The key to a better new year’s resolutions approach

We all know the drill, don’t we? December is hectic and even though we’ve got the best intentions, we skip our exercise routine, eat and drink way too much and once the new year comes around we feel pretty blah. But, that’s okay, because we’ve made a new year’s resolution that will fix it all, right? Going to the gym five times a week, no more alcohol, and only the healthiest things will pass our lips. Okay, let’s do this!!

About two weeks in, our resolution has gone belly up and we feel pretty guilty about it. What if I tell you that it was doomed to fail from the start? We as a species are not good with drastic change and that is simply part of being human. ‘But what about these high achievers in the world like Mother Theresa or Mahatma Ghandi? How did they manage to be so disciplined?’ They all had one thing in common: many good little habits that lead to the accomplishment of many great things.

I just finished reading a book that deeply impressed me called ‘Tiny Habits’ by Dr B.J. Fogg who is a behavioural scientist at Standford University. Dr Fogg says that the key to changing our behaviour is that we should start small. Instead of aiming to go to the gym five days per week, start small, like doing 5 minutes of exercise at home 2 days a week. After a week or two increase it to 10 minutes a day. After several weeks of doing your new habit your brain will begin to hard wire the new habit and you will start going to the gym without even having to set a reminder (subconscious behaviour).

An easy way to establish a new habit is to perform what Dr Fogg calls “habit stacking”. All you have to do is add a new habit onto a habit that you currently have, which I’m sure you have plenty of (maybe without you realising). Take your morning or evening routine for example. Maybe add some air squats while you brush your teeth, or do some jumping jacks while you wait for the kettle to boil. You can keep on adding to these routines, i.e. do a couple of push-ups after you’ve been to the loo. It doesn’t matter where you are – home, on vacation or on a business trip – it is easy to stick to this routine, and before you know it, you have formed a new healthy habit.

What I’m trying to tell you is that habits can take a while to form so go easy on yourself, don’t beat yourself up and start ‘tiny’. The important thing is to start at all.

Cheers,

Adam