It’s simple to declare you have an exercise habit if you work out regularly. Except you might not constantly do the same workout; you might go for a run, swim, or lift weights. Perhaps you don’t usually exercise at the same time or in the same location. Even if you exercise regularly, it’s generally more true to state you commit to exercising rather than an exercise habit in these circumstances.
A habit entails more than merely repeating an action regularly.
An activity must have a degree of spontaneity and be initiated by a specific situation to be considered a habit. Habits may necessitate some conscious monitoring, but the amount of conscious effort necessary should be minimal.
A commitment, on the other hand, does not have to come naturally. It can take a lot of time and effort, but you do it regardless because you have a rule in your head that says you have to do it, so it happens even if it isn’t always automatic.
Which of your actions have become habits?
To be clear, there is no black-and-white distinction between habit and commitment. Exercising when you’re utterly out of shape takes a lot more effort and thought than exercising regularly, even if it’s not necessarily from the same context. If you rapidly revert not to perform push-ups if you stopped self-consciously, tracking your push-up habit. Even after over a year of doing them, you still have to remind yourself to do them. You don’t start performing push-ups by accident.
In contrast, you’ve been focusing on a different goal: reading and listening. This is more of a habit because you read on your own time, even though you have committed to reading for 10 minutes every day.
Are You Able to Turn Your Promises Into Habits?
There’s nothing wrong with making long-term commitments to do something rather than falling into an unconscious habit that happens without much thought or planning. Again, there are grey areas where something requires less effort but yet does not happen perfectly automatically.
There’s nothing wrong with making long-term commitments to do something rather than falling into an unconscious habit that happens without much thought or planning. Again, there are grey areas where something requires less effort but yet does not happen perfectly automatically.
Here are a few suggestions for turning promises into habits:
You’re less likely to become a habit if you don’t always act out your habit under the same contextual triggers, or if you act out your habit one way in certain situations and another way in others.
Reduce the number of difficulties and friction.
The majority of habits are meta-stable. That is they can be sustained for some time with little effort, but they are susceptible to breaking down owing to random noise in the environment. Exercising is a meta-stable habit, whereas not exercising is stable because the former degrades into the latter when it becomes difficult to exercise.
Naturally, your habit will be more stable if it is simpler, more rewarding, and has fewer preconditions.
Minimize noise and volatility. If you can’t make the habit easier, you can lessen the possibilities of it being derailed by anything external. This may seem hard in today’s world, but it is always achievable to some extent by deciding when and how to carry out the habit.
Working on your habit at a time of day
when you’re less likely to meet distractions or difficulties is one option. It’s usually safer to do anything first thing in the morning or last thing before night than it is in the middle of the day when interruptions are more common. Similarly, you can do something more consistently at the start or conclusion of your workday.
Many aspects of life will simply be too unstable or unpredictable for you to reach a point when everything comes naturally. That said, you may make attempts to change some of the things you already do regularly into actual habits so that they come more naturally.
While change is difficult, it is not impossible. We may learn what constitutes a good commitment and how to keep it by understanding the motivations behind the behaviour and focusing on the steps listed above.
Daily motivation for building a brighter future. I can’t thank enough for these insights