changing daily habits = success

One of the biggest challenges facing us as human beings is feeling stuck and struggling to truly become the person we want to be. We see others make big changes and seemingly easily becoming a success, and we wonder how they did it. The more I learn about this topic, the more I realize that it is in our daily habits that long term success is created. It is not that one big decision or luck that helps us have the life we want; it is what we do every single day. Our mind actually loves habits. It thrives on patterns and doing the same things regularly. Once things become a habit, we don’t even have to think about it. But until then, we do have to purposely utilize tools to help them until that day when they become habit and we don’t have to think about them. Have you struggled with changing your daily habits? For example, trying to quit drinking, or stop snacking late at night? There are tried and true techniques that can help make it easier. I learned a lot about this through the work of others, including some of the founders of behavioral therapy such as B.F. Skinner and Pavlov. We can learn a lot from Operant Conditioining (using rewards and punishments) and Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) to help shape our own behavior! If we associate that new habit (that we probably don’t love doing), with something good that we do love (reward) we will begin to associate that new habit with the good reward. For example, we can treat ourselves to a special coffee, or a walk, or a new phone, etc. by pairing that good thing we want with the things we don’t like. Over time, we will associate going to the gym with getting a nice Starbucks drink. Because of how conditioning works, we will actually start to look forward to going to the gym. How cool is that? We also can help make it easier on ourselves to not have excuses that might get in the way of starting the new habit (such as going to the gym), but trying to make it as easy as possible and set our reminders that will trigger us to remember this new habit. For example, we could set out our gym clothes the night before, have our water bottle ready to go, and maybe even put up a photo of us when we were most in shape on our fridge. All of these things can help to make it as easy as possible to follow through with our desired new habit. Another good reminder when trying to make a behavior change, is to focus on small changes over time. So we wouldn’t start with 2 hours at the gym once or twice a week, we would start with 15 minutes at the gym 5-7 days per week. This will help the new habit become more consistent and have a better chance of it becoming a part of our regular routine. So- what new habits or routines will help you start on the path to success and building the life you want? What can you do to help them become a part of your daily routine and habits?