I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear and totally loved it. The secret to success really does lie in everyday habits - and according to Clear, once you make those teeny tweaks at an atomic, basic level, the rest falls into place.
HOW TO BUILD GOOD HABITS
1. It’s about who you want to be, not who you are
Knowing where to start can be just as difficult as starting out. Good habits come from knowing who you want to be, rather than trying to formulate the exact outcome you want (after all, very little goes exactly the way we expect). Take a moment to think about the kind of person you want to be and ask whether that person would do (or not do) a certain action. This is where we can start to identify opportunities to form new, helpful habits.
2. Clarity > motivation
Sometimes when we think we lack motivation, we actually lack clarity. In order to commit to an action, it is not essential to know exactly what we are doing but critically why we are doing it.
3. A little goes a long way
A good habit is like compound interest - investing in yourself over time will magnify the returns.
4. Remember the benefits of starting small:
It makes starting and sticking to your new habit easier.
Once you’ve mastered your first habit, you can then easily introduce another - this is called stacking habits: “Once I’ve done x, I will then do y straight after.”
Stacking your habits in this way will create a new routine that you can grow over time making it even easier to follow.
5. Reward yourself
In order to make this automatic, you have to play to the strength of your own brain’s chemistry. Train it to associate achieving your habit with some sort of reward, however small.
6. Your environment matters
A change in your environment might just be the secret weapon to unlocking your new habit. Think of it as removing temptation or simply preempting a future moment of weakness.