How To Build a New Habit and Make It Stick

Follow this three-step process to succeed

Have you tried to adopt a new habit but failed miserably at it? If that’s the case, then most likely, you didn’t do it right.

Many of us set goals to change a habit or behavior overnight to later be frustrated that we didn’t succeed.

According to Charles Duhigg, the author of Power of Habit, the reason why people fail at adopting a habit is that they don’t understand how habits are formed.

Habit structure

First, you should understand that every habit consists of three phases.

• Cue

It can be a trigger — internal or external environment — which prompts you to take some sort of action

• Action

The steps you take towards forming or getting rid of a habit

• Reward

What your brain receives in response to the action you take

Here is a 3-step process to forming a new habit and making it stick.

1) Start small

Many people make a grave mistake by trying to change themselves overnight. The truth is, forming a habit is a gradual process and takes time.

If you’re used to a sedentary lifestyle, trying to run a marathon in one month will be unrealistic. Or if you want to adopt a vegan lifestyle, you shouldn’t drastically change your diet overnight and stop eating meat entirely.

To reach your goal, you’d have to start small and take incremental steps forward. That way, it’ll be hard for you to resist.

• If you want to eat healthier, add an additional fruit or a serving of vegetables a day
• If you want to be a writer, start by writing a paragraph a day
• If you want to build a freelance business, start by sending a few pitches a day

2) Be consistent

Consistency is critical for acquiring a new habit. You have to keep doing something over and over, so it becomes ingrained in your brain.

You can build virtually any habit by repeating the same behavior every day. For example, when I first started writing on Medium, my goal was to write every day. That means I dedicated a certain amount of time in the morning and evening exclusively to writing. I gradually built my habit by showing up and writing consistently.

In the process of acquiring this new habit, I started with writing two or three times a week for about 30 minutes a day. Then, after a couple of weeks, I increased the frequency as well as the amount of time I wrote each day. Now, as I’ve built this writing habit, I effortlessly write 1–2 hours each day.

How you can do it

You can use a similar strategy for building your own habit. Start small and gradually work your way up to to your goal.

If you want to form an exercise habit, engage in physical activity once a week for a couple of weeks; the next week, increase the frequency to twice a week. By next month, you will have built the exercise habit.

If you aim to write every day, start once or twice a week and do it consistently for two weeks. Then the next week, increase the frequency to three times a week until you reach the desired frequency.

3) Give yourself a 30-day window

“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.”

— Charles Duhigg

It usually takes three to four weeks to acquire a new habit. So give yourself a full month to see the results.

With that said, don’t try to rush through the process. The key is to make it through the initial phase so it gets easier. So when you first start, set a small goal where you can make a small change. Do it at a slow pace. It’s important for you to take the same steps towards a habit and do it consistently so it sticks in the long-term.

The bottom line

You will be more successful at forming a new habit if you do it gradually and consistently. You can build practically any habit if you follow the right steps.

To form a new habit, you need to remember to start small, be consistent, and give yourself a 30-day window.