Build A Consistency Habit

This document provides a strategy guide for building new habits that stick. It explains that habits account for 40% of daily behaviors and understanding how to build them is key to progress. It recommends starting very small, making incremental increases, breaking large habits into chunks, quickly recovering from slip ups, and being patient.

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Stéphane Doueu

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Build A Consistency Habit

Uploaded by

Stéphane Doueu

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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How to Build a New Habit: This

is Your Strategy Guide

written by J A M E S C L E A R

BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY HABITS

According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about

40 percent of our behaviors on any given day. Understanding how to
build new habits (and how your current ones work) is essential for
making progress in your health, your happiness, and your life in
general.

But there can be a lot of information out there and most of it isn’t very
simple to digest. To solve this problem and break things down in a
very simple manner, I have created this strategy guide for how to build
new habits that actually stick.

Even more detailed information is available in my book, Atomic

Habits.

1. Start with an incredibly small habit.

Make it so easy you can’t say no.

—Leo Babauta
When most people struggle to build new habits, they say something
like, “I just need more motivation.” Or, “I wish I had as
much willpower as you do.”

This is the wrong approach. Research shows that willpower is like a

muscle. It gets fatigued as you use it throughout the day. Another way
to think of this is that your motivation ebbs and flows. It rises and
falls. Stanford professor BJ Fogg calls this the “motivation wave.”

Solve this problem by picking a new habit that is easy enough that you
don’t need motivation to do it. Rather than starting with 50 pushups
per day, start with 5 pushups per day. Rather than trying to meditate
for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating for one minute per day.
Make it easy enough that you can get it done without motivation.
Further reading: Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to
Your Goals

2. Increase your habit in very small ways.

Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure

is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
—Jim Rohn

One percent improvements add up surprisingly fast. So do one percent

declines.

Rather than trying to do something amazing from the beginning, start

small and gradually improve. Along the way, your willpower and
motivation will increase, which will make it easier to stick to your
habit for good.

3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.

If you continue adding one percent each day, then you’ll find yourself
increasing very quickly within two or three months. It is important to
keep each habit reasonable, so that you can maintain momentum and
make the behavior as easy as possible to accomplish.
Building up to 20 minutes of meditation? Split it into two segments of
10 minutes at first.

Trying to do 50 pushups per day? Five sets of 10 might be much

easier as you make your way there.

4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.

The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you
lose control.
—Kelly McGonigal
Top performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just
like everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as
quickly as possible.

Research has shown that missing your habit once, no matter when it
occurs, has no measurable impact on your long-term progress. Rather
than trying to be perfect, abandon your all-or-nothing mentality.

You shouldn’t expect to fail, but you should plan for failure. Take
some time to consider what will prevent your habit from happening.
What are some things that are likely to get in your way? What are
some daily emergencies that are likely to pull you off course? How
can you plan to work around these issues? Or, at least, how you can
bounce back quickly from them and get back on track?

You just need to be consistent, not perfect. Focus on building the

identity of someone who never misses a habit twice.

5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.

Learning to be patient is perhaps the most critical skill of all. You can
make incredible progress if you are consistent and patient.

If you are adding weight in the gym, you should probably go slower
than you think. If you are adding daily sales calls to your business
strategy, you should probably start with fewer than you expect to
handle. Patience is everything. Do things you can sustain.

New habits should feel easy, especially in the beginning. If you stay
consistent and continue increasing your habit it will get hard enough,
fast enough. It always does.

If you want more practical ideas for how to build new habits (and
break bad ones), check out my book Atomic Habits, which will show
you how small changes in habits can lead to remarkable results.
FOOTNOTES

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my popular
email newsletter. Each week, I share 3 short ideas from me, 2 quotes
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