (very usefull for sports) to log their progression.

Hope it could help someone :)

[Quentin Sonrel]

I agree with the whole "specific time, every day + alarm" thing, it's what works best for me... until I start postponing because it's not the right moment.

[Ross Henderson]

It's something I struggle with. I can easily pick up bad habits, like most people. But they say it takes about 6 weeks to form a habit, so you need to actively do the habit you want to form for at least 6 weeks, eventually it will have become second nature hopefully and you're done.

I also find trying to change too many habits at once can really make it difficult, so try and keep things small.

[Quentin Sonrel]

Yeah I do think it's a good idea to let the habit sink in with time but combined with the "one habit at a time" it's kinda discouraging, like it will take you 15 years to adopt all the new habits you want to adopt 😂

[Ross Henderson]

You're absolutely right! I didn't mean for it to come across as one at a time, but a few. I attempted once to change practically my whole routine, and I lasted about a week before I fell back into bad habits.

[Quentin Sonrel]

Yeah, I know that, I did the same thing and it ended the same way!