Mahatma Gandhi once stated, "Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny." And if your destiny isn't justification enough to enhance your routines, then absolutely nothing is.

The fact is, all of us have excellent practices and bad ones, and we want more of the excellent ones and less of the bad ones. But how to accomplish that?

Beginning with comprehending what kind of person you are, and after that suggesting particular, simple techniques that you can utilize this very same day, these ideas provide a roadmap to dominating our bad practices and sticking to our excellent ones.

In this post, you'll find out

How a Swedish musical staircase convinced individuals not to take the elevator;

Why men add weight after getting divorced; and

Why some robbers found chocolate in a millionaire's safe.

 

Idea 1

If you want to take control of your routines you must have knowledge of thyself.

Aristotle's imperative-- "Know thyself!"-- still rings true today. To ditch bad practices or stick to excellent ones, you need to know who you are. And you'll likely fall under one of these four character types:

If you're an Upholder, you find it effortless to react to your own and others' expectations. You always do every single thing on your to-do list. However, you tend to dawdle when there are no well-defined guidelines or requirements.

For example, if going to the workout center is in the schedule, an Upholder will go even if the weather is terrible, or she's tired from work. If it's not in the schedule, though, she'd probably avoid it even if it would be a fine day to exercise.

If you scrutinize what's anticipated of you and comply just if they make good sense to you, you're more of a Questioner. This usually implies that when you wish to begin a brand-new practice, you take forever to gather propulsion.

A Questioner wanting to start a workout center habit can benefit from exercise apps or other data sources due to the fact that when he sees analytical proof that he's shedding some pounds, he'll be more inspired to stick to his workout center routine.

If you're an Obliger, you have no issue meeting expectations when they're enforced on you, but you find it hard to impose expectations on yourself. Therefore if you as an Obliger wish to go to the workout center more, you need to get a workout pal who'll compel you into going.

Finally, if you're a Rebel, you withstand all expectations, whether they come from you or other individuals. Authenticity and self-determination are your guides. If you're a Rebel you ought to avoid putting activities in your calendar (if you have one at all) and just say to yourself you're going to the fitness center today simply because you wish to, not because it's in the calendar.

Which type are you? Understanding this will assist you to form new habits.

Idea 2

Utilizing a work schedule and monitoring your practices will make creating and sustaining the great ones easier.

You know the feeling when you're at a dining establishment, and there are numerous tasty choices on the menu that you simply can't decide? The basic truth is that for us human beings, making choices is hard.

That's why when you're attempting to pick up a brand-new routine like say, going to the workout center, you need to take decision-making out of the equation. If you need to separately decide each and every day whether to hit the weights or not, you'll probably wind up skipping many of your exercises. So do not think-- just do! Decide today to put your exercises for the next months in your work schedule, and you'll no longer need to make any other decisions. Just follow your schedule!

What else can you do to make getting new routines easier?

Start monitoring your behavior.

Consider your diet. In 2010, 70 percent of Americans were obese. Being overweight is the top cause of cancerous cells and diabetes, so it's not a surprise that the most typical habits people want to adopt are eating less and eating much healthier.

One of the most efficient techniques to form such habits is to keep a food journal in which you jot down whatever you consume.

Research study has actually shown we're bad at determining how much we consume. We likewise have the desire to take in things in systems of one, like one hamburger or one pizza, no matter how huge the serving. This can be a considerable problem, but keeping a food journal will help you get your eating controlled by tracking how much you've actually snacked on.

If you desire more exercise, you can buy a pedometer, a device that counts your actions. Utilize this to keep an eye on just how much you move each day and make every effort to increase your number of actions.

One 2003 research study showed that the average American takes around 5,117 steps daily, which is just about half as many as we need to stay healthy.

Idea 3

Clean slates are fantastic for introducing brand-new habits.

Ever tried to change a nasty behavior, like nail biting? It's not easy. Changing our habits is infamously tough for the reason that our daily regimens are so implanted in us.

However, when a significant change occurs in our life, like moving house, getting a new job, or perhaps experiencing brand-new love, our routines suddenly change or perhaps disappear completely. Such times are perfect for creating new and better behaviors!

Take into account a study of individuals who wished to overhaul their diet. A whopping 36 percent of those who achieved success had recently relocated to a different location.

Another study discovered that students who wished to start exercising more or watch less tv were much more likely to succeed if they had just recently registered at a new university.

Research has also found that marital relationships and divorce can massively affect our habits-- especially our feeding and workout habits. Divorced men, for instance, often gain weight; conversely, ladies tend to gain weight after a marital relationship.

So why do significant life changes make it a lot easier to embrace new behaviors?

Starting afresh changes our viewpoint on life and makes it easier to create brand-new regimens.

Say you're a single mom or dad whose top priority has actually been generating sufficient income to ensure your children are provided for and will have the ability to go to college. When your children leave the nest and there are no more tuition fees to cover, what then?

Times like these can shed new light on life and are frequently an optimum time to begin forming new behaviors. For example, now that you have more time and freedom on your hands, why not take that rock climbing training you always desired to?

Idea 4

It's a lot easier to favorably form our lives when we make great habits comfortable and bad ones cumbersome.

Let's face it-- most of us are pretty lazy. So if we want to maintain our excellent behaviors, we need to make them as convenient and straightforward as we possibly can.

Say you wish to start mingling more. If you have to go to the trouble of making plans and calling your buddies every time you feel like interacting socially, you'll often wind up by yourself because you can't be troubled. Nevertheless, joining a group that has regular meet-ups, such as a book club, can make things far much easier because it reduces the effort required.

Another excellent way to make something easier is to make it enjoyable.

For example, when the stairs in a subway station in Sweden were transformed into a keyboard that played notes as you walked up them, the number of people who took the stairs instead of the escalator increased by 66 percent!

Having said that, we ought to strive to make bad behaviors inconvenient to indulge in. Even a slight hassle can have a substantial subconscious outcome.

For example, studies have found that people put smaller parts of food on their plates if they're using tongs instead of more comfortable serving spoons.

Another study showed that when the cover of an ice cream cooler was left open in a café, 30 percent of the customers purchased ice cream, whereas just 14 percent bought ice cream if they had to open the cover themselves.

We can utilize this knowledge to our benefit, especially when it concerns modifying our daily behaviors, such as what and how much we eat.

Anne Bass, the millionaire and socialite, was once forced by burglars to open her safe. To the burglars' surprise, they didn't only find money and fashion jewelry within-- they also found chocolate! Bass explained that her chocolate intake had begun to get out of hand, and this was her way of cutting back.

Idea 5

Guard against temptation and do not utilize excuses.

Do you ever feel like your entire life revolves around withstanding temptation? Well, you're not totally wrong. Research has actually found that we spend around a quarter of our waking life having a hard time resisting some type of temptation. It is not a surprise then that frequently our success in embracing excellent habits or dropping bad ones depends upon our capability to resist temptation.

How can we do this successfully?

We can start by preparing for and decreasing our exposure to temptation. Doing this is necessary for breaking bad behaviors.

The old adage "out of sight, out of mind" is frequently helpful. Jacob Tomsky, a specialist in hospitality, observes that alcoholics typically request that the minibar be emptied of alcohol prior to they sign in to their hotel rooms.

Or take the story of the Sirens in Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus is alerted against listening to the haunting tune of the Sirens, popular for enticing seafarers to their deaths. In order to protect his team, he has them put wax in their ears, blocking out the temptation.

Resisting temptation is also the key to maintaining great behaviors, for we're often tempted to come up with excuses to avoid them.

Oddly, even if we have a solid habit of doing something we delight in and that benefits us, we typically still look for loopholes and excuses not to do it.

One of the most oft-used loopholes is the Moral Licensing Loophole, i.e., when we treat ourselves to something "bad"-- like scarfing a candy bar or splurging on a brand-new pair of shoes-- after doing something "excellent." If you're attempting to drop weight, for instance, you may indulge in a hamburger and french fries after a workout. However given that dropping weight has more to do with changing what you eat than with increasing your workout, such "incentives" are detrimental.

Keep in mind the Obligers from the first point. They have a specifically hard time with this, as their motivation is to please others. So when no one's watching, it's easy for them to find excuses.

Idea 6

It's a lot easier to form good habits when you find the right distractions and learn to work without the assurance of incentives.

Why do we constantly see distraction as an unfavorable thing? When it comes to avoiding bad habits, distractions can be a genuine gift.

So the next time you feel the necessity to combat undesirable thoughts and yearnings, try to distract yourself.

Why?

Everybody understands that attempting to suppress your ideas or yearnings will only worsen them, so a far much better technique is to shift your focus. That is, to distract yourself.

Research has actually revealed that if we learn to move our attention away from a craving, it will damage within just 15 minutes.

When utilized in the right way, distraction can also be a wonderful way to reduce tension and worrisome thoughts. However, what should you distract yourself with?

Research shows that distraction as a technique works finest when we shift our attention to something enjoyable and absorbing, instead of something stressful or arousing. So, select Kung Fu Panda, not Schindler's List.

Another unexpected reality when it concerns our habits is that rewarding etiquette, which may appear like a favorable thing, can really make imposing good behaviors more difficult.

We often assume that incentives make it much easier to form brand-new habits. The opposite, nevertheless, holds true. Doing things so as to be rewarded can be highly addicting, and if the incentive is later on withdrawn, what's the point in acting in that way any longer?

Studies have shown that rewarding children for excellent habits is not oftentimes only useless, but can have the inverse of the preferred effect.

In one research study, 2 groups of children were presented with Magic Markers to color with, with one group being rewarded for using them and the other not. The result? The group that got the reward was actually less likely to continue coloring later.

Idea 7

Pair good habits together, and offer yourself a reward once in a while.

We have actually seen how rewards aren't constantly useful when we wish to stick to our good behaviors. Thankfully, there are other methods we can use. One is called pairing.

Pairing is merely taking 2 activities, one that you delight in doing and one that you want to do but find a bit more difficult, and making them reliant on one another. This makes it easier to maintain good habits.

Let's say you wish to maintain your habit of running more, and also reading more books. Why not get an audiobook and resolve to only listen to it while you're running? In this manner, if you desire to find out what's going to happen in the next chapter, you need to get your running shoes on!

If you take some kind of medication, try placing your tablets beside your coffee maker and only have a cup of coffee when you've taken your meds. As long as drinking coffee isn't a habit you're attempting to break, this kind of pairing is an excellent way to guarantee you take your medication when you make your morning brew.

Next up, let's look at treats.

Creating brand-new behaviors, like working out more, eating less or giving up smoking cigarettes, can be tough. It's therefore important to grant yourself a lift occasionally without motivating the need for a reward to keep up the great work. The solution is to treat yourself from time to time.

Treats differ from incentives in that we do not need to earn them-- they're just something we give ourselves. They can be something as basic as a five-minute stroll in the sun or smelling a gorgeous flower. The primary thing is that it's a spontaneous present, instead of a prepared one, and it's not offered in return for any pre-determined accomplishment.

The key message in this book:

You can build and maintain good habits, and even stay away from bad ones, by using some basic techniques: Distract yourself, utilize treats instead of rewards, understand what sort of individual you are, and make your good habits convenient!