This Habit Hack Is So Simple, I Don’t Know Why Most People Don’t Use It.

Creating new habits is as easy as pooping.

Image description: Your subconscious waiting for you to create cues it can follow.

If you go for a number 2 daily, have you noticed how on the clock your bowels can be?

Your body loves structure and schedules.

People with good sleep habits feel sleepy at the same time every day and wake up minutes before their alarm because they have created the structure.

When I started intermittent fasting, it was hard at the start. But soon, my body noticed I no longer ate breakfast and voila, those morning hunger pangs became nonexistent.

Your subconscious is like a well-trained puppy. It’s always sat patiently waiting for set cues to trigger certain behaviour. But you need to teach it those cues.

Use that to your advantage.

For instance, if you want to build a writing habit, set a time and show up regularly at that time, whether you write or not. Create the routine consciously and then watch your subconscious take over after a few weeks.

If you want to create a habit of going running outdoors but struggle to start and maintain the habit, then maybe don't start with a 5K. The thought of going for a 5km run can feel so tasking. Start with building the habit of being outdoors at a certain time every day.

Start with waking up, and getting up (for most, getting up is even harder than waking up). Wear your running shoes, go outside, walk around your block and return home. Do that on a set pattern for 21 days and you would have created the habit of going out for a run. The running can come after.

Create structure to achieve ease.

Anything worthwhile is hard at the start, but break it into piecemeal so that it is relatively easier to start, then give it time and watch it become easier.

Don’t just rock up and carry out your new habit at random times. Try to set a regularity that will help your internal clock know it’s not 7 o’clock but gym o’clock. It’s not 10 pm, it’s bed pm. It’s not 9 o’clock but write o’clock.

I plan to learn how to play the guitar this year and to do that; I am going to practise at a set time daily. 5 minutes at the start. And on days I don’t feel like practising, I will sit on my couch and still hold on to the guitar for the set number of minutes. Creating that pattern and easing that discomfort of the unfamiliar.

Hard at the start — give it time — easy later.

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