Habits

We all have habits, whether they’re good or bad and we can even learn new habits as well as unlearn old ones.

Let’s say we want to start reading more (or even at all) it’s best to start small. Perhaps there’s a time of day that suits you and you can schedule out time to read. But be careful with your expectations of yourself, I’d call it a win if you even picked up a book and read 3 pages because that’s a starting point you can gradually improve upon.

What some people do however when trying to learn new habits is that they either have crazy expectations or try to learn too many new habits at a time.

I’ve caught myself doing this a few times, where I plan on reading, exercising, listening to a podcast, learning a song on the piano, coding up a little game, cooking dinner and cleaning the house all in the same day.

My plan is possible, but it’s not at all realistic.

I instead suggest that we take on one habit at a time (with ridiculously low expectations which we can gradually increase) instead of trying to do everything at once.

Once we’ve gotten the hang of a new habit can we try adapting to a new one. We can even think of chaining them together (like when you are done reading, you play a song on the piano) or even doing things simultaneously like listening to a podcast while you clean the house.

It may feel silly to only plan to read 3 pages for the day and have nothing else planned but stick with it because we are trying to make it a habit instead of a chore. You want to naturally do it instead of forcing yourself to do it. You don’t even think about brushing your teeth, you just do it and it’s that feeling we want to develop.

Once reading feels natural, then you can think about stacking other habits gradually with low expectations at first which will result in a more sustainable way of shaping the days you want to experience.