From: 23x11.5c@gmail.com   
      
   Eight Ways to Build New Habits and Make Them Stick   
   by MARELISA   
      
      
      
   Good habits make all the difference in life. When you've created good habits   
   you do the right things, without even having to think about it. That is, you   
   put the behavior that will allow you to achieve your goals on automatic pilot.   
      
   Choose the habits that you want to adopt, follow the eight tips below to build   
   those habits and make them stick, and then watch in amazement as you achieve   
   your goals and your life is transformed.   
      
   1. Believe that You Can Build New Habits. The first step in building a new   
   habit is believing that you can. You may have tried and failed several times   
   in the past to create good habits such as exercising, becoming an early riser,   
   and adopting a    
   meditation practice. However, stop telling yourself that you're a lost cause.   
      
   Although it's true that some people are naturally better at creating new   
   habits than others, by following the right strategies everyone is capable of   
   building habits and making them stick. That is, it's not that you don't have   
   the ability to build new    
   habits, but that you've been doing it wrong.   
      
   2. Start Tiny. Most of us get really ambitious when it comes to creating new   
   habits. For example, a lot of people who haven't exercised in years decide   
   that they're going to start walking on the treadmill for forty minutes, five   
   days a week. However,    
   this is setting the bar so high, that failure is almost guaranteed.   
      
   A much better strategy is to set the bar so low, that you practically trip   
   over it. Make the decision to start walking on the treadmill for one minute a   
   day. After a while you can raise the bar to two minutes a day, then three   
   minutes, then four, and so    
   on. It'll take you a while to build up to forty minutes a day, but you'll get   
   there.   
      
   3. Be Specific. Almost everyone wants to adopt healthy eating habits. However,   
   "healthy eating habits" is so general and ambiguous, that it's unlikely to   
   result in any concrete action being taken. Instead, you can decide that you're   
   going to start taking    
   the following specific actions:   
      
   When you're at the grocery store, buy whole-grain pasta.   
   Start buying 2% milk.   
   Each weekday morning stick a handful of nuts and some raisins in a Ziploc bag,   
   and put the bag in your briefcase. Have the nuts-and-raisins mix as a   
   mid-afternoon snack instead of getting a chocolate bar from the vending   
   machine.   
   The more specific you are as to what you're going to do, the more likely it is   
   that you'll do it. And the more often you do it, the more likely it is to turn   
   into a habit.   
      
   4. Reduce Barriers. Sometimes there's an action that we want to start taking   
   on a regular basis, but when we think of taking the action, one or more   
   barriers get in the way. For example, let's say that you want to start riding   
   your bike every morning in    
   order to lose a few pounds. However, you store your bike in the garage and in   
   order to get to it you have to move a few boxes out of the way.   
      
   Having to move those boxes is a barrier. Even if it doesn't take more than one   
   or two minutes to get your bike out from behind the boxes, that's enough of a   
   barrier to reduce the likelihood that you'll go out for a bike ride.   
   Therefore, you need to find    
   a way to make your bike as easy to reach as possible.   
      
   The fewer barriers that exist between you and your bike, the more likely it is   
   that you'll be able to turn bike riding into a habit.   
      
   5. Tie It To a Trigger. Tie the action that you're trying to turn into a habit   
   to something that you're already doing on a regular basis. For example, if you   
   want to start following along with an exercise DVD five days a week, tie it to   
   some action that    
   you do on a daily basis, such as walking the kids to school. Do the following:   
      
   As soon as you walk into the house after dropping the kids off-which is the   
   trigger-, press "play" on the DVD player and get started huffing and puffing.   
   Every day follow up the trigger with the new habit, without fail. This will   
   create a bond between the trigger and the new habit.   
   Sooner than you think, you won't be able to do one without immediately   
   afterwards doing the other.   
   6. Reward Yourself. In his book, "The Power of Habit", Charles Duhigg explains   
   that there's something called "the habit loop". That is, every habit can be   
   broken down into three components:   
      
   The cue: The trigger to start the behavior that you want to turn into a habit.   
   A routine: The actual behavior that you're trying to turn into a habit.   
   A reward: When you complete the action that you're trying to automate, reward   
   yourself.   
   Duhigg explains that giving yourself a reward after performing the action that   
   you're trying to automate reinforces the habit loop in your brain, so the   
   habit is more likely to stick. He goes on to say that research shows that the   
   best way to get    
   yourself to start exercising is to reward yourself with a piece of chocolate   
   once you're done.   
      
   Eventually your brain will enjoy exercise for exercise's sake. However, at   
   first you have to trick your brain into creating the habit loop--that is,   
   trick it to develop the neurological patterns of a habit- by giving it a piece   
   of chocolate after each    
   exercise session as a reward.   
      
   7. Forgive Yourself If You Fall Off the Wagon. Picture this: you decide that   
   you're going to start having a fruit salad as a mid-afternoon snack at work   
   instead of taking a donut from the coffee room. The first week, everything   
   goes well. Every afternoon    
   you take your fruit salad out of the fridge in the coffee room and walk   
   triumphantly past the donuts.   
      
   However, on Monday of the second week you succumb to temptation: you take a   
   donut and you guiltily gulp it down. Afterwards you can't stop berating   
   yourself:   
      
   I'm such a pig!   
   I have no impulse control.   
   I'll never be able to change my eating habits. Why do I even try?   
   However, studies show that beating yourself up when you fall off the wagon is   
   counterproductive. Instead, you should be kind to yourself. Tell yourself that   
   you've had a minor setback, but that this happens to everyone when they're   
   trying to build a new    
   habit. Then, resolve to do better the next day.   
      
   8. Build One Habit At a Time. Changing your behavior requires willpower, and   
   willpower is a limited resource. That is, you simply do not have enough   
   willpower to tackle several habits at once. Therefore, you should only try to   
   build one habit at a time.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)