How to build good habits in 4 simple science-based steps

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How to build good habits in 4 simple science-based steps
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Habits are an important part of our lives because they practically form our personality. The results we have now in our lives are the results of the habits we’ve had till now.

Every important achievement takes time and effort for a limited or unlimited period of time.

For example, if we want to stay healthy for the rest of our lives then we must workout daily and eat healthy for the rest of our lives.

It’s okay to have cheat days sometimes and rest in bed and eat cakes all day. We are all human afterall.

However, the majority of time we should workout and eat healthy if we want to stay healthy for as long as possible. The same goes for every other part of our lives such as career, relationships, etc.

If you want to get some meaningful results worth fighting for then you should be ready to fight for them. Makes sense?

So, if you want to improve your life and don’t like the results you have now then you should start changing your habits.

And for many people it can be hard to make some big changes immediately. But it’s not impossible. You’re not alone. If one of us did it then why can’t you?

That’s why this article will show you how to build good habits in 4 simple science-based steps.

What is a habit?

A habit is a behavior you perform on a regular basis (e.g. every day or every week).

A good habit will help you reach your goals, develop both personally and professionally, and feel fulfilled.

4 steps how to create a good habit:

  1. Make it obvious
  2. Make it attractive
  3. Make it easy
  4. Make it satisfying.

1. Make it obvious

One of the ways to make it obvious is to change your environment so it could be easier for you to take action and start a habit.

For example, if you have a bowl of cookies in your kitchen then probably every time you are near that bowl you take some cookies. If you want to build a healthy eating habit then you can start with switching that bowl of cookies with a bowl of apples.

2. Make it attractive.

It is the anticipation of the reward – not the fulfillment of it – that gets us to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike [1].

One of the ways to make your habits more attractive is to pair an action you want to do with the action you need to do.
For example, after I exercise for ten minutes (action I need to do) I will watch a movie (action I want to do).

Also, community can have a significant impact on which behaviors are attractive to us. One of the most effective ways to build better habits is to join a community where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.

For example, if you want to create some healthy habits then you better join the community where healthy habits are normal and not the community where drinking and smoking is normal.

3. Make it easy.

One of the easiest ways to start a new habit is to make it so easy that you can’t say no to it.

For example, if you want to create an exercise habit then start to exercise for 1 minute per day. Or if you want to start a healthy eating habit then start eating one healthy food per day or one healthy meal per week.

Do this for 30 days and then you can increase the intensity and difficulty of this habit. The most important part of building a new habit is consistency.

If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done. And if you get one percent worse each day for one year, you’ll end up practically at zero or ~ 0.03 to be more precise (97% worse).

4. Make it satisfying.

After completing your habit give yourself some kind of reward so you would have the desire to do this habit again next time.

Summary

So, in this article we learned 4 steps on how to build good habits. These steps include making your new habit obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. If you want to create good habits then start applying what you learned in this article.

P.S. If you want to find out how science-based nutrition and diet can prevent the most common diseases, improve your overall health and help you live longer then you can click here to learn more.

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