The power of habit

We all want to be better at what we do. As humans, we start out with very clear intentions and a buzz of motivation when we set ourselves a goal. Think back to the annual New Year's resolutions that we all set - giving up junk food, losing weight, joining a gym, and all the other ideas that we have. Most of us don't follow through with these because we are starting with the result rather than the process. We know what the outcome is but we don't consider the steps or small habits that will reinforce your idea and make it come to life. 

Consider one of the most common goals, resolutions, or statements that the average adult makes - "I want to get fit".

Some people will join a gym, start running or exercising at home or even join a sporting club to reach this outcome of getting fit. How hard is it to commit to going for a run for a set time or set distance four times a week and keep doing so for months or years?

We find it easy to make excuses and break a good habit to replace it with a bad habit. What would happen if we committed to running for five minutes a day? We may find it harder to give in to excuses because it is only five minutes. Now if those five minutes happened every week for nine weeks, I would form a new habit that had a baseline - Five minutes per day or 35 minutes per week. My body would appreciate the consistency and I would build a habit. Once I had become comfortable with five minutes per day, it is very likely that I could add another minute or more to each run, and all of a sudden, that outcome of committing to run each week has become a manageable and achievable habit that, once formed, will be hard for me to break. 

This method is supported by award-winning writer James Clear, who wrote the fabulous book 'Atomic Habits' to help people form positive new ones and break negative old ones. Clear calls it the Four Laws:

• Cue: something that triggers a behavior. If we want to develop a good habit, make your cues obvious so they will prompt you to act. Chop the fruit or veggies ahead of time and put them in the front and center of the fridge so you grab them instead of a high sugar bar. Put your running shoes next to your bed and wear your gear so you can hop out of bed and run instead of finding excuses not to. I tend to put my mountain bike on my car hours ahead of when I am going to ride so on those days where I try and talk myself out of it, I can say “well it’s all ready to go so let’s just do it.”
• Craving: something that makes a desired behavior more attractive. This is where team culture comes in. It is easier to do the right thing when everyone else is doing the right thing. A parent might reinforce behavior by saying “you get to play video games for every minute you exercise/practice/do chores.” In a team setting, the social environment really matters, and good culture makes it uncomfortable NOT to do the desired behaviors.
• Response: make it easy and as convenient as possible to do the things you want to do, and avoid the things you don’t. Eating too much ice cream? Don’t put it front and center of your freezer. Duct tape it shut and shove it in the way back under other stuff. When you reduce the friction to good choices, you are more likely to make better choices. In other words, design a system that makes good behavior convenient.
• Reward: Make it satisfying to do something right. This does not mean effusive or false praise from a parent or coach, but it does mean catch someone being good. Clear calls this the Cardinal rule of behavior change: “Behaviors that are immediately rewarded get repeated, behaviors that are immediately punished get avoided” I am not advocating physical punishment here as much as I am advocating coaches and parents being very intentional to catch people being good and to highlight the right behaviors.

Think about the current world that we live in where a global pandemic has completely changed everyone's lifestyle. Regardless of your industry, age, financial status or nationality, the habits that we have been forced to adopt (albeit monotonous) have become consistent. This is therefore a great time to remove some old habits and form some new habits in the current 'bubble' that we live in.

As the great Dutch footballer Johan 

Cruyff once said "Every disadvantage has an advantage."