5 Good Ways to Construct Habits by guest author Alice Boyes

5 Good Ways to Construct Habits

Habit formation doesn’t need to feel boring or punishing.

KEY POINTS

  • We have more affinity for developing some habits than others.
  • Research shows that externally-imposed, short deadlines successfully influence our behavior.
  • Studies have found that when our existing habits are disrupted, we’re most apt to build new habits.

Many people are interested in establishing better habits. There are easier and harder ways to do this. We have more affinity for developing some habits than others. When you utilize this knowledge, it can make habit curation easier.

1. Use natural deadlines.

Have you ever tried to construct a “fake” (self-imposed) deadline to get yourself to do something? That rarely works very well.

In contrast, research shows that externally-imposed, short deadlines successfully influence our behavior.

This quirk of human nature can work against us when it leads us to prioritize relatively unimportant tasks with imminent deadlines ahead of more important work that has no or a far way deadline. However, we can also use this phenomenon to serve us. How?

Use natural deadlines to support your habits.

Two examples.

  • I currently have monthly doctor’s appointments. I get labs drawn the day before each appointment. I don’t like having blood drawn, so often I will put this off. However, I want to review the results with the doctor. That motivates me to keep up the habit. The doctor also complimented me on how conscientious I am about it, so now I want to keep up my ‘star pupil’ status!
  • My trash company picks up our trash and recycling on Wednesday mornings. That motivates me to tidy up and fill up the bins on Tuesdays. If I don’t use that space in the bins each week, it’s permanently lost as I can only put out what fits in the bins.

2. Observe when you already do the behavior you’re trying to make a habit.

My latest book, Stress-Free Productivity, is about using self-knowledge to personalize your productivity. Instead of adopting other people’s systems and suggestions, you can reverse-engineer your own. If there is a behavior you do sporadically, identify if there is any pattern to when you do it.

“When” could be related to time (e.g., day of the week, month of the year), or it could be related to circumstance (e.g., when your partner is out of town or when your kids go back to school after vacations).

If you already have a bit of a habit, you can strengthen it, including to built habits of doing behaviors you enjoy more. For example, I like listening to author Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast specifically on road trips. But, I don’t always think about doing this or downloading episodes ahead of time if I have poor service.

3. Observe your best windows of self-regulation.

Most of us have windows of time when we’re more focused and on-task than other times. My best windows are Mondays to Wednesdays, from when I wake up until about 1 pm.

Work with your natural rhythms rather than against them. If a habit is critically important, plan to do it within your best windows of self-regulation.

Too often, people plan to do their most important tasks when they’re already exhausted from other work. For example, you think you’ll work on your most important long-term project at 3 pm after you’ve finished all your urgent work to-do’s.

4. Use “resets.”

Research shows that when our existing habits are disrupted, we’re most apt to build new habits. You can engineer this through different types of “resets.” For example, periodically delete all your YouTube or podcast subscriptions, and see which ones you miss.

If you’re even more game, you can do the same with paid memberships, like Costco or Netflix. Periodically cancel all (or some) of them and try a habit reset.

What other ideas do you have for how you could “reset” your current habits and allow new ones to emerge in their place organically?

5. Use natural social regulators.

If you have friends who have good habits you’d like to adopt, then involve yourself in their habits more. For example, if your friend hikes every weekend with their hiking club, then why not join that club?

Advice on habits can feel quite trite after a while. Sometimes it can feel like yet another lecture on how we should all eat better, exercise more, and do more deep work. However, there are more fun and personalized ways you can construct habits.

Originally written for Psychology Today this article has been reproduced with the permission of the author, Dr Alice Boyes.

Alice Boyes, Ph.D., translates principles from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and social psychology into tips people can use in their everyday lives.  Alice grew up in New Zealand and now lives and works in the USA.

Stress-free productivity : a personalized toolkit to become your most efficient and creative self / Boyes, Alice
“From the author of The Anxiety Toolkit, a guide to creating your own personalized productivity plan, using self-science to make systems that work for you”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Also available as e-book

 

The healthy mind toolkit : simple strategies to get out of your own way and enjoy your life / Boyes, Alice
“[The author] provides easy, practical solutions that will help you identify how you’re holding yourself back and how to reverse your self-sabotaging behaviors. Blending scientific research with techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy, this … book will take you through the steps to address this overarching problem”–Amazon.com.” (Catalogue)  E-book format only

 

The anxiety toolkit : strategies for fine-tuning your mind and moving past your stuck points / Boyes, Alice
“Drawing on extensive social psychology research, and the author’s training and clinical experience in Cognitive-Behavioral therapy, The Anxiety Toolkit offers actionable strategies that anyone can use to manage their anxiety–both personal and professional. Anxious people often think a great deal about why they think and behave the way they do. They seek self-improvement information yet often get stuck in applying it. They read popular self-help books for anxiety, but these books are highly simplified, to the extent readers can’t make the leap from the examples in the books to their more complex real world problems. They turn to business books because they’re motivated to achieve greater success, but since these books don’t address the reasons anxious people get stuck, they’re not especially helpful. The Anxiety Toolkit provides the information anxious people look for but can’t find. It draws on extensive social psychology research, and the author’s training and clinical experience in Cognitive-Behavioral psychology, addressing the core problems that impede people who are anxious–inhibition, biased thinking, rumination, intolerance of uncertainty, excessive responsibility taking, self-criticism, perfectionism, and avoidance coping–and providing readers with the tools to manage these tendencies”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Also available as e-Audiobook