We have lived part of this year. Although we met not so long ago, is gradually starting to forget our impulses - with the old year and to say goodbye to old habits. Impressed by the holiday we promised myself to change habits and lifestyles for new, better, healthier. Since the beginning of the new year as if we got into the hands of a blank sheet of paper and a large box of colorful crayons - create, create!
And what came of it? Yes, something is nothing. Each of us has a habit we want to get rid of. And there are habits that we want to instill in yourself. For example, the habit of doing exercise to lose weight. Or the habit of eating healthy foods. Someone wants to meditate for a long time, someone wants to get rid of the habit of litter house beautiful but unnecessary things. We begin to live the new year with renewed vigor, full of inspiration and the desire to change something, but already in February or March, it is clear that this time everything will remain as before. Even if we faithfully undertake to inculcate new habits yourself, then after a while the desire to adhere to them begins to disappear. At first, we can be even more interesting to do something different, then it becomes difficult to do, and finally we just forget about it. And returns to its cozy, comfortable, old bad habits.
Why is this happening to each of us, again and again?
Who would have thought that this has nothing to do with our will power or the strength of our desire to change habits and lifestyles? It's all in the chemistry of the brain ...! We unknowingly just do not give your brain enough time to fully "rewired" to include a new habit and making it part of our daily lives. That is, we need to make our training as if the brain, and then we have a new habit is firmly rooted.
Easier said than done, you might think. How can we give your brain enough time so that he could rewire itself if we are not able to maintain self-motivation all the time?
It all comes down to understanding how habits are formed - and it really is an art and partly a scientific approach! Most of us are actively begin to eradicate bad habits. For example, we decide that it is necessary to lose weight. We will immediately change your diet, begin to actively do aerobics, or shaping, continuously weigh and count calories. Why, because they rightly say: change habits - change lives. Me, because all at once! But each of these changes is a series of a plurality of small habits. Deciding to lose weight, we load the program into the brain to introduce not one, but ten or more new habits. But our biological computer can not cope with the arrival of so many new programs at the same time. Not surprisingly, in the end we give up.
And what? Are we never be able to achieve goals and to hold a new habit for longer than a few weeks? Will! There is a well-studied method of changing your habits. We'll tell you about it.
A few steps that you need to do:
- Change your point of view
We must recognize that creating a new habit - this is a long process. Just can not change the habit overnight. You must see this as a process consisting of several starts and stops, and not as something that must happen by itself just because you wanted to. Creating new habits is an effort with many moving parts, which sometimes go out of your control. So, standing on the path, you must understand that it will not be straight and without bumps. At times he can be very zigzag.
- Before you start, make a plan
Before you change something, you must know exactly what you want to achieve. You may need some time out to think through all the details of your plan work on oneself. Note that you'll have something to correct relationships with loved ones, to take account of the availability and the "work" of your new habits. Take time to write down your plan. Only if you materialize your thoughts, bringing them down on paper, you really start to change something - now, not Monday, as usual. And not with the next New Year.
- Start with something simple
This is the most important step in creating a new habit. If you want to lose weight, do not proceed as described above. First choose one thing. For example, change their dietary habits. Again, start small. First, simply add more vegetables in the diet. Then replace the usual pasta or potatoes for dinner vegetable salad. Gradually Minimize consumption of sweets, pastries. Enter a habit instead of candy to feast on dried fruits. And so on - slowly, until it does not become routine for you. Starting with little habits, gradually you will be able to form a more complex habits. It's like a braided rope - weaving on a thin, weak strings can be woven very thick and strong rope.
Do not try to inculcate yourself several different habits. Start with one habit, and work on it until quite akin to it, and only then proceed to the next change of habits. It can take anywhere from six weeks to three months, it all depends on the complexity of the new habits. If you divide their attention among several new skills, it will undermine the chances of success of each.
- Create conditional signals
It is necessary to develop a specific framework for action that would remind you of the requirement under the new habit. Each of your old habits have such conditional signals that speak of the need of operation. For example, if you like to read while eating, even in the restaurant you will feel like you what is missing. Tripped signal "table - the food - the book." Attach your new habits such signals helps strengthen skills through brain chemistry.
The new habit is well "attached" to the existing force of habit. Want you to do regular dousing with cold feet - do it always strictly after brushing. So you create a connection "washing - brushing your teeth - a cold douche." Over time, you will be very hard to miss the tempering procedure!
Even if you cultivate the habit, which usually require a significant amount of time (eg, meditation, or evening walks), - start to perform these actions within five minutes. It sounds too simple, but believe me, it really is a very important rule. By doing so within a week or two, you make a habit of completely stable. So easy to pick out every day for five minutes! Tear off the same from the usual routine once an hour - half is much harder. This may even cause irritation. As soon as you feel that you can no longer do without the five-minute walks have become familiar - start to gradually increase the time.
- Create a kind of public accountability
Many of us do not talk to others about their intention to change habits. It seems like it is inconvenient! But if we tell it to someone, it can be a powerful motivator for us. Tell us about your aspirations close, announce it on their pages on social networks, tell us by e-mail to all your friends. And then create a system of daily or weekly reports about their success or failure in front of all these people. With this approach, there will be no place failures, we dare assure you!
To make it more fun to work on a very good idea to find a like-minded people, who together with you for re-took to themselves. Some elements of the competition - who will turn out better? Who will stronger? - Helps you maintain a high motivation. In addition, you can work together to develop better and more effective strategy and tactics of self.
Give yourself the opportunity to enjoy their achievements, even the smallest. Make a small reward for their hard daily work - it could be anything from a piece of chocolate to the permission itself half an hour to wander through the Internet. Noting the achievements, you can maintain interest in further work on their new habits.
Setbacks are inevitable. You can get sick. You may have to travel or change for some time familiar surroundings. Plan in advance possible failures, ponder a contingency plan for such cases. If something unexpected stop you - just start working again as soon as possible. But in any case, do not use the interference and failure as an excuse to stop their work on the new and old habits.
Creation of new sustainable habits is not easy, and you probably already had this experience for yourself. But the simple secrets of how to change their habits correctly will help you slowly but steadily to consolidate new skills. Try it and you will be able to change a lot. Now only you will be setting the bar of your achievements in this year!
