How Can We Leverage The Power of Daily Habits To Settle Difficult Resolutions

Every year, millions resolve on being more productive, lose weight to get in shape, and learn new skills or hobbies. Most coaches advise limiting the number of resolutions and avoiding difficult resolutions by breaking them into smaller ones. A few weeks later many even start defaulting to small resolutions. To compensate for not completing small tasks on time we start setting logical but difficult resolutions. We often credit the willpower to stay resolute on difficult resolutions to the act of building habits. But building habits is not easy because habits are performed on daily basis and in order to build good habits we need to be ready to let go of old ineffective ones. The book Superhuman by Habit: A Guide to Becoming the Best Possible Version of Yourself, One Tiny Habit at a Time provides useful tips and considerations to build habits that last and make people more effective.

1- Given the limited amount of things we can do in a day, there is a ceiling to what we can achieve, at a personal and professional level. This means that if we don’t have good habits we will find it impossible to achieve goals and live the life we want;

2- We are creatures of habits, a simple example is brushing our teeth daily. We have the natural tendency to organize our life through habits;

3- Good habits are not more difficult to execute than bad habits, there are lots of things that make good habits harder to build than bad habits. While new habits are things that you do, old habits are things that make you what you are;

4- A habit’s power is measured cumulatively over the long term. The effect of smoking is relevant in the long term;

5- Habits can not be built without consistency and daily persistence. Let the process prevail, you cannot skip two days in a row, you need to perform the habit daily, reward small accomplishments, and punish delays and terrible results;

6- Be brutally honest with yourself in finding what bad habits are keeping you from progressing, eliminating them, and deliberately choosing good habits to build;

7- Know and understand yourself, are you the type of person who finds it easier to add new things to do, or the person who finds it easier to subtract things? For example, if you want to build the habit to lose weight, would you go to the gym or reduce your food intake and calories?

8- Are you excited or motivated to start a new habit? Excitement and motivation are different entities that can easily be confused in the early stages of a habit. While excitement is powerful and immediate like the energy that powers a sprinter, motivation is less powerful, in increments, and last longer like the energy that powers a marathon runner.