A short and effective way to stick to your habits.

I’ve found that the quickest way to improving one’s life is to focus on what kind of habits you have vs what kind of goals you have. I came to this conclusion after reading the book Atomic Habits, by James Clear. It has completely changed my life and the way I approach my goals.

I guarantee the information will be beneficial as it has also changed millions of James’s readers as well.

To summarize the book into a few sentences. James teaches you what a habit truly is and how our lives are made up of our habits. He explains that if you want to achieve a goal that could change your life, you must focus establishing the habits that support that goal. While also eliminating the habits that are holding you back.

For example, if your goal is to lose weight you must first establish the habit of eating health and exorcising. If your goal is to Run a Marathon, you must develop the habit of running. If your goal is to invent something, you must build the habit of creating new ideas, etc.

This is useful information but in reality, it can be hard to keep up with a new habit especially because breaking a bad habit can be very uncomfortable. However, with the tricks I am about to give you, you will find it a little easier to keep yourself accountable and take more steps to achieving your goals.

Habit Tracking

For this exorcise you will need a pen and some paper. What you will do for a whole day is track every single activity you do whether it be good or bad. Write it down without any judgement.

(Example Graphic)

You may be surprised to at what you’re doing throughout the day, and this will give you a starting point. Now what you’ll do is identify the good vs the bad. Doing this will allow you to free up more time with more positive activities. Now we will talk about how to start a habit.

Habit Planning

Okay, so take the goal you want to accomplish. Whether it be to run a marathon, learn a new language, create a popular YouTube channel, you need to figure out the habits you will need to bring you to that goal. Carefully consider what it is you will need to do every day and carve out a slot of time to accomplish that goal.

Like I said before it can be pretty difficult to start a new habit. I think that most people go about habits all wrong. Back when I was just getting started the habit of going to the gym I decided that I would go 5 times a weak eat only chicken, rice and broccoli and stretch for 20 minutes. As you may have guessed this only lasted for about three days. By the 4th day I as exhausted, soar and craving a cheeseburger.

Only now do I realize that you have to start small and give yourself the easy wins in order to stay motivated. Treat your habits like working out a muscle. when starting out you start small, then work yourself up to heavier weights.

The 2 Minute Rule

The 2-minute rule is simply a contract that you make with yourself. Like I said you have to treat a habit like working out especially if it is difficult to stay consistent. Whatever habits you plan on implementing, you will boil them down it about a 2-minute equivalent. Below you will see possible examples:

(Example Graphic)

The thought process behind this is, that it’s better to go slow than backwards. We want to develop the habit of showing up every single day for ourselves. Doing that will instill confidence in us and it will make working up to those denser habits much easier.

If our habits really are a collection of time invested into ourselves. 2 Minutes really does make a difference.